Assess the case against Moral Elitism Essay

Moral Elitist believe in a metaphysical claim: there are moral facts and an epistemic claim: we have access to them. According to moral relativism, there are no moral principles or values objectively real and applicable to everyone; rather, what’s right/wrong and good/bad essentially depends on individual preference or culture, and this varies from person to person or group to group. There is not just one moral fact but instead there are millions and we access them be research. There are two different forms of moral elitism one is cultural relativism which based on societies and the other is in the individualistic form, moral subjectivism. Moral relativism seems tolerant (â€Å"you do your thing and I’ll do mine†), but is it reasonable to believe? We should think not. First, let’s look at it in its group or cultural form, cultural relativism. According to cultural relativism, ethics essentially depend on one’s culture or tribe. That is, CR says action X is right or good if the society says X is right or good, and X is wrong or bad if the society says X is wrong or bad. Action X may be right in one culture but wrong in another. Our culture may hold that apartheid is wrong, but another culture may be okay with apartheid, because of a difference in the history of interracial relations. On cultural relativism, then, morality is wholly a matter of cultural invention, i.e. social construction and because such circumstances vary from group to group, so do the constructed moralities. Thus, we shouldn’t impose our culture’s moral values on others, and others shouldn’t push theirs on us. There are no better or worse societies, they are just merely different and so one society cannot judge another. Instead we should be non judgemental and celebrate diversity. Cultural relativism sounds good, but is it sound? Let’s assume that cultural relativism is true, this would be very problematic. The biggest problem for this argument is put forward by G.E Moore’s Open Question. He suggests that the relativists have mis-defined morality, it makes to sense to ask whether society approve of something or it, but does this make it automatically good? This ends up giving support to obviously evil regimes and evil cultural practices. For example it becomes impossible to criticize the Nazis. If Nazi culture says that genocide is right, then, for Nazi Germany, genocide is right. It was just their culture, after all. But we know that we can and should condemn such regimes and practices. There is also the criticism put forward by Objectivists who believe in moral development, where sometimes we have to go against the popular view, we need to be able to compare different societies. For example surely the German society now is much better than how it was like with all the racism involved when Hitler was in power. Objectivists believe that societies are a hierarchy where some are in fact better than others whereas cultural relativism believes in breadth where all societies are equal, but surely their tolerance goes too far? If cultural relativism is true, then internal cultural reform is disabled. What the culture says is right is right, so it’s not possible for one’s culture to be mistaken let alone reformed. Yes, one can critique acts according to cultural standards, but it’s not possible to criticize one’s own cultural standards. However they do arise for example Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, they were all trying to apply another standard for example Martin Luther King was trying to apply the standard of equality. The existence of cultural reformers is a fact, and this fact counts against cultural relativism. Cultural relativism also self-refutes. If CR is true, it allows for the possibility of a society having a non-relative or absolute morality. That is, on cultural relativism a society could hold that cultural relativism is false, and they would say that this morality is true. So, if cultural relativism, then it is also not true. This is a serious logical problem. There is also the problem of which culture? The one you’re born into or the one you presently occupy? When asking someone what cultural groups they belong in they will struggle as they have loads, for example being a student, a Muslim etc. Now let’s look at moral subjectivism. According to moral subjectivism ethics are merely a matter of individual preference. That is, to say action X is right or good if I like X, and X is wrong or bad if I don’t like X. Depending on our feelings, action X may be right for you but wrong for me. You may not like abortion, but I may be okay with abortion, if my feelings are not as troubled by it as yours are. Morality, then, is basically a matter of taste, and tastes vary. People should choose our own morals and have freedom, not simply just accept our parents, society or religion. They are relative to the individual and so are presented through our personal feelings. Feelings are the main index and guide to show what morals we should follow. However this could result in problems as intra-personal criticism is lost. If moral subjectivism is true, whatever we feel is right is right. In other words, we can never be wrong morally and we cannot criticize ourselves (all we can be is true to our feelings). This does not destroy subjectivism but it serves as a red flag against IR, because our pre-theoretic experience of morality is that we sometimes make moral mistakes, in spite of our feelings. We also cannot criticize others. We can’t truly morally condemn the behaviour of, say, Jack the Ripper clearly liked killing women; the feelings of a person justified their actions. In other words, according to subjectivism: Who are we to judge them? There is also the problem of how are our feeling a reliable guide to right and wrong? Sometimes we can misjudge and feelings can cloud our judgement, for example someone with a bad temper might kill someone by accident due to their anger issues. Also reason can sometimes change our feelings, for example if I am on a diet but I feel like I really want a chocolate ice cream, reasoning about this would convince me not to follow my feelings and opt to eat something healthy instead. In conclusion we have seen the two types of moral elitism. Both are quite sophisticated and a lot more open minded. Surely our feelings mater sometimes when it comes to moral decisions. There cannot be just set moral facts as how would everyone even agree about what they are. When trying to decide what is right and wrong, everyone seems to disagree so surely our feelings and following our own society would lead to our moral decisions. However many problems arise logically from moral elitism as sometimes we cannot choose our own morals instead we are a passive recipient where morals impose themselves on us. Following our society or feelings do not necessarily lead us to what is right or wrong and so it’s reasonable to conclude that individual moral relativism is flawed—logically, factually, and morally as following it will lead to wrong situations where wrong things will be condoned. Therefore moral elitism should be rejected.

The Balancing Act Analysis Essay Example

The Balancing Act Analysis Essay Example The Balancing Act Analysis Essay The Balancing Act Analysis Essay Analysis: The Balancing Act In modern-day speeches, rhetorical strategies are often used to impact listeners. In Michael J. Foxs speech about Parkinson Disease, he uses rhetorical strategies to assist In Influencing the Senate Subcommittee to promote a larger budget to help lad In research for this disease from which he suffers, along with many more Americans. Foxs celebrity status substantiated his confrontation with the Senate Subcommittee to support the need for greater federal investment in Parkinson research. As an advocate of Parkinson Disease, Foxs witness was greater, for people of the Senate most likely knew him from his place on the television in the past two decades. This strategy was helpful in asking for a greater budget because of his notable status. The approach on the topic of requesting more funding for Parkinson is taken in a gracious manner by Fox. By praising past efforts of the legislators, he makes immediate contact with his audience. Rather than criticizing them about their insufficient spending, he very graciously elaborates on how the amount donated for research Is not adequate enough In ladling the experimentation for the cure of Parkinson Disease. The overall structure of Foxs speech Is highly tactical In his request for more federal funding. He begins by explaining his personal experience, therefore, he was able to reach out to the audience on a more personal level. Then he explains exactly what the poorly funded disease is and how he manages to live with Parkinson. In doing so, he logically reasons with the Senate and is able to give them a feeling of what it is like to live with the disease. Later in his speech, he shares the important statistics so Parkinson does not appear to be rare and shares with the Senate that The scientific community believes that with a significant Investment in Parkinson research, new discoveries and improved treatment strategies are close at hand. using this scientific support, it helps In his argument. By Including facts about Parkinson, Fox elaborates on the everyday citizens who deal with the dreadful effects of this disease. By Glenn example of known professions such as doctors, teachers, policemen, etc, he reaches out on a more personal note because these are everyday Americans. Fox uses this strategy to find empathy within is audience. He tells how people with Parkinson deal with the symptoms, but urges the support for more spending by using the words, But in the end, we all face the same reality: The medicine stops working. This statement is probably the most effective sentence in his whole address to the Senate. Although many rhetorical devices are used within his speech, the most strategically used is Foxs diction, or choice of words. In the beginning, his words are stern and very attention-demanding, but his tone is still friendly and polite. Throughout the odd of his speech, his use of positive, hopeful words reveals how he feels about his own future and others living wit h Parkinson. Fox ends on a personal note: one that Is meant to complete and support his speech. He gives his even more personal explanation. By describing how he will Nett Trot Dreadnoughts AT Parklands research, Walt ten Nell AT a larger Cottage, he paints an image of how he will be able to do more if his disease is better controlled, such as dancing at his childrens weddings something every parent would love to be able to do. In one of his final sentences, he connects with his audience directly again. By saying With your help.. He makes the final connection with the Senate members making it clear that, with their approval of an increased budget, he will be able to achieve these goals. By using rhetorical devices, any speaker has the ability to connect with an audience and make a clear argument. In Foxs speech to the Senate Subcommittee, his use of rhetorical strategies was very important in his request for an increased budget for Parkinson Disease research. Without the use of them, his encount er with the Senate would not be as significant.

Whats a Good ACT Score for an Honors Student

What's a Good ACT Score for an Honors Student SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips It can be hard to tell what counts as a good score on the ACT, especially for high-achieving students. In this article, I'll explain what competitive ACT scores arefor an honors student and what that means for you. But first let's define our terms! What Is an Honors Student? Answering this question is tricky becausenot everyone or every school agrees.Some schools have specific honors classes, and enrolling in these is what wins you the title. Other schools name students to an honor roll based on their GPAs. Still others may associate the term "honors" with a certain level of class rank. Whatdo we all seem to agree on?Honors students are, relative to the general high school population, higher academic achievers. This means that their goals on the ACT are likely to be higher, too, so as to keep their standardized test scores in line with their grades, and, ultimately, so as to keep them competitive as applicants to more elite schools. What Is a Good ACT Score? It's a little tough to nail down an exact definition of a "good" score, because there's no single number that marks the boundary between a good score and a bad one.What a good score looks like for any given student ultimately depends on what they want to do with it and who they're competing with. For most student, getting a good score is less about hitting an arbitrary number and more about landing in a range that makes you look attractive to the schools you hope to attend. Your score goal will be very different if you're looking at Ivy League schools than if you're looking at your local state school.Ultimately, agood score is thescore that gets you where you want to go. Nonetheless, you are being compared to the other applicants, so can it be helpful to understand how you stack up against your peers. Think of that ideal ACT score as a ticket to your dream school. Good ACTScores for Honors Students We ran some statistical analyses to answer the delicate question of what a good score really looks like for an honors student. We used what's called a Monte-Carlo method, which is a lot more accurate than just lining up percentiles and comparing those. You see, just because you're a topstudent at your school, that doesn't necessarily make you a toptest taker. Why not, you may ask? For one thing, high schools select honors students based on criteria other than the ACT. For another, some students withhigh GPAs struggle with low ACT scores. Our analysis take thesevariations into account. Based on our data, we've compiled high, average, and low scores for both honors and high honors students. Honors Students We're defining these as the top third of high school students. It's possible that some of these students are not recognized as honors students at their schools, and it's possible that some students recognized as honors students at their schools are not among this third. Let's look at the range of scores for this group: A low score(25th percentile) is24 An average score (median) is 26 Ahigh score (75th percentile) is 29 You'll notice that these scores are clusteredfairly close together. That's because it's really a pretty small range of scores, all things considered. Combine that fact with a steep bell curve distribution, consider that we're looking at the far ends, and, sure enough, you wind up with this cluster effect. High Honors Students We're defining these as the top tenth of high school students. These students are the ones most likely to be in high honors programs, though the same disclaimer applies here as it did before. Let's look at the range of scores for this group: A low score(25th percentile) is29 An average score (median) is30 Ahigh score (75th percentile) is32 Notice that these scores are clusteredextremely close together. As you get up to the highest scores, every point counts. Be a total miser when it comes to those points- pinch your proverbial pennies. Take-Aways Honors students, and especially high honors students, have to put in extra effort to distinguish themselves from the crowd. The difference between a decent showing of a score and a home-run of a score can be entirely in the details. What's Next? Start putting in the work to prepare for this test nice and early. Spend a little time figuring out just how long you should devote to preparation. Aim for perfection:a score of 36 is hard, but possible. What if you don't have the luxury of time? Read about stellar last-minute programs to prepare for the exam. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.

Analysis the tables of the SPSS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analysis the tables of the SPSS - Essay Example This indeed was the case since only 202 of the returned questionnaires were found eligible for analysis. The standard questionnaires dispatched contained three sets of questions. Five broad features of service quality were recorded using the first 21 questions posed. These were tangible elements of service, reliability of service providers, responsiveness of the staff and management of the facility, assurance and action to ensure fulfilment of the same, and empathy towards the clients. The second set of questions was concerned with the importance with which the clients weighed each of the five features recorded in the preceding set of questions. The third set of questions was a measure of key characteristics of the respondents. The first set of data was recorded on a 5-point linker scale, which allowed the respondents to choose from extremely dissatisfied, dissatisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, satisfied to extremely satisfy. In addition, the second set comprised a choice for the respondents to choose the respective scores to accord each of the five broad features of the first set of questions. ... Main Element Q I. Using frequencies and descriptive statistics, comment on sample composition. Frequencies Statistics are you male or female how often do you use the centre What year at university are you currently in? 1st /2nd/ 3rd/ 4th/ masters/ other are you a member or do you pay each time subject area N Valid 201 202 202 190 202 Missing 1 0 0 12 0 The study comprised of 202 participants. 201 participants responded to the gender question while all the 202 participants responded to the question on their current year of study. The questions on the use of the Sports Centre and the subject area were answered by all the 202 participants while only 190 participants responded to the question on membership. Frequency Table Are you male or female Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid male 126 62.4 62.7 62.7 female 75 37.1 37.3 100.0 Total 201 99.5 100.0 Missing 9 1 .5 Total 202 100.0 The gender question was responded to by 126 male participants and 75 female participant s. 46 participants never used the centre, 39 participants used it once a week or less, and 47 participants used the centre twice a week. 34 and 25 participants used the centre 3 times a week and 4 times a week respectively. Out of those interviewed, only 11 participants used the centre 5 or more times a week. How often do you use the centre Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid never 46 22.8 22.8 22.8 once a week or less 39 19.3 19.3 42.1 twice a week 47 23.3 23.3 65.3 3 times a week 34 16.8 16.8 82.2 4 times a week or more 25 12.4 12.4 94.6 5 11 5.4 5.4 100.0 Total 202 100.0 100.0 Among the 202 participants who responded to the question on their current year of study, 68 were in first year, 84

Contemporary Issues in Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Contemporary Issues in Management - Essay Example Table of Contents Introduction Organizations’ view of Work Life balance Theories on Quality of life Advantages of Work Life balance Programs Best Practices to Improve Quality of Life Effect of Quality of Life programs on employees Conclusion Contemporary Issues in Management - Quality of Life and Work Life Balance Introduction Recent decades have seen a change in the working style. Not only are more people part of the workforce now, they are also working more hours (Chick, 2004). The stressful work life often becomes overwhelming and it’s easy to lose perspective of what is really important. As a result people end up making bad decisions and often neglect their personal life as shown in a study conducted by the Families and Work Institute (Bond, 2002). Balance is always the key to a healthy living. If a person works too much and sacrifices quality family time, he might be successful professionally, but the achievement and material gain is not proportionate to the price he has to pay for a neglected family. According to Caliguiri and Lazarova (2005, pp.124), â€Å"Work-life balance can be defined as maintaining a happy and healthy personal life while being successful at work, and attaining a broadly defined sense of personal fulfillment†. The phrase â€Å"time poverty† is commonly used now with more and more people complaining they have more work to do in less time. This paper deals with the concept of work-life balance and its importance in organizations by specifically looking at Four Seaons Inc, which is a leading hotel chain that has presence in over 35 countries. Many enterprises have realized the benefits to a workforce which has an improved quality of life, as employee satisfaction has a direct relationship with the success of the organization (Wickham, Parker and Fishwick, 2006). Organizations’ view of Work Life balance There is a growing realization among organizations that quality of life needs to be improved because of the multiple roles being played by an employee. It’s difficult to juggle home and work life and often results in lower productivity (Lockwood, 2003). Four Seasons is an organization that has remained an employer of choice by providing them with not just good salary and perks, but also by facilitating a good work-life balance among the employees. For this reason, it figured as no.55 on the Fortune list of top employers across the world (money.cnn.com, 2011). If the employee at Four Seasons feels in control of his work life and does not have stress, it can lead to higher productivity and less absenteeism. This is because work-life balance has a growth and profit impact, producing a positive return on investment (Quinlan, 2005; Purcell, 2002; Bird, 2006). Better policies towards employees at four seasons help in maintaining a healthier and happier work force also help reduce health care costs at four seasons which often results in greater loyalty and motivation and decreases the turnover rate (Lockwood, 2003; Quinlan, 2005, Landy and Conte, 2010).Employee retention may also be seen as an important benefit(Joshi et al, 2009). In the 70s employers thought of work-life balance as an issue of working mothers alone. During the 80’

Coursework Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coursework Assignment - Essay Example This is because the return scale decreases as the production factors are increased. Diminishing returns take place when the labour marginal productivity begins to fall. In the present case, an extra unit of labour is added to a fixed capital when production of buses takes place. It reaches a place where marginal production of extra labour is maximized after which the output for each additional unit of labour falls. Diminishing returns is a law that takes place because production factors like capital labour inputs are imperfect substitutes (Jehle & Philip, 2000). This implies that when producing a product like for this paper, buses and cars, the resources put in use are inefficient when turned for a production of a different service or another good. For instance, workers deployed in the vehicle industry to make buses and cars may be inefficient, if they are re-employed in a cement producing industry. Similarly, quite a number of item involving capital equipment specify to a single typ e of production. If switched to different uses, there would be inefficiency in production of output. Production factors like capital and labour are said to be immobile occupationally as they can be turned to other functions, although with a resultant productivity loss. An inverted relationship does exist between production factors and the cost of production of a unit in a firm. When there is low productivity, cost per unit of supplying service or a good turns out to be higher (Frank, 2006). Therefore, a firm can get higher returns and be efficient in its labour force leading to higher profits and lower costs. Here, K represents capital employed in the form of machine while L stands for labour employed which in this paper is the number of men who repair or make new vehicles. Using N buses = 0.4 K1.1 L0.41 L=0 L=1 L=2 L=3 L=4 L=5 L=6 K=16 0 8.4 11.0 13.5 15.2 16.0 17.7 K=14 0 7.3 9.5 11.7 13.1 13.9 15.3 K=12 0 6.2 8.0 9.8 11.1 11.7 12.9 K=10 0 5.0 6.5 8.1 9.1 9.6 10.6 K= 8 0 4.0 5.1 6 .3 7.1 7.5 8.3 K= 6 0 2.9 3.7 4.6 5.2 5.5 6.0 K= 4 0 1.8 2.4 2.9 3.3 3.5 3.9 K= 2 0 0.9 1.1 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.8 K= 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Task B Edge worth box This box is frequently used in a theory of general equilibrium. It helps represent competitive equilibrium in a range of outcomes, which satisfies economic efficiency. It can also aid in detecting difficulty in reaching efficiency in the presence of a bilateral monopoly. From the table above, it is noted that as the number of men is increased holding machine constant number of buses produced increase but in a decreasing rate. This implies that the output or returns to scale diminishes. Therefore, it means that the ratio of employed labour to the number of machines is not that proportional. This creates inefficient use of resources, and in this case, it is the labour employed. If labour is not used efficiently, the firm incur a lot of costs in the form of salaries and wages that are not effectively used (Mas-Colell et al., 19 95). This may lead a firm to diminishing returns to scale. If there is no labour or machine employed, there is no output at all as output is only evident when there is a combination of the two. On the other hand, holding labour constant and adding more machines leads to a steady output as the labour that is available can only use up to a certain no of machines. Task C In the edge box, there are two curves for cars and buses. Whenever

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Example for Free

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Throughout the entire novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, everyone is inquiring or investigating about something. The characters are either meddling in someone else’s business or they become curious about something scientific. Because of this curiosity, different people get in trouble in some way. In the first chapter, Mr. Utterson’s friend Mr. Enfield says, â€Å"You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of) is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.† (35). This is an important epigraph for the entire novella because when Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Utterson, and Mr. Lanyon become curious, someone gets in trouble. The most important example of someone being inquisitive is in the Case of Dr. Jekyll. He questions whether man can be split in two; one half would be the evil half and the other half would be strictly a good-intentioned gentleman. (79) Dr. Jekyll does this experiment on himself but something goes wrong and he becomes strictly his evil side. This transformation allows him to have a separate persona, a separate life. He thrives of off the power he feels when he becomes Mr. Hyde. (81) This leads to his ultimate downfall. He finds it so hard to keep his old self. This constant changing back and forth leads him to eventually kill himself because he has lost hope. His original curiosity of trying to make him self solely good is what leads to his demise in the end. (93) Mr. Utterson’s curiosity about his close friend, Dr. Jekyll, adds to Jekyll’s final, suicidal decision. His investigation of the mysteriousness around the door and Dr. Jekyll begins when he reads Dr. Jekyll’s will. As a lawyer, he should not question the motives behind Jekyll’s peculiar will but instead he tries to pry into his friend’s life to ensure that nothing ‘sketchy’ is going on. This is a question that should not be asked because it is not any of his business but he still tries to figure it out. (37) This leads to another curiosity for Utterson. He feels as though he needs to see Hyde’s face. He waits at the door simply to see his face, to be able to place his finger on why people are so disturbed by him. This is not a necessary question to be asked and it causes more skepticism about the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde. (40) The unclearness of the relationship puts pressure on Jekyll, leading to his breakdown. Finally, Lanyon’s curiosity-downfall spiral is the most obvious. Jekyll goes to Lanyon first, asking him to retrieve a drawer from his laboratory and give it to Hyde. When Hyde asks if he wants to see the transformation, Lanyon being nosy says yes. (55) His starting of a question ‘starts the stone’ and it leads to his death. He is so shocked about seeing his friend transform that he eventually dies. This never would have happened if did not agree to seeing Jekyll and Hyde. (57) Overall, the characters in this book show a lot of curiousity about Jekyll and Hyde. As the quote says, â€Å"You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone.† (35). The characters start a questions and â€Å"presently some bland old bird is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name.† These questions have been about Jekyll and Hyde and so ultimately someone ends up getting hurt of getting in trouble. This is a theme throughout the whole novel which is why this quote serves as a good epigraph for the novella.