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Ethics and morality in society
Major moral theories
Ethics and morality in society
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For the question on the Spring Term I will be looking at the question: What does Julia Annas mean by the ‘computer manual’ model of moral decision-making? What are the implications for moral theory? The ‘computer manual’ model is what Annas uses to describe our moral decision making. Annas says in regards to this: “The computer manual does the technical work for us and makes clear the theoretical simple grounds of the decisions we need to make when use the computer. The common model of a theory of right action, as we meet it explicitly in many introductions to moral theory, and implicitly in the work of many moral theorists can be called the computer manual model.” This idea of a computer doing the ‘technical’ work can be useful to us, due to living in an age of technology which is something that can be useful to us, as our own brains are our ‘built in computer. It is also crucial in processing our thoughts about each of our own moral decisions of what is right and wrong. I think what Annas means by the ‘computer manual’ model is that we are responsible for our own decisions. Something that I am confident about is that we are …show more content…
What are the implications for moral theory? I think that Julia Annas’ computer manual model of decision making, is our own consciences and the sense of what is right or wrong. Consequently, we have the freedom to choose as to whether or not we comply with what our conscience tells us to do in situations/ as I mentioned earlier in regards to the trolley problem, some people might say ‘it is better to save five people, as it would spare five families the loss of loved ones, and it is one person instead.’, whilst others would say ‘it is better to save one person, as five people with healthy organs to donate is much better.’ Regardless of which one is the best answer, it can be paradoxical as to how a person looks at
Carr captures his audience's attention by using an allusion from “Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001, A Space Odyssey”. He stated the essay with “Dave, stop will you?” and the Supercomputer HAL plead. Any reader who has watch A Space Odyssey or interested in supercomputers to read his article. He highlights the fact that a computer could think for you. The states, “I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain(Is google making us stupid? By Carr page 2)”. He made a point that the more people are found of the internet the more we lose ability to deep think.
Throughout our everyday lives whether we think about it or not. Computers and technology are and have been an integral part of our lives. Computers and technology assist us with so much, such as the way we drive and the way we learn. We no longer have to deal with the hassle of driving stick and we no longer have to be in a physical classroom with the advent of online education. In Clive Thompsons’ essay “Smarter than you think how technology is changing our minds for the better,” he discusses how the ever changing capacity of technology improves the mental cognition of human beings.
Prudence rightly orders action because it is the insight into the world of human affairs, which allows us to relate facts to generalized principles. Conversely, the goods of human affairs cannot be ordered in ways that the scientific method can order inert objects. Modern society is saturated with the consolations of techne, a virtue that administers technical rationality. In other words, techne equips us with the “know how” which enables one to perform surgery, throw a baseball, or learn a new language. We have encouraged the all-inclusive allure of techne for the sake of a delusional fantasy in which through technology, we will finally be able to overcome the greatest obstacles which we face. What makes these technologies so hazardous is the fact that they are so “global in their effect and so discreet, becoming less and less conspicuous to both the user and those around them” (Tabachnick 118). Thus, techne should only be reserved for prosaic exercises being that the problems that vex human society cannot endure any single set of rules or
This requires always taking into account the rational goals of moral agents when making decisions that may affect them. The more important the goals are to the agents, the greater the importance of not obstructing them. Since Sally’s theory has two separate principles, she accounts for the possibility that they will overlap. To do so, she includes an option on how to resolve the conflict. According to the theory, if the principles lead to conflicting actions, then moral agents should resolve the conflict on a case-by-case basis by deciding which principle should be followed given the proposed actions and circumstances.
Wallach, Wendell and Colin Allen. Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Morality is not something that should be easy to comprehend, and philosophers such as Mackie and McDowell are taking the wrong approach when trying to describe morality in natural terms. People need to understand that morality is something supernatural that we don’t have the capacity to comprehend. However, this does not mean that all moral judgments are false. There is a right choice in every scenario, however the variety of scenarios in this world is so grand that one cannot judge it by one code of
When a world becomes the slave to cyberspace, there is a problem. No computer has the right to control human mind. Whether it is for work reason or social reasons, humans must be left to decide on their own rather than computers deciding for them.
The fact that a person cannot withdraw their money from a bank because of moral restraints shows that there are some serious problems with the moral theory at work. The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative “act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” seems at face value viable. Nevertheless, the lack of guidelines to determine which maxim should be used to describe an action causes problems with the consistency of the Universal Law formulation. Moreover, the abundance of false positives and false negatives suggests a deep problem with the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative that may not be fixable. Works Cited:.. 1) Feldman, Fred.
Carson, Thomas. A. A. The "Ross Ethical Theory" Ross Ethical Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
New advancements make it possible to not only program computers to do what people tell them to, but to think for themselves.
In today’s society, moral actions are based on emotions, feelings, and our own personal decisions that better ourselves. Moral realism states that we do indeed have moral facts that exist and pertain to everyone, without ties to feelings. I will talk about basic ideas of moral realism as well as those who contradict realism. I will hit on Alfred Ayer’s emotivism ideas as well as J. L. Mackie’s ideas of skepticism that also contradict moral realism, finally backing up Mackie’s ideas as to why they are the most convincing.
During Michael Sandel’s lecture, the two moral reasoning’s he described was Consequentialist and Categorical moral reasoning. According to Sandel, Consequentialist moral reasoning locates morality in the consequence of an act, while Categorical moral reasoning located morality in certain duties and rights. (Harvard University (Producer), n.d.)
Simmers, Mary P. "Chap. 2 Making Moral Decisions." Prezi.com. 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 May 2014. .
Over the years, man has come up with countless inventions, each more resourceful than the last. However, as the computer age continues, mankind is threatened. Ridiculous, some may say, but I say look around! The computer has already begun to control so many of the vital functions that man has prided himself upon before. Our lives are now dependent on a computer and what it tells you. Even now, I type this essay on a computer, trusting that it will produce a result far superior to what I can do with my own to hands.
Since the beginning of time, humans have thought and made many inventions. Repeatedly the newer one is better than the older. Our minds have created many remarkable things, however the best invention we ever created is the computer. computers are constantly growing and becoming better every day. Every day computers are capable of doing new things. Even though computers have helped us a lot in our daily lives, many jobs have been lost because of it, now the computer can do all of the things a man can do in seconds! Everything in the world relies on computers and if a universal threat happens in which all computers just malfunction then we are doomed. Computers need to be programmed to be able to work or else it would just be a useless chunk of metal. And we humans need tools to be able to live; we program the computer and it could do a lot of necessary functions that have to be done. It is like a mutual effect between us and he computer (s01821169 1).