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Volunteerism abstract
Volunteering as a contribution to society
Reflection on volunteering
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The second part of Williams’ argument revolves around the concept of “agent regret”. “Agent regret” differs from regret in two ways: Firstly, it focuses on the possibility of the agent acting differently. If something happens as a “consequence of one’s actions, the costs of it happening can similarly be allocated to one’s account” (125). Secondly, it is demonstrated by the desire to make amends. This stems from the recognition of individual responsibility. Premise 1: Agent regret exists in cases of involuntary agency hence morality is subject to luck William believes that agent-regret is so ubiquitous that it exists even in cases of involuntary agency, and that society finds this the norm rather than an aberration. To illustrate this premise, …show more content…
Firstly, it is unclear whether true blamelessness can ever exist. It is likely that the sentiment of agent-regret exists because we recognize that there is something we could have done, even if we are not sure what that is. More importantly, even if we assume true blamelessness on the part of the driver, it is not true that agent-regret is a sentiment that always exists, or if it exists, that it will be the foremost consideration on the agent’s mind. Serial killers killing people in cold blood show that agent-regret may not always exist, even in cases of voluntary agency when society clearly regards the agent as blameworthy. Slightly more moderate cases are hit-and-run incidents. In the scenario presented by Williams, the lorry driver hits a child and stops in horror. Had he reasoned that he was not at fault and continued on his way without stopping, he would have been condemned by society as unfeeling and callous. If the presence of agent-regret is demonstrated by a desire to make amends, hit-and-run cases seem to imply that drivers do not feel any agent-regret at all. The other possibility is that said drivers do feel agent-regret, but that this sentiment is overridden by self-interested, practical concerns such as not wanting to deal with the victim’s family. Agent-regret does not seem to be as important as Williams characterizes it to …show more content…
Williams’ argument is that agent-regret affects an agent’s moral view of his life, but this seems to hold true only if agent-regret correlates to blameworthiness, even in cases of involuntary agency. However, agent-regret can be present even in non-moral cases; this implies that agent-regret doesn’t inform an agent’s moral view of his life but is a sentiment like any other. For instance, in China, there are many cases of individuals getting sued for damages after stopping to help victims of accidents or crimes. If I were such an individual, I could regret stepping in to help because my actions – while objectively good – led to me getting sued. It is unlikely that my conceptions of myself or my moral worth will change from this incident. Moreover, in cases of involuntary agency, it is also unlikely that the lorry driver’s moral view of himself will change. He may strongly regret that he ran over the child, but as he is blameless, his internal moral assessment of himself as a good person is unlikely to change. Only the outcomes of his actions were affected by luck. Agent-regret seems not to be an evaluation of morality, but simply an irrational feeling of sadness or frustration at not getting what we wanted. In this case, agent-regret may be subject to luck, but this does not automatically mean that morality is also subject to
In “Luck Swallows Everything” and “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility” Galen Strawson and Susan Wolf’s explain the concept of responsibility in both a compatibilist and determinist view. Strawson argued that change was not possible at all when it comes to responsibility due to an individual’s mental nature, while Wolf argues that change is possible for an individual when it comes to responsibility. This essay will be focusing on the criticism of Wolf’s work.
Furthermore, free will has been closely connected to the moral responsibility, in that one acts knowing they will be res for their own actions. There should be philosophical conditions regarding responsibility such like the alternatives that one has for action and moral significance of those alternatives. Nevertheless, moral responsibility does not exhaust the implication of free will.
In respect to the arguments of Ayer and Holbach, the dilemma of determinism and its compatibility with that of free will are found to be in question. Holbach makes a strong case for hard determinism in his System of Nature, in which he defines determinism to be a doctrine that everything and most importantly human actions are caused, and it follows that we are not free and therefore haven’t any moral responsibility in regard to our actions. For Ayer, a compatibilist believing that free will is compatible with determinism, it is the reconciliation and dissolution of the problem of determinism and moral responsibility with free willing that is argued. Ayer believes that this problem can be dissolved by the clarification of language usage and the clarification of what freedom is in relationship to those things that oppose freedom or restrain it. In either case, what is at stake is the free will of an agent, and whether or not that agent is morally responsible. What is to be seen from a discussion of these arguments is the applicability and validity of these two philosophies to situations where one must make a choice, and whether or not that person is acting freely and is thus responsible given his current situation. In this vein, the case of Socrates’ imprisonment and whether or not he acted freely in respect to his decision to leave or stay in prison can be evaluated by the discussion of the arguments presented in respect to the nature of free will in its reconciliation with determinism in the compatibilist vein and its absence in the causality of hard determinism.
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.
Agents vs Acts Louden opens this section with this statement: “… it is commonplace that virtue theorists focus on good and bad agents rather than on right and wrong acts.” This is a good th... ... middle of paper ... ...
In Korsgaard’s article on The Authority of Reflection, Korsgaard presents the idea that all rational beings have a unique ability to reflect on our actions and how it plays a role in determining what obligations we have. This means that rational beings can weigh the pros and cons of our options before we decide on what to do, influencing what obligations we will have. This is opposed to acting on one’s first instinct without reflecting on the action first. This essay expands on Korsgaard’s argument on practical identity, moral identity, and the different characteristics of these identities that influence how one acts.
Past experiences can affect all of us. Some more than others, but the ones that haunt us are the ones that we all have in common. After something tragic happens or something you feel you could have helped in but failed, you feel guilt. A prime example of guilt after events is in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini because the actions that Amir does afterwards that are influenced by his guilt.. It all starts with Amir not standing up for Hassan when Hassan gets bullied, then he walks away instead of backing up Hassan when he is attacked in an alley, those two events build up a lot of guilt inside him to the point where he decides to frame Hassan for stealing his watch just to get rid of Hassan. Although Amir feels regret for doing such a thing,
Let take a simple example from Nagel’s paper to acquire a brief understanding on the idea of moral luck. Driver A and B were both drunk when driving home. Drive A passed the red light and killed a child who was passing the street while driver B got home safely. To Williams and Nagel, driver A should be, of course, responsible for manslaughter under the laws, but also should be morally treated as the same as driver B since the difference outcomes are solely based on luck. As Williams argues “luck of this kind affects whether he will be justified or not, since if it strikes, he will not be justified” (Williams, p.25). Therefore, in his book “Moral Luck”, Williams introduced a new term “moral luck” referring to “luck that occurs when an agent can be correctly treated as an object of moral judgment despite the fact that a significant aspect of what she is assessed for depends on factors beyond her control” (Nelkin).
Every human being carries with them a moral code of some kind. For some people it is a way of life, and they consult with their code before making any moral decision. However, for many their personal moral code is either undefined or unclear. Perhaps these people have a code of their own that they abide to, yet fail to recognize that it exists. What I hope to uncover with this paper is my moral theory, and how I apply it in my everyday life. What one does and what one wants to do are often not compatible. Doing what one wants to do would usually bring immediate happiness, but it may not benefit one in the long run. On the other hand, doing what one should do may cause immediate unhappiness, even if it is good for oneself. The whole purpose of morality is to do the right thing just for the sake of it. On my first paper, I did not know what moral theories where; now that I know I can say that these moral theories go in accordance with my moral code. These theories are utilitarianism, natural law theory, and kantianism.
In the short story “Button Button”, Matheson expresses the important idea that people let their greediness change their views of their inner morals. This is shown mainly through the protagonist Norma.
Holt, Michael. “Guilt, Its Effects and How to Overcome Regretful Feelings”. Yahoo, 30 April 2007. Web. 16 February 2014.
One particular human emotion can cripple humans mentally and physically. It can cause people to do things they do not want to do. It can lead them to twist the truth and lie not only to themselves, but people around them as well. It is something that they cannot hide. It is more like a disease, however, it is better known as guilt. Along with guilt, comes dishonesty, shamefulness, peculiar behavior, and even suicidal thoughts. Guilt is a recurring theme in both Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Every individual will experience guilt sometime in their life, but it is how they cope and handle it that defines who they are. Humans must face the feeling of guilt, accept
Morality is central to all rational beings, whereby a moral action is one determined by reason, rather than our personal desires as suggested by Kant (1785) in contrast to Hume. (1738). Furthermore, Kant suggests that an action is moral only on account of its being reasoned, therefore the moral worth of an action is determined by its motives and not by its consequences. Exploring the works of Hume (1738) and Kant(1785) on morality and ethics, we will ask the question whether we should do what is morally right, even when you could profit by doing something wrong, and furthermore, we shall discuss morality as a type of game, yet something you cannot opt out of, as something Foot describes as 'inescapable'. (Foot 1972: 311).
Simmers, Mary P. "Chap. 2 Making Moral Decisions." Prezi.com. 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 May 2014. .
Negative stimulus automatically triggers the response of counterfactual thinking. The different effects of counterfactual thinking integrate in to a functional model that contrasts positive consequences of the inferential mechanism (Myers & Twenge 72-73). Thoughts that relate to adverse emotional circumstance of the past and hypothetical reinterpretations of history, one is bound to experience feelings of despair, intense sense of loss, and regret. Social psychologist have studied the worth of thinking and feeling of a counterfactual character and in the process confirming that undesirable emotions could arise from counterfactual discerning. The social psychological theory could functionally become beneficial to individuals with an integrated possibility of causal inference. In most circumstances, extreme events activate the counterfactual specially the influential negative consequences and the version of the past established the