Ethical issues and issues of sensitivity are something that sociological researchers need to treat carefully- using examples illustrate why this is so?
Ethical issues and issues of sensitivity are something that sociological researchers need to treat carefully- using examples illustrate why this is so Ethical issues are the considerations that can have an important influence on the research process. They are moral principles- beliefs about what is right and wrong, which often guide research. Sociological associations in many countries have a set of ethical guidelines for conducting research. There are six main ethical issues; I will explore them below. Sensitive issues are issues that need to be dealt with tactfully because of their subject matter. This could include subjects such as death, health issues, sex etc. These are potentially sensitive subjects as the people being researched may have had an unpleasant situation with them. The first ethical issue I will investigate is "informed consent". This is the idea that those the researchers are studying should be given the opportunity to agree or refuse to participate in the research. This means covert observation could not take place, as this involves not letting people know they are being observed. Informed consent means that the researcher must provide information about the aims of the research, what the conduct of the research involves and the purpose to which the research will be put. This issue was raised when James Patrick did his research on "A Glasgow Gang
How the writers of 3 different Victorian short stories create morals, heroism and religion with particular attention to language and allegory.
How the writers of 3 different Victorian short stories create morals, heroism and religion with particular attention to language and allegory. I have read recently several Victorian short stories I noticed that many had similar styles and contents. But the three stories that I found most interesting were: The Persons of the tale and The House of Eld both by R L Stevenson and The Superstitious Man's Story by Thomas Hardy. In these three stories I found that they were linked by the use of a narrator to tell the story of what had happened to the main characters through their fear, heroism and morality. The House of Eld and The Persons of the Tale both have a moral to them. They are both written by the same author and although the moral in The House of Eld is shown at the end and The Persons of the Tale is a little harder to find both need to be worked out with great thought. The moral of the Persons of the Tale is that people although they are all different they are all needed in one way or another to complete life and the moral at the end of The House of Eld relates to the story. In the story the boy Jack thinks that everything will be perfect if he gets rid of the Sorcerer and therefore the gyve, but in fact in the process he kills his uncle, his father and his mother. The moral puts across the point that if you get rid of something important to your family you get rid of
Virtue ethics comes from the time of Aristotle and Plato but has only become popular again fairly recently. Virtue comes from the word 'arete' meaning excellence or virtue.
. Explain the theory of virtue ethics. 2. Virtue ethics is of little practical use to someone faced with a moral problem. Discuss. 1. Virtue ethics comes from the time of Aristotle and Plato but has only become popular again fairly recently. Virtue comes from the word 'arete' meaning excellence or virtue. Virtue ethics looks at a person as a whole and not just in their actions, or their choices of moral behaviour. Ethical questions should therefore not be about whether one choice or another is morally right, but whether the person making the decision is a good person. This is what matters because the person making the decisions is aiming to become a better person by developing their own virtues. Virtue ethics therefore asks the question 'what type of person should I aim to become?' rather than 'what is the morally right thing to do?' It concentrates on being rather than doing so contrasts with other forms of ethics, which look at what, would be the right course of action to take. Virtue ethics should not be considered completely different from other types of ethics. Kant and Bentham both wrote about what it is to be virtuous and tried to define virtues. These people concentrated on explaining the right way to behave, rather than focusing on the best way to be. Modern revivals of virtue ethics have returned to concentration on the agent rather than the actions
How would you answer the question, "Why be Moral?"
How would you answer the question, "Why be Moral?" Morality is often viewed as a set of values by which people live. These values may have derived from a variety of sources; the main causes being, the family, the school and the church (if one is religious). Ones knowledge of right and wrong are installed within us from early childhood. One would be punished if any actions were wrong, and praised if any good actions were performed. Due to the way one is taught we grow to accept that to be moral is to avoid reprimand. The fact that nearly everyone has some sort of moral code that they follow, implies that it is essential for one to be moral. A definition of what is meant by being moral is needed in order to answer the question as the word can be interpreted in various ways. Moral is " concerned with goodness or badness of character or disposition, or with the distinction between right and wrong"1 If one is to answer the question without having to enter into a deep thought, the responses one is likely to hear are; to ensure the well-being of the public, to follow one' s own conscience, to be obedient to God's law, and to conform to the norms of society. Many philosophers such as Immanuel Kant (1724-1803), and Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) have discussed their theories on why a person should be moral. They arrive at the conclusion that, "every action must have a motive"2
How Successful is The Co-operative Banks Ethical policy?
I. Front Page II. Contents III. What are business ethics? IV. How can a firm benefit from having an ethical policy? V. About the Bank. VI. The Policy- Targets. VII. The Policy- Targets. VIII. Where's the Evidence? IX. Profits and Share Price. X. Profits and Share Price. XI. Can you be Ethical and Profitable? XII. Public image. XIII. What I Think. XIV. Conclusion. Ethics is a large area of philosophy that has been debated for thousands of years. The dictionary states that ethics 'is a system of rules and principles that should govern the moral behaviour of human beings.' Basically ethics tell us what is right or wrong. Business ethics are a set of values, or a morel code that governs the behaviour of a company. A strong ethical policy would have several implications on the running of a firm. . The product itself would have to fit with that policy e.g. a company which is against animal testing would not sell a product that has been tested on animals. 2. The way products are made would have to be considered, as the inputs from the product would have to support the policy. 3. How a firm treats its staff, a company with a good policy would give its staff good working conditions and good pay rates. 4. The accounting practices of the firm, it would have to keep its accounts accurate. 5. Environmental policies: a. They would have to take responsibility
To what extent, if at all, should conscience be ignored when making moral decisions?
Siobhan Burrow 1081 To what extent, if at all, should conscience be ignored when making moral decisions? We cannot know what conscience is in absolute terms and various models of conscience have existed throughout Christian history. There are two main approaches to conscience there is the Intuitionist approach and the Rationalistic approach. The intuitionist approach is that our conscience is rooted in our intuitive or God given feelings of right and wrong. On the other hand rationalistic approaches claim that conscience is rooted in the power of reason. Many theologians have given their definition of conscience; St Augustine took an intuitionistic approach to conscience and claimed that conscience is "Gods voice whispering to us" (Considering Conscience David Torevell.) By contrast St Thomas Aquinas took a rationalistic approach to conscience claiming that conscience is synderesis or the repeated use of practical reason. Aquinas further stated that it is the solemn duty of all to follow what conscience dictates even if it leads us to err morally. St Augustine's approach to conscience simply reminds us that God should be present in all our moral decision-making. However Augustine fails to give any credit to our own power of reason in working out what is good our evil. For me I believe that conscience is not just a voice whispering in my ear or a feeling or instinct, it is
Religious Ethics
Compare and contrast religious ethics with one other ethical theory. How does a Christian decide what is right and wrong? Catholic Christianity has traditionally maintained that there are absolutes that cannot be changed by the circumstances. This deontological theory will contrast with the teleological theory of Utilitarianism, evoking contrast, while coinciding with one another when considering an approach to sexual ethics and in particular focusing on adultery. Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarian theory is based on 'the greatest good for the greatest number.' It is a theological approach based on consequences; it is not concerned with motives only the outcomes. Bentham believes that the reasons for having sex are as follows: Value of pleasure, consensual sex creates much good, avoid harm to other persons. Utilitarian's would want to maximise the good things about sex and minimise the down sides. Using utilitarianism to assess the morality of adultery, we need to go back to the main principle of the theory which is 'the greatest good for the greatest number.' From this angle it would seem that the adulterous relationship would be tolerated as long as the other married partner did not find out and the affair was kept secret. Therefore harm is avoided and pleasure is still gained for most people, representing the 'greatest good for the greatest number. On the other, the
Consequentialism and Consequentialists
Consequentialism Good and evil are two of the most over used words in the English language, as are the words right and wrong, and yet, these concept are not even fully understood. How can one differentiate between good and evil, or decide what is right and wrong? How is it possible to know whether one's actions are just? Are these judgments based simply on preference and partiality, or rather, is there valid rationale behind these decisions? Are there foundations for either side of such controversial issues such as euthanasia, or are these opinions based merely on self-interest? These questions are generally associated with the ideas of moral philosophy, more commonly known as ethics. As something ethical is the equivalent of something good and just, the prior questions can be rephrased simply as, "how do we know, if at all, that our behaviour is ethical?" There are several approaches to answering this question, all based principally on reason, most often falling into the categories of consequentialist, duty-based, and virtue based theories, but the question remains, do these theories answer all ethical questions? As well, there seems to be an inherent tendency in all of these methods towards preference vs. logic, which would defeat the purpose of ethics itself, since ethics seem to be a basis for deciding between right and wrong, and if there is no set method, only bias,
Kant’s moral theory
The main question which Kant's moral theory was designed to answer is: 'what is the nature of morality?' this question can also be put in different ways: 'what is a moral action as contrasted with a non-moral one?' or again, 'what is the difference between a person who acts morally and one who does not?' Kant believe that this question, or set of questions, could be answered that the key to it lay in distinguishing between acts done from 'inclination' and acts done from a 'sense of duty'. People often indulge in a certain course of action because they are forced to. For instance, if I am waylaid by a thief, I will be forced to turn my money over to him if I have any, or if I refuse, I am forced to suffer the consequences. In such a case, we would not ordinarily describe my actions as being 'voluntary actions', or 'actions done because I wanted to'. Nor would we say that I was 'doing my duty'. In this instance. Not a free agent; I am properly described as not acting either 'inclination' or 'from duty' but rather as 'being compelled to do it.' Hence, it is a requisite of any act being done from 'inclination' or 'duty' that it be the act of a free agent. Now, obviously, individuals often free in the above sense - nobody is forcing them to behave in a certain way, or otherwise constraining their behaviour. For instance I am free tonight either to go to a movie or to stay at
which are the best ways to achieve knowledge?
To answer this question I think it is necessary to firstly define the word knowledge. According to the English dictionary knowledge is the familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study or the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned. Plato said that for us to know something there are some conditions: it must be true, we must actually believe it and there must be sufficient evidence of it. He also stated that "There is nothing in the mind except what was first in the senses". To answer the essay question I am going to base it on this argument. There are various sources where we can get knowledge from: experience, reason, emotions... It can be said that all human-beings adopt knowledge by simple nature; it is our senses that see, tough, smell, taste or hear a reality and transform it into knowledge for our brains to store. Our memory will keep these realities for a short or long period of time. Memory is very important in that she allows us to access her in order to recuperate previously stored data that will help us remember some moment or reality. For example, we all know that if we throw a ball into the air we can expect it to fall back down, and that is because we have received this information through our senses, we have seen it happen many times so we expect it to do the same. It would not be true to say that we