Question 1: Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)

I believe that it is more important to possess action ethics. Virtue and action ethics go hand in hand though as the notes said. You really possess both of these if you have one of them. Overall, I say that it is more important to perform good acts. This shows others what your thought process is and how you are morally. For example, if I saw a poster for a lost dog, I would immediately start to make phone calls or go out and help find the dog. This shows others that I know what is right and that in certain situations, it is morally right to lend a hand. By performing good acts, I am improving how I look to others while also making myself feel better. Actions truly show what people are like and you can learn a lot about someone by seeing how they act in certain situations. Sometimes people misuse tasks that help others in order to make themselves look better. This isn’t always the case though. For example, my grandfather flew in three wars. During World War Two, his officer asked for volunteers for a mission that they basically described as a suicide mission. My grandfather at the time wasn’t married and immediately stepped forward, knowing that most of his comrades had families at home. With his leadership, other men stepped up to go with him. By performing actions like this, true ethics are shown of a person and rub off on others. Action ethics help show what is right and wrong. Someone can possess virtue ethics but not always act out on them.

Question 3: Does the process by which decisions are made matter more than the outcomes of these decisions (procedural justice vs. distributive justice)?

The decision making process is more important than the outcomes of decisions. As the reading said, procedural justice is all about how decisions are made and who they will affect down the line. Major decisions need to be planned out before. The outcomes can be unexpected, but without planning anything, you are just going in blind. Distributive justice tries to balance the good and bad of the situations outcomes and these can’t always be measured. Going back to the story with my grandpa in the war, he knew that he may not return from the mission, but he sat down with his crew and supervisors to design a plan that gave them the best chance to survive. Decisions had to be made about where they would land, how they would fly into the area, and how they would rescue the hostages that they needed to get. Without any planning, my grandfather would not be alive today. They already knew the possible outcomes of the situation and that didn’t matter to them. The future is always up in the air, so if people didn’t make decisions to try and better the situation in the future, they would never know what could have been. Procedural justice helps people make the right choices for them when they need them instead of taking into account many outcomes that most likely won’t happen to them.

Question 6: Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

I know that my life is just as important as every one else on this planet. This idea mostly comes from my faith and family. I am no more special than anyone else on Earth. For me, I believe that I lean more towards altruism. I have always been the guy that puts others needs in front of mine. It is all about how I was raised. We always learned that family and friends came first and I have had those ethics pounded into me since day one. There are certain situations where I can be selfish, but they are when I really want to get ahead, like in sports. Sometimes during hockey practices or tryouts, I would try to matchup against a kid that I knew was not as good as me so I stood out more. But then there have been other times where I had to give up my own stuff to help others. In high school, I missed a couple hockey games in order to travel to a poorer part of my county in order to help pack food and other items and deliver baskets to people who needed help. I try as hard as I can to stay away from being selfish and making sure that others are happy when they are around me.

Jason (J.R.) Brown

jrb6147

1.Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?

I think this question is one of the hardest questions among all but if I have to answer, I think it is more important to perform good acts rather than to be a good person. We all know that being a good person and performing good acts demonstrates a strong positive correlation. However, how will someone know that you are a good person if you don’t act it out or show it? In my perspective, in order to perform a good act, one needs to hold the characteristics, values and beliefs of what a good person has. A good action occurs from a good person. If we think deeply, there are good people around the world, whose actions aren’t good at all. In our social norm, actions have far more direct impact than rather being who you are. That’s one reason why in our world, we have laws and punishments. Moreover, for example, one of my friend back in high school believed she was a good person. However, her actions did not help her to be viewed as a good person. If one does not reflect who they are, it is hard to view them as who they are. For all these reasons, I believe it is more crucial to perform good acts than to be a good person.

5.) Do the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans (speciesism)?

Speciesism which is the view that some species are more ethically important that others as explained in the module, is a concept that grabs my full attention. As a animal lover and an owner of a pet, I do believe the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matters. However, I can’t say their feelings matter as much as us, the humans, because of my diet. I was very confused how to answer this question but since I do love eating meats, drinking milk, eating bacon and all, I couldn’t say they matter as much as us, because it does not reflect who I am. However, that does not and will never mean that we are allowed to hurt them except for our survival. The food chain goes around in circle. The predator will eat their food source no matter what happens and that wouldn’t change. With that being said, I disagree that we are allowed to harm animals unless it directly leads to human survival.

6.Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

I think this was the hardest question among all 6 questions because it holds the matter of life. I wouldn’t want to answer this but if I do, I think my own life is worth the same as anyone else, no more or no less. In my religious (Christian) belief, I think we are all created equally to others. No people could be more important than others because of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, intelligence, or other factors. We all are unique human being, holding different perspective and beliefs. No one can judge or decide who are better than anyone else. However even if I do believe we are all important and worthy, we will encounter certain circumstances that will change my mind. For example, if there is a situation to save a serial killer and normal citizen, I would hold the hand of the normal citizen without a doubt. These people who destroy someone else’s lives or act upon a negative thoughts, must be punished for what they have done.