What is ethics ----------------------
------------and how do we justify our actions?
In a documentary called Examined Life by Astra Taylor, philosophers are exposed to the world to discuss their ideas and beliefs. Although many presented amazing arguments and opinions, one that stood out the most to me is one by Peter Singer, whom argues about implied ethics and how do we justify our actions.
So just what is ethics?
Peter Singer believes that ethics is something that comes from oneself and it is what we decide to do in our lives. Implied ethics is something that challenges morals; morals are something that we have held onto for a very long time. Ethics is not something one do for themselves, but something that affects others as well. Because ethics can be different for everyone else, it can challenge morals.
“When you start to look at issues ethically, you have to do more than to think of your own interest; you have to ask yourself… how do I take in the account the interest of others?”
When one looks at ethics as something that affects others, the question of – how do we reduce suffering in the world? How does one decide what to do?
What justifies our actions?
In the beginning of Singer’s interview, while walking around New York, he exclaimed that it is the center of one of the richest country in the world, and that raises an ethical problem. In one of Singer’s books, he raised a scenario where a person was walking alongside a pond when he spots a child drowning. Instinctively, the person jumped into the lake to save the child not even bothering to take off his new shoes, consequently ruining them. Although the person did save the child, he threw out all the money it took to buy the shoes doing so. Instead of buying the shoes with that certain amount of money, the person could have donated that money to a charity organization like Unicef where he could have saved one or more children in a 3rd world country from simple illnesses like a cold or diarrhea.
So what justifies how we spend our money?
Ethics is what the choices we choose to do, and one is how we spend our money. It is not what we spend our money on; it is what we do not spend our money on. What one decides to do and what one omits to do.
“When a person decides to spend $1,000 on a new suit, they believe that they are not harming anyone, but given the opportunities to help and given the way the world is, I think that we are failing to help someone. We have obligations to help, not to harm.”
Peter Singer believes that the meaning of life is to help others; make our lives meaningful.
In today’s world, people are taking too many things for granted and are too greedy. Yes, some people do work for their own money to buy their own things, but why buy something for an unnecessary high price, when you can buy something that would work just as well at a lower price? Why buy a luxurious car for hundreds of thousands of dollars when you can buy a near equally nice car at just a few tens of thousands and save hundreds of lives by donating the money to an organization that gives aid to the poor and sick? People in today’s world are too materialistic and putting themselves at a greater priority than others. Peter Singer believes that is not the meaning of life; it is to help as much as one can.
------------and how do we justify our actions?
In a documentary called Examined Life by Astra Taylor, philosophers are exposed to the world to discuss their ideas and beliefs. Although many presented amazing arguments and opinions, one that stood out the most to me is one by Peter Singer, whom argues about implied ethics and how do we justify our actions.
So just what is ethics?
Peter Singer believes that ethics is something that comes from oneself and it is what we decide to do in our lives. Implied ethics is something that challenges morals; morals are something that we have held onto for a very long time. Ethics is not something one do for themselves, but something that affects others as well. Because ethics can be different for everyone else, it can challenge morals.
“When you start to look at issues ethically, you have to do more than to think of your own interest; you have to ask yourself… how do I take in the account the interest of others?”
When one looks at ethics as something that affects others, the question of – how do we reduce suffering in the world? How does one decide what to do?
What justifies our actions?
In the beginning of Singer’s interview, while walking around New York, he exclaimed that it is the center of one of the richest country in the world, and that raises an ethical problem. In one of Singer’s books, he raised a scenario where a person was walking alongside a pond when he spots a child drowning. Instinctively, the person jumped into the lake to save the child not even bothering to take off his new shoes, consequently ruining them. Although the person did save the child, he threw out all the money it took to buy the shoes doing so. Instead of buying the shoes with that certain amount of money, the person could have donated that money to a charity organization like Unicef where he could have saved one or more children in a 3rd world country from simple illnesses like a cold or diarrhea.
So what justifies how we spend our money?
Ethics is what the choices we choose to do, and one is how we spend our money. It is not what we spend our money on; it is what we do not spend our money on. What one decides to do and what one omits to do.
“When a person decides to spend $1,000 on a new suit, they believe that they are not harming anyone, but given the opportunities to help and given the way the world is, I think that we are failing to help someone. We have obligations to help, not to harm.”
Peter Singer believes that the meaning of life is to help others; make our lives meaningful.
In today’s world, people are taking too many things for granted and are too greedy. Yes, some people do work for their own money to buy their own things, but why buy something for an unnecessary high price, when you can buy something that would work just as well at a lower price? Why buy a luxurious car for hundreds of thousands of dollars when you can buy a near equally nice car at just a few tens of thousands and save hundreds of lives by donating the money to an organization that gives aid to the poor and sick? People in today’s world are too materialistic and putting themselves at a greater priority than others. Peter Singer believes that is not the meaning of life; it is to help as much as one can.
Your first response presents a good summary of Singer's ideas and offers up some engagement with those idea. The response could have engaged a bit more and been a bit more lengthy.
ReplyDelete13/15