Francis Fukuyama's Theory Of Human Morality

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Today science is moving quickly and people like the Dalai Lama are trying to Establish ethics in science before science outpaces ethics all together. Fukuyama has published a few papers about ethics over the years. In one his more recent papers Human Dignity he discusses his ideas about human ethics and what they are based in. While I agree with many of the principal points in Human Dignity there are multiple definite flaws riddled throughout the piece.
Before Fukuyama lays out what his ideas of Human dignity are he discusses his theory called Factor X. Factor X is “The sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species a raising from genetic rather than environmental factors.”Francis Fukuyama Our Poast Human Future …show more content…

Social norms are more like the moral laws for different communities of humans. An example of social norms is the handshake. In the U.S. when you meet someone new you are expected to shake their hand as a form of greeting and a gesture of good will. If you do not then people will judge you because they judge people as unfriendly if they do not shake hands. In other countries there are different types of greetings like bowing in china and Japan. Refusing to bow is insulting to the other person and you are directed to do it by social norms. Different social norms are created by people who all believe the same thing and ensure that everyone does it. For example, People will make each other shake hands to ensure that everyone does …show more content…

In Fukuyama’s words, Human dignity is the badge of factor X. This means that if person 1 feels that person 2 has human dignity than Person 2 fits in Person 1’s Factor X. If you once again imagine the redline that separates humans from non-humans the red line is human dignity. Anyone that a person believes does not have human dignity has crossed their red line and is now no longer considered human. It is possible for Person 2 to believe that person 1 has no human dignity even if person 1 believes that person 2 does. This is because the red line that is human dignity changes from one person to

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