A Basis for Morality
In humanity's quest to distinguish itself from the rest of the animal world, a claim to morality has long been one of its greatest arguments. Perhaps second only to reason as a distinguishing characteristic, the ability to exhibit moral behavior instills in humans a distinct sense of natural order. Yet when anthropocentric egoism is dropped and we recognize that we are not, in fact, much different from other animals, our distinctive moral behavior begs explanation. What compels the majority of humans to behave morally? Why do some not? How should we respond to behaviors that are either immoral or amoral? Do we possess an innate sense of morality, determined by our neurobiology? Or to put it another (more provocative) way, is morality absolute?
To begin understanding the causes of moral behavior, we must understand what we mean by morality. First, it must be emphasized that the specifics of morality - whether a given instance of behavior is moral - is not in question here. Abortion may or may not be moral; that is a very different question. At issue here is the question of why we choose one behavior over another on grounds of morality, and how it is possible that we can consider behaviors in terms of "right" and "wrong." This brings forth an assumption implicit in morality. In judging the morality or immorality of a behavior, we accept the assertion that the behavior is chosen by the actor. Any behavior that is not chosen is considered amoral, outside the realm of morality. Thus, free will is seen as a necessary predicate of morality. This assumption will be considered more thoroughly later.
Morality itself may be considered in two parts: behavior that directly affects other individuals and behavior ...
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5)Depression, from the National Institute for Mental Health.
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Cobb, Paul. "Introduction." Ibn Munqidh, Usama. Book of Contemplation Islam and the Crusades. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. xv-xlii.
In order to achieve this purpose, “ecclesiastical discourse needed Crusade propaganda from1095 through the next century and a half.”(mohja)This propaganda presents Islam as oppressor and Muslims as “monsters”(Arab monsters).The Muslims’ image was based on and inspired by the oppressor “pagan Roman ruler”. In light of this, the church tried to show that the authority and wealth of the Arab Islamic world is the cause of its corruption, and assured the moral superiority of the Christian realm, as it is through poverty that virtuous can be achieved. Such a wealth was the cause of a hidden malevolence and jealousy: “the hatred of the unprivileged for the privileged" (Daniels 1975'
Crusading, much like Imperialism in the 20th century, was all about expansion. During the middle ages however, it was more about the expansion of religion rather then power, or at least that’s the way it was preached. Crusading by definition is; “ a holy war authorized by the pope, who proclaimed it in the name of god of Christ. It was believed to be Christ’s own enterprise, legitimized by his personal mandate” (1). This essay examines the background of the crusades to offer a better understanding as to why they occurred. It also examines the effects that the crusades had on the world. It is easy to look at the crusades as a violent meaningless act, but one must understand the type of setting this movement occurred during. This was a time when if you took part in the crusades, you were seen as a warrior of god, recruited by the pope. Any man who fought in the name of god would be rewarded in heaven. Popular belief in the 10th and 11th centuries was that the more you did for god, the less accountable you were for you’re past sins. The more deeds you did, the better your credit in the ‘Treasury of God’ (2). The Treasury of God is a summarization of the good deed outweighing the bad deed principle of the time. Acts of violence in the name of god are far less common in the world today. But, as seen with September 11th, jihad or holy war is still occurring. This essay gives a basic timeline and underlying principles behind the crusading missions. Justification for these acts remains unclear and is simply opinion based.
Spanning from 1095 to 1212 C.E, the Crusades were an effort made by medieval Christians to regain their holy lands back from the Muslims. There were five crusades in total going in order from the First Crusade to the Children's Crusade. A few were effective in their own respects although these Crusades proved costly to the European Kingdoms as a result of large losses of life. This paper will explore these crusades and explain why some succeeded whereas others failed.
Nurses are the ones whom trust is placed to care for the sick, but with the growing population of chemically impaired nurses, patient care is in danger. Factors that are contributing to substance abuse among nurses need to be further explored to combat the issue and provide better quality care for patients.
Premack, D. (2007). Foundation of morality in the infant. Social brain matters: Stances on the neurobiology of social cognition, 190, 161-167.
Some of the reasons why nurses turn to substances for relief include; emotional impairment, drug use, alcoholism, and emotional abuse due to low self-esteem, overachievement, and overwork(Dunn, 2005). The environment in which a nurse works can have a great impact on how the nurse deals with the stressors of work. A nurse’s home environment can also have an effect on the nurse’s risk of substance abuse. A nurse is helping troubled family members either in a positive or negative effect. An example of a negative environment for the patient would be one in which the family is enabling the nurses addiction. On the other hand a positive environment would be if the family would be encouraging of the abuser to seek help and to reform their life in order to better sever the community and others. One of the facts that lead nurses to developing substances abuses is that nurses have a higher incidence of alcoholism in their family. Familial alcoholism leads to alcohol abuse in approximately 80% of nurses who had an alcoholic family member (Dunn,
The second reason to act morally is because there is religion. Sometimes moral codes are obtained by theologians who clarify holy books, like the Bible in Christianity, the Torah in Judaism, and the Qur 'an in Islam. Their conclusions are often accepted as absolute by their believers. Those who believe in God view him as the supreme law giver; a God to whom we owe obedience and allegiance. In other words, they think that being a good person is one who obey god by following his commandments. Religion helps people to judge whether a certain act is good or bad, which can be considered as the definition of morality. Most religions promote the same values which are: fairness, loyalty, honesty, trust, etc.... Similarly, McGinn lists the same qualities
Talbert, JeanAnne Johnson. "Substance Abuse Among Nurses." Clinical Journal Of Oncology Nursing 13.1 (2009): 17-19. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Dec. 2013
James Rachels expresses his thoughts on what a satisfactory moral theory would be like. Rachels says a “satisfactory theory would be realistic about where human beings fit in the grand scheme of things” (Rachels, 173). Even though there is an existing theory on how humans came into this world there is not enough evidence to prove the theory to be correct. In addition to his belief of knowing how our existence came into play, he also has a view on the way we treat people and the consequences of our actions. My idea of a satisfactory moral theory would be treating people the way we wish to be treated, thinking of what results from our doings, as well as living according to the best plan.
...elop morals as a result of practical material situations and experience as described in The Grapes of Wrath and confirmed by the ideas of Plato. We humans evolved from creatures of pure instinct into something that craved a sense of order; the concept of morality is likely a byproduct of this. Ultimately it is more likely that we born morally neutral as opposed to good or evil. We were born creatures of instinct, but we have the capacity to distinguish right and wrong. This is entirely due to cultural upbringing as well as experience and practical material situations.
Several centuries after they ended, the Crusades are remembered as wars that were fought and lost in the name of God. The efforts and means utilized and maintained to continue to wage a battle for more than one hundred years is memorable nonetheless. While we say that these wars were fought in the name of God, it is simply not that easy to define. The causes for the Crusades cannot be traced to an isolated event but rather several factors that operated together to create a climate of religious fervor to fight for the name of God. Power, piety, zeal, determination are words we can use to define some of the reasons that drove men to establish a war with another race of people, in which little was known. The Crusades are a story as much about the nature of man as they are the nature of politics and religion. The religious reasons led to social and economic ramifications that changed the political landscape forever. We see the Crusades as religious wars but a closer inspection reveals that they were fought for various reasons with
Nike actually was able to complete 3 out of the 5 stages for corporate responsibility, which were Defensive, Compliance and Managerial. They are still taking steps to achieve corporate responsibility strategies that will enhance their enforcement policies for the future. The main reason Nike failed to address corporate social responsibility early on is because they didn’t come up with a solution that would benefit globally. They were so concerned with their reputation locally but worldwide they weren’t known as the best company. Another huge flaw Nike showed was to blame the Third World Countries for their labor laws and minimum pay
For years, the matter of morality has been a widespread topic of discussion, debating whether it is a product of our chemical composition or our free will. Before I get started, I will provide you with what I believe morality exactly is. Ethics is a “code of conduct,” much like a University’s student handbook, but applied to the expected morality of a larger group or society. Morals are how individuals choose to interpret and follow such code. Just as a student may not always act in complete obedience with the student handbook, humans also deviate from their ethical codes of conduct. Therefore, morals are the set of a person’s specific values and opinions formed by their interpretation of their society’s code of ethics. With this version of the meaning of morality, I believe that individual free-will and the neurological hardwiring in which we are born with both significantly influence the development of our mature human morality due to a variety of factors including: human brain development, differences in our upbringing and education, which give rise to disparities in matters such as what is considered right or wrong, decision-making processes, and our ultimate behavioral choices, and lastly, because morality cannot exist if based solely on human nature, it must also involve our own self-determination. My position that morality is not the product of one side of the debate or the other, but rather arises through the integration of both components, allows for a complete demonstration of morality in its entirety. In this system, the ambiguities present in the one-sided arguments are removed, making it easy to link any individual’s action to their personal moral accountability.
The concept of morality differs for every individual. Morality is one 's concept of right and wrong as defined by the individual 's society, family, religion, ethnicity and even gender. It is also subject to the individual 's interpretation and experience. This lends credence to the idea that no one 's morality is exactly the same. The next logical question to answer would be how does one develop their morality? Developmental behaviorist such as Piaget and Kohlberg developed theories for this moral development and how it progresses from childhood into adulthood (Barsky, 2010). Kohlberg 's theory centers around three levels of growth: preconventional reasoning, conventional reasoning, and postconventional reasoning. The levels progress from