The making of a promise involves the voluntary giving of one's word that, if and when a particular circumstance or situation comes about, one will undertake to act in a manner defined by the terms of the promise one has given. The act of making the promise, in other words, implies a willingness to keep it. What is being agreed is that, on the basis of something said in the past, one's future actions will, insofar as the future is foreseeable, follow a particular course and no other.
On the related, but rather different question of the motivation involved in keeping a promise, it may be that the promise-maker's acting or deciding in a particular way places him in a position identical to or in complete sympathy with the person to whom the promise has been made. Equally, it is, possible that events may turn out in such a way as to suggest that to keep the promise would be harmful to the interest of the person to whom it was made. Should this dilemma arise, whether or not the promise is kept must depend upon the particular circumstances of the case. Choosing not to keep a promise in such a situation would be not a demonstration of the promiser's inability to keep his word, but a clear indication of his quite proper awareness that, in deciding what course to take, the promiser has quite properly concluded that the interest of others must be placed before his own.
This situation is philosophically interesting in two immediately apparent ways: firstly, because of the questions which it raises concerning the ways in which a present or future obligation might be argued to exist in relation to a promise given in the past; secondly, because it is possible to imagine a society in which the concept of keeping promises does not exist, s...
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... that of being possible beneficiaries by my action. They do stand in this relation to me, and this relation is morally significant. But they may also stand to me in the relation of promisee to promiser, of creditor to debtor, of wife to husband, of child to parent, of friend to friend, of fellow countryman to fellow countryman, and the like; and each of these relations is the foundation of a prima facie duty, which is more or less incumbent on me according to the circumstances of the case."
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Mackie, J. L. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong Penguin, 1977
Norman, Richard The Moral Philosophers Oxford University Press, 1983
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Lang, H.J.. “How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Any goal in life is achieved through ambition, fueled by determination, desire and hard work. Ambition maybe a driving force to success or to a pit of failure, the path chosen by an individual determines the end. Remember that any goal to be fulfilled needs desire, desire that strives to do good or greedy desire that is selfish. Also the actions that contribute to our ‘hard work’ need to be morally and ethically right to enjoy the sweet success. However, when the desire and determination is stronger than conscience, many tend to fail often reach or don’t reach what they strived for, leaving them emotionally or even physically dead. The inner lying consequence of ambition is clearly stated by Napoleon, he quotes “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them”. The undesirable consequence of ambition can be observed in the lives of the protagonists of ‘The Great Gatsby and Macbeth. This describes the direction in which ambition is driven could change the end result, it is simply based on the individual itself rather than the dream they seek to achieve. Therefore, the strong drive of ambition helps the seeker attain their goal but greedy desires and wrong paths taken eventually lead to downfall.
ABSTRACT: This paper explores the connection between supererogation and the integrity of ethical agents. It argues two theses: (1) there is a generally unrecognized but crucial social dimension to the moral integrity of individuals which challenges individual ideals and encourages supererogation; (2) the social dimension of integrity, however, must have limits that preserve the individuals's integrity. The concept of integrity is explored through recent works by Christine Korsgaard, Charles Taylor, and Susan Babbitt. A life of integrity is in part a life whereby one 'lives up to' one's own deeply held values. Yet, as one seeks to transcend the realm of the morally customary or the dutiful, one must check one's progress not only against one's own ideals but against the ideals and behavior of the ethical community. To answer affirmatively to one's own ideals is to hear the call of integrity both from within oneself and from without. However, by being free to hear, the freedom to close one's ears inevitably will arise. Only actions displaying such freedom can be actions of moral integrity. Since supererogatory actions are always left to an agent's discretion-that is, are fully optional-they show in paradigmatic fashion the integrity of moral agents. While an ethic of integrity and supererogation provides challenges to members of an ethical community by encouraging them continually to reevaluate their actions and character in reference to postulated ideals, it also leads us to be quite wary of judging individual's moral motives from the outside. A passage by Jonathan Kozol is cited that suggests our society routinely demands supererogatory action from its poorest members. This i...
The proper response to an autonomy-exercising choice is one of respect, and this respect seems to counsel non-interference with the agent's choice even if we believe the consequences of interfering would be superior for the agent. Preference-evincing choices often give us reason for non-interference as well, but only because we think the consequences of doing so will be better in some respect for the agent. (Zwolinski,
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
Gilger, Lauren, and Maria Tomasch. "Are E-cigarettes Safe to Use? New Research Shows Metals Found in Vapor Of Electronic Cigarettes." Abc15.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
I understand a theory of political legitimacy to give an account of the justice of political arrangements. (3) I understand a theory of political obligation to give an account of why and under what conditions, citizens are morally required to obey the rules constituting those arrangements. The social contract tradition offers us hypothetical consent theories of both political obligation and political legitimacy, frequently neglecting to distinguish the two ideas. Likewise, the common objection to hypothetical consent theories — that hypothetical contracts do not bind — ...
Miller, Richard W.. "Beneficence, Duty And Distance." Philosophy Public Affairs 32, no. 4 (2004): 357-383.
Morality ivolves distinguishing which human behaviors are right or wrong and good or bad. Morality covers topics such as harm, rights and justice, and therefore it is mainly concerned with protecting every idividual. There has been a culture of war between liberals and conservatives all based upon human morality aspects (Haidt & Graham, 2007, p. 1). Cultural war can be termed as the division in personal opinions and thoughts between open-minded people or liberals and the conventional or traditionalists, also known as conservatives.
(Raloff “Dangers of Vaping” 20) A research team looking into dry and scratchy throats reported by e-cigarette users also found that the vapors caused intense inflammation of lung cells. Public reports indicate symptoms associated with e-cigarettes include trouble breathing, dizziness, nose bleeds, chest pains, and heart palpitations. (Gostin and Glasner 595) The idea that e-cigarette vapors are safer than combustion cigarettes is due to the fact that the user inhales an aerosol rather than smoke, which contains tar and many other dangerous chemicals. That idea, however, is under the belief that a harmless water vapor is all that is being inhaled, which is a mistruth with possibly deadly consequences. Vaping fluids often contain minute traces of varying compounds and trace amounts of metals, and some reports indicate hazardous compounds such as formaldehyde, acrolein, and glyoxal. (Bekki et al. 11192) One of the greatest challenges facing researchers attempting to test vaping fluids and delivery systems is the sheer magnitude of varieties available. One survey taken in January 2014 showed 466 different brands of e-cigarettes on the market, along with 7,764, uniquely flavored e-liquids while hundreds more appear each month (Raloff “Dangers of Vaping”
Polosa, Riccardo, et al. "A Fresh Look at Tobacco Harm Reduction: The Case for the Electronic Cigarette." Harm Reduction Journal 10.1 (2013): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
The author defined "owe" as a form of obligation that is to be fulfilled unwillingly. In support of her argument she presented the case of friendship. When two people are friends they help each other, but they are not obliged to make their share of sacrifices. She stated that the term "owe" undermines the role of mutuality. "Owe" represents obligations that must be fulfilled irrespective of the person's emotions. Thus, the term "owe" should not be used to refer to a child's duties towards his/her parents.
This is because what you exhale from e-cigs isn’t a vapor as the makers claim it to be, it’s a toxic aerosol (http://www.nbcnews.com/). This was made a health advisory because the e-juices used have at least 10 confirmed chemicals on California’s list of carcinogens, which means chemicals directly related to cancer, such as benzene, formaldehyde, lead and nickel. At first these just sound like science words, but then you see formaldehyde is found in not only in “vape smoke”, its found in cigarette smoke and vehicles tailpipe exhaust (www.newsmax.com/). In e-cigarettes there are 10 known carcinogens, keep in mind they just started being researched, in regular cigarettes there are 69 known (www.lung.org/). In your mind it sounds like cigarettes are a lot worse, but along with 10 cancerous chemicals, there is the fact that e-juice is literally just liquid nicotine with some flavoring. Liquid nicotine is highly lethal. Less than one tablespoon of these juices can be enough to kill an adult, and one teaspoon is able to kill children. Whether adsorbed through your skin or swallowed. In September 2010 poison control centers would only get one call a month for this reason, between then and February 2014 these calls started averaging to 216 calls a month. That’s .3% to 41.7%, 51% of those calls were accidental poisoning of kids 5 years or younger
In a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “the current smoking has declined from nearly 21 of every 100 adults (20.9%) in 2005 to nearly 17 of every 100 adults (16.8%) in 2014.”(44) This is happening because cigarette smokers are switching to e-cigarettes. Vaping has been slowly gaining popularity over the past couple of years. In a recent study conducted Pennsylvania State University, they concluded that; ”Two-thirds had previously tried to quit smoking using an FDA-approved smoking cessation medication. The majority of the group had used e-cigs daily for at least a year. Three-quarters have started using e-cigs with the intention of quitting smoking and almost all felt that the e-cig had helped them to succeed in quitting smoking.”(J. Foulds 2011) These findings show that E-cigarettes are a good way to stop smoking for cigarette
Almost everyone knows the health risks involved with smoking tobacco. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) give habitual smokers the most promising results of tobacco reduction or cessation. There are some that disagree with the use of e-cigarettes however; the benefits are exceptional for those looking to quit this habit. It significantly lowers their health risks related with smoking tobacco and, unlike cigarettes, it does not release any harmful toxic chemical substances. E-cigarettes are also more cost efficient than buying a pack of cigarettes. Although there are some that oppose the use of the economical e-cigarettes, the advantages are greater because