Name: Phan Van Anh

Student ID: 11170374

Class: Advanced Finance 59B

HOMEWORK WEEK 1

1, What is ethics?

Ethics (moral philosophy) is the philosophical study of morality. It involves

systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.
Philosophers distinguish three major divisions in ethics, each one representing a
different way to approach the subject: Normative ethics (the study of the principles,
rules, or theories that guide our actions and judgments), Metaethics (the study of the
meaning and logical structure of moral beliefs), Applied Ethics (the application of
moral norms to specific moral issues or cases).

2, Explain the reason for infanticide among Eskimo people. Do you think
infanticide is unethical?

Reason:

Eskimo people did this for the survival of the group. First of all, even in the best of
times, a mother could sustain very few children and it is known that the males within
the Eskimo tribes are the hunters and food providers, so infanticide with female
infants is a must for Eskimo people because they think that the time spent suckling
a girl would delay the mother's next opportunity to bear a son. Secondly, the Eskimo
people migrate in the winter. Utensils, bedding, tools, weapons, furs, hides, garments
and fishing gear must be hauled on the sled or carried on the back. If there should
be a new baby in the family, the mother must decide whether or not the pack she
must carry is more important than the infant. In most cases the decision is made in
favor of the pack. Especially is this true if the infant is a female. Finally, they
recognized the need for a small population size, as to not overtax the resources of
their ecosystem. In order for a population to survive with any sort of ease, size had
to be maintained. The environment around Eskimo people was not conducive to a
growth in population. They acknowledged this fact and instituted practices that
would allow the continuation of their lineage.

Do you think infanticide is unethical?

It depends. In the period of early humans or for example Eskimo people times, I
think infanticide is not unethical. Because people only did this for survival. This
infanticide does not signal that Eskimos have less compassion for their children, nor
less respect for human life; it is merely recognition that murder is sometimes needed
to ensure that the Eskimos do not become culturally extinct. But for modern society
where we are living in now, when we have sufficient conditions and knowledge to
be able to survive without infanticide or other horrifying misconducts, infanticide is
unethical.