Philosophy 1120: Social Ethics E Portfolio Assignment Part II

Answer the following questions. I would like to see at least 3-4 sentences for each answer if possible. This is worth up
to 30 points. Please spend some time on your answers.

1. Overall, how has your understanding of your personal values, if any way, been impacted by the course material?

I don’t think that my understanding of my personal values has changed in any meaningful way as a result of this
course. That is not to say that I have not learned anything, only that I have spent a considerable amount of time
prior to this course thinking through my opinions and values to try to understand how/why I believe what I do
believe. I expect that had I taken this course several years ago this answer would probably be different.

2. What are your thoughts on Cultural relativism after taking this course? Cultural relativism is the idea that a
person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be
judged against the criteria of another.

My thoughts on cultural relativism are complicated. While I like the idea of cultural relativism there is a
disconnect between intellectual appreciation and what I actually believe. There is something to be said for not
looking down on another culture for doing things differently, however, every culture has room for improvement
in how they operate. I cannot reconcile cultural relativism with that – by accepting that every culture is free to
do as they choose because that’s their culture we deny the opportunity for growth.

3. What are your thoughts on Utilitarianism after taking this course? Utilitarianism is a tradition stemming from
the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
according to which an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the
reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the performer of the action but also that of everyone affected
by it.

I was thinking about this the other day in regards to the results of the election. It simply isn’t possible to give
everyone the best possible outcome. In some alternate reality where we get 100% voter turn out and Trump got
60% of the vote, the utilitarian approach would be to not fight that outcome because it’s what the majority
believes creates good for them, and who am I to suggest that my version of good is better than their version of
good. So in that reality, everything else being the same, could I morally rationalize protesting? Could I feel okay
about denying the majority their good?

4. What are your thoughts on Kantianism or Deontology after taking this course? Deontology places special
emphasis on the relationship between duty and the morality of human actions. In deontological ethics an action
is considered morally good because of some characteristic of the action itself, not because the product of the
action is good. Deontological ethics holds that at least some acts are morally obligatory regardless of their
consequences for human welfare.

This entirely depends on who we believe we have a duty to. If the duty is to someone else, I am not onboard
with it. If the duty is to ourselves, then I can get behind it. I think that we each have the ability to define our own
values and decide what we believe is the ideal life for ourselves. Each of us has a duty to ourselves to live in a
way that facilitates living a life in line with that ideal.
5. What are your thoughts on Virtue Ethics after taking this course? Virtue ethics is a broad term for theories that
emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing one’s duty or acting in
order to bring about good consequences. A virtue ethicist is likely to give you this kind of moral advice: “Act as a
virtuous person would act in your situation.”

This follows closely along with my answer to number 4. If we all strive to live what we view as our best lives, we
are consistently acting how what our version of a virtuous person would act in our situations. I have the same
stipulation as the last one in that it is entirely dependent on who gets to determine what qualities a virtuous
person has. If we operate with someone else’s view as virtuous as our guideline, I’m not about it. If we act with
our own personal views of what a virtuous person does, then I’d say my views align a lot more with virtue ethics
than anything else.

6. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Abortion.

My perspective on abortion has not changed at all. My opinions, in general, default to respecting the autonomy
that everyone possesses. There has not been any argument that I see as holding weight that gives an unborn
fetus more autonomy than the woman carrying it, as such I believe that abortion is morally permissible.

7. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of euthanasia.

My understanding/perspective has not changed on euthanasia. Same thing as above – I believe that everyone
has autonomy over their own lives. For me, this means that everyone has the right to die whenever they choose.
Everyone is welcome to continue living, or they are welcome to not. I have no say in what anyone else chooses
to do, and I would not claim to have the authority to deny someone their autonomy.

8. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Stem cell Research

Same as above – my understanding/perspectives have not changed. I’ve addressed it in a few different places
throughout the class, but I believe that stem cell research is advantageous. It does not matter to me where the
stem cells come from, the amount of good that can come from understanding a process by which we can
literally regrow organs outweighs everything else.

9. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Cloning

Again, no change to my views. I think the advantages outweigh everything else. There’s not much to add to this.

10. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Genetically Modified
Foods

No change. I think that we developed alongside a world that is completely indifferent to our survival, and that
any advantage we can give ourselves is a positive. However, we have a responsibility to maintain ecosystems
that we throw into chaos when we make crops that are pesticide resistant. Ecosystems are a circle and we
cannot prioritize our survival over everything else’s.
11. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Designer Babies

No change. I think that we’ve overpopulated the planet and the only way to guarantee long term survival of
humans as a species is to cull our numbers to the point where we aren’t overextending the resources available
to us. The only way we can do this is if we make more resilient humans. Although the technology is not there
yet, the more research that is one into designer babies, the more we learn about editing genes to get rid of
diseases. This process eventually negates the need for genetic diversity.

12. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Organ trafficking and
donation

No change. I think that organ trafficking is abhorrent, and organ donation is admirable. There isn’t much else I
can add to this.

13. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of Genetic Engineering

See my answer to designer babies. Genetic engineering is the only way we survive long term as a species. We
need to get to the point where we are immune/resistant to disease so we can afford to have fewer people. The
earth cannot sustain our levels of population/continued population growth.

14. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of drug use and abuse

No change. I believe that part of having autonomy means being able to put whatever you want into your body. I
think that all drugs should be legalized and made available for purchase with regulation. I think that part of that
is making honest education available so that people can make educated choices about what they put into their
bodies, but that even if it’s generally recognized as a bad idea, it’s totally fine for them to do so.

15. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of guns and personal liberty

No change to my opinions here. Similar to my views on autonomy being a priority, I believe that anything that
gives the most amount of freedoms to the most amount of people is a positive thing. For guns specifically, I
think that we need to do a better job of educating and regulating them so that anyone who owns a gun can
confidently utilize it in an emergency situation without doing more harm.

16. How has your understanding and perspectives changed or not changed on the topic of capital punishment

No change to my opinion on Capital punishment. I’ve always held the opinion that taking a life in retribution for
a crime is revenge. That revenge and justice cannot exist hand in hand. I think that the death penalty should
exist as an opt in as an alternative to spending your life behind bars.
17. Of all of the topics above, which three were most interesting to you and why?

This is a hard question to answer – I expect that for the average student they have some idea of what each of
these things are, but haven’t ever spent the time or energy to cultivate an opinion beyond the first thought that
came to them on it, however, I have spent a considerable amount of time researching all of these beforehand.
From a purely intellectual level – stem cell research/cloning/genetic engineering are fun to imagine the
possibilities and future of. From an argumentative perspective, I love having conversations about euthanasia and
the right to die because of how far out in the left field my opinion is. From a life experience perspective, drugs
are interesting because I’ve experimented and educated myself on them.

18. Of the topics above, which topic did you learn the most about after this course?

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I learned any significant amount about any of the topics above. I definitely
learned things along the way – but there is no readily apparent “aha” moment that happened with any of them,
or significant amount of new information that added to or changed my opinions.

19. Of the topics above, what was your favorite overall topic and why?

See my answer to number 17 and 18 – it’s hard to pick a favorite for the same reasons.

20. Any personal message to me about the course and your journey as a student with Social Ethics

I am going to do my best to convey this in the tone it is intended – positive and from the heart. I had very high
hopes coming into this class that we would engage in world view shattering conversations. That we would have
discourse and disagreement. That we would argue the pros and cons of our opinions with people that hold
opposite opinions. This was later adjusted to the hope that ANY amount of alternate opinions would be shared.
What I found however was that the class was an echo-chamber where we spent an inordinate amount of class
time with the same handful of students sharing the same opinion that had already been shared in a fashion I can
only describe as “I agree with your point, here’s the same point phrased in a different way”. We spent weeks on
abortion because of how much people felt like sharing and shorted other modules even though everyone who
vocally shared an opinion had the same exact opinion. I understand that from the perspective of an instructor,
you have no way of knowing what someone is going to say prior to saying it and that it’s important to give the
opportunity to share so that the discourse I had hoped for can happen, however, there were plenty of
opportunities to reign in the conversation so that we could get through the material when it was clear that no
alternate opinion was going to be shared.