4 questions. 200 word answer per question.
1. Ruth Benedict says, “Normality…is culturally defined,” and “the concept of the normal is properly a variant of the concept of [the] good” Benedict is saying that what any culture or society deems to be a good, right, or correct action and morally good, or at least morally appropriate, behavior will in fact be such in relation to the belief system and practices of that culture or society. This leaves the door open for a wide variety of ways of life, of ethical codes, of individual behavior to be acknowledged not only as acceptable, but also as morally good.
Christina Hoff Sommers argues that there are basic human virtues that are not relative to time, place, circumstance or situation. Sommers writes, “It is wrong to mistreat a child, to humiliate someone, to torment an animal. To think only of yourself, to steal, to lie, to break promises. And on the positive side: it is right to be considerate and respectful of others, to be charitable and generous.”
Rosenstand asks whether Sommers is right: “Can we just pronounce the virtues of decency, civility, honesty, and so forth the ultimate values without any further discussion? For many, what Sommers is doing is just old-fashioned moralizing…”.
· What does Rosenstand mean by “moralizing”?
· Explain your understanding of Sommers’s repudiation of moral and ethical relativism. Is her view convincing enough to make a relativist change her stripes?
· How does Sommers’s view connect up with virtue ethics?
2. Explore the concepts of angst or anguish, authenticity, and bad faith through a discussion of the philosophical views of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre and use an original example either from your own life experience or from a work of fiction or film to illustrate your discussion.
Which of these three existentialist thinkers most closely captures your own approach to living an ethical life ?
3. Give a brief account of the similarities and differences between classical, difference, radical, and equity feminism and then decide which of these strands of feminism is the most relevant in today’s world.
Do feminist ethics add anything essential to our current understanding of the human situation and what it means to live an ethical life? Why or why not?
4. Read the excerpt from Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice. She writes: “…women come to question the normality of their feelings and to alter their judgments in deference to the opinion of others….The difficulty women experience in finding or speaking publicly in their own voices emerges repeatedly in the form of qualification and self-doubt….Women’s deference is rooted not only in their social subordination but also in the substance of their moral concern. Sensibility to the needs of others and the assumption of responsibility for taking care lead women to attend to voices other than their own and to include in the judgment other points of view.”
· Evaluate Gilligan’s position here in relation to any of the ethical views we’ve studied in the course as well as your own view of the moral landscape, in particular with respect to gender differences.
· How do these claims of Gilligan line up with the views of altruist Emmanuel Levinas? Is Gilligan correct in the claim that women see moral qualities such as being just or being good differently from the way men do?
The post 4 questions. 200 word answer per question.
1. Ruth Benedict says, “Normality. appeared first on Course Hero.