Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
- Textbook: Chapter 13
- Lesson
- Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Introduction
Some people believe that you can tell who a person is by what they do when no one is looking. Let’s look at the following case. John Doe, a nurse, has downloaded an application to her phone that allows him to download copyrighted textbooks for a nursing course (that Doe is going to take) without his Internet Service Provider knowing it. The application is called “Cloak” as in cloak of invisibility (a hooded coat one wears to make it so others cannot see you). The application disguises his phone and makes it so the information on it is inaccessible. John is aware that other people who are of a lower socio-economic status (like him) also use this software program for the same reason (and to save money). John Doe knows that his religion forbids him from using this application to download in this manner. John Doe is focused on his own economic situation and does not consider the publisher, author, and others involved in the books. Think about a course of social action; what social values should be used to address this moral issue and conflict.
- Initial Post Instructions
Create a personal ethical philosophy and explain from which philosophy or philosophies (it must include at least one of the following: virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, or social contract ethics) you created it and why the contents are important and meaningful for you. List its precepts.
- Take your personal ethical philosophy statement and use it to work through John Doe’s case. What is moral and immoral per your theory?
- How would the veil of ignorance or a different theory of justice address John Doe’s case?
Follow-Up Post Instructions
Respond to at least one peer. When possible, respond to a peer who chose a different ethical theory than you did in your posting. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification.
Writing Requirements
- Minimum of 2 posts (1 initial & 1 follow-up)
- Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside scholarly source)
- APA format for in-text citations and list of references
Answers1:
Hello Professor and Class,
My personal philosophy is that I always make sure people are happy and put people before myself because in the long run when I am in need of help, they will remember the time I helped them and gave them happiness. “Kantian ethics provide a human-centric ethical framework placing human existence and capacity at the centre of a norm-creating philosophy that guides our understanding of moral conduct” (Ulgen, 2017). I believe Kantians ethics follows this philosophy I have because it is the moral thing to do in my mind to put people first and make sure happiness is covered all around. Helping and ensuring a person is a way of making that person the center and making sure they know they are existing.
John Doe in my personal philosophy wouldn’t work out. Knowing it is against his religion, he went ahead and downloaded the app because he cant afford the books by himself. He cared more about himself and passing his classes than his religion and that I believe is morally right. The morally wrong thing to do is knowing other low income people have it and it works, then not downloading the help that he needs and failing his classes. Although downloading an app that disguises a phone is wrong, it’ll help John Doe in the long run.
“The political philosopher John Rawls is well known for his thought experiment of the “veil of ignorance.” The thought experiment goes something like this: when designing rules for your society, you should be ignorant of what social position you yourself will occupy” (Gobry, 2015). This addressed John Doe’s case by doing what is best for himself. He knows he is low income and needs these books to be able to get through the classes but cant afford them. He knows other people have the same app and it works well for them. John Doe knows he needs this to succeed so he got the app so he won;t fail.
