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Different views of Morality
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Different views of Morality
Hume’s argument that morality is “just sentiment” may not be convincing or agreeable if we dwell on that simple line alone. But if we will delve deeper into his claim, his view is sensible. Hume wanted us to understand the meaning of the term “sentiment” philosophically, not literally – which of course, means emotion or feelings. For him, morality depends on the “mental feeling”, that is, judgment through sentiments. He said that morality is subjective and cannot be objective because what our senses see in a particular instance does not guarantee such acts based on known standards. For Hume, this standard known fact on inflicting physical injuries as bad or evil acts does not ensure that all instances like this are automatically wrong or immoral acts. Dig deeper, investigate further, and probe. After doing this, consider how your emotions or feelings, then judge the action through that, not through the action’s known standard fact.
Hobbes’ claim that good and evil are matters of taste is that the judgment of morality is a matter of an individual personal faculty of making discerning judgments based on individual’s ability and experience. It is not about the tongue’s taste to different flavors, instead, on the individual’s sensible faculty or mental capacity. Implicitly, this claim of Hobbes also includes the emotional state that goes along with the practical judgments.
Kant’s concept about morality as a form of duty is restricted to the issue of ethical standards, and it does not necessarily apply to the universal concept of morality in all acts. Meaning, Kant is concerned about morality by doing or performing the action and not morality by judging the show (Phetti). For him, the morality of an act depends on every individual’s right intention. Meaning, an effort is morally reasonable only if that action proceeds from the individual’s belief or view, or desire. It is not because somebody has urged him to do it or because he is obliged to do it for reasons provided by others and not by himself. For short, Kant dwells on a concept of morality by free will.
Let me quote a case where Kant’s morality principle may be extended. If anyone decides to donate something to a patient in need, say, blood, the board of a hospital, will first do questioning the person who will contribute to see if he decides about it for himself (Home).. He believes that it is an excellent activity to do and because it precedes his free will and that it is his right intention or just that he was obliged by another family to do so.
Kant’s assertion that all self-interest-driven acts are morally meaningless is another way to say that moral good deeds must be absolute. If we place limits on our choices, they lose their spiritual importance. If we are doing a morally good act, even if we perceived it as our right intention, but it is not unconditional, meaning we impose some conditions to it that will, in turn, be given for our good. We are not upholding a perfect morality (Gayer).
Kant’s claim that all actions motivated by self-interest are morally pointless is another way to suggest that morally positive behavior must be total. They lose their sacred value if we narrow our choices. Whether actions with conditions lack moral worth or not would depend on a person’s emotional state that goes along with the sensible judgments that person has.
Aristotle and Mill also regard gratification as the focus of divine conduct. Their views on enjoyment as the focus of moral action, though, differ. According to Aristotle, eudaimonia, or ultimate gratification, may be achieved only when individual acts based on his exemplary character, proper judgment in a particular situation, right conduct or suitable carrying out of action, good judgment, and adequate conviction (Ashammakhi). However, before acquiring all of these “rights,” one must first understand the golden mean. This golden mean, on the other side, is a topic for another debate. What is critical for the time being is that we understand Aristotle’s focus on seeking happiness is by doing a moral act inspired by a person’s good character, rather than by the utility, convenience, efficiency, or consequence of a behavior.
Evaluating their perspectives, I would suggest that Aristotle’s is more centered on an actor or the agent of how one can do things. At the same time, Mill’s is more focused on how the most significant number of people would profit from a person’s activity. Their points of view are essentially opposed. Mill has laid out a very general definition of satisfaction as the object of moral action, but he has not laid out the methods or techniques for achieving it. As a result, I believe that combining these two ideas would be beneficial.
Kant’s moral philosophy that responsibility is about correct will rather than moral obligation is the most convincing to me of all the philosophers mentioned above. Decisions about moral actions must begin with our own beliefs, views, and intentions, not with others’ beliefs, thoughts, and preferences. Let us, in a nutshell, inspire our free will. However, let us not ignore that it is often beneficial to listen to someone from time to time. Still, in the end, it is our will that determines the outcome.
Work cited
Ashammakhi, N., et al. “Aristotle, 20n35, 21n38, 22, 239, 247 Arnall, AH, 70, 76 Aronson, J., 233n54.” Emerging Conceptual, Ethical and Policy Issues in Bionanotechnology 101 (2008): 255.
Home, Henry, and Lord Kames. Essays on Principles of Morality and Natural Religion. Liberty fund, 2012.
Guyer, Paul. Kant and the experience of freedom: Essays on aesthetics and morality. Cambridge University Press, 1996.Rousseau, Henri, Frank Elgar, and Jane Brenton. Rousseau. Ballantine Books, 1975.
Pettit, Philip. The birth of ethics: Reconstructing the role and nature of morality. Berkeley Tanner Lectures, 2018.
Cross Culture Management in China
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Cross Culture Management in China
The main characteristics of China entails to flexibility, creativity and entrepreneurship. Macau is characterized with attractions and oozing atmosphere with fusion amidst European and Chinese cultures. It is packed with numerous churches, fortresses, temples and corresponding ancient buildings having fascinating mix of the Portuguese and Chinese features (Primecz et al, 148-289). Macau is also characterized with narrow alleyways forming a maze of ancient section that harbor a lot of business enterprises and work (Redding & Bruce, 78-167). Moreover, the city has statue commonly known as Bodhisatta Avalokitesvara situated near the sea Sands Casino and MGM Grand. Macau also acts as Chinese deity that is design similar to those find in Europe. Entering of the company into the foreign market demands staffing which is fundamental issue for its prosperity (Holden, 56-145).
The Caesars Entertainment Corporation decided to send expatriates to Macau city, china because Macau is the world’s biggest casino market with largest revenue gambling than the known Las Vegas strip. Moreover, the city depends heavily on the mainland Chinese tourist. Thus, expatriates would assist in handling the diverse clients within the Macau by comprehending the Chinese customers’ preferences at the expense of the corresponding foreign rivals. Moreover, expatriates would aid to combat the stiff competition from the rival companies within the Macau. Expatriates possessed deep understanding of the Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s core values and the corresponding capability to disseminate them to the China workers in a distinct and meaningful means (Holden, 56-145). Numerous challenges that encompass both personal and professional are normally involves in the foreign assignment thus require high level degree of mental toughness.
There exist a robust correlation amidst the cultures and the nations. Thus, cultural differences across the states are important and ought not to be underestimated (Primecz et al, 148-289). Expatriates will be confronted with challenges of the cultural differences in regard to the management of the corporation in the foreign country (Holden, 56-145). The problem that they will encounter revolves around the high setting and corresponding low context cultures. Within the high context cultures, the expatriates thus they will face challenges in interpretation of the messages that mainly rely on the contextual cues such as in China (Redding & Bruce, 78-167).
Moreover, populace in Macau is monochromic individuals that are mainly structured in their own approach thus carried out duties in regard to their organized agenda hence are prompt and time keepers. Conversely, Macua city also harbor polychronic populace that undertakes duties once and are normally less organized and less prompt. Expatriates will have problems in handling people of both monochromic and polychronic (Holden, 56-145). This is because monochronic time cultures are normally low context cultures whilst polychronic time cultures individuals are lofty context cultures.
China as a country is general characterized by flexibility, creativity and entrepreneurship. Conversely,Macau city characterized with attractions and oozing atmosphere with fusion amidst European and Chinese cultures (Primecz et al, 148-289). Macau city possess dual cultures namely the monochromic and polychronic who operates differently.
Work Cited
Primecz, Henriett, Laurence Romani, and Sonja Sackmann. Cross-cultural Management in Practice: Culture and Negotiated Meanings. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011.
Holden, Nigel. Cross-cultural Management: A Knowledge Management Perspective. Harlow [u.a.: Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002. Print.
Redding, Gordon, and Bruce W. Stening. Cross-cultural Management: 2 Vol. Cheltenham: E. Elgar, 2003.
A Good Man is Hard to Find book review
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Introduction
We live in a world that is characterized by good and evil, and as most individuals struggle with being good and performing good acts, others are comfortable exercising evil and performing bad acts. The idea of good and evil is depicted in most artistic pieces ranging from paintings, films, music, and literature. Interestingly, everyone has individual perceptions regarding good and evil, while some draw their ideas from philosophical thought, others base their ideas on religious teachings and practices. One such literary piece is the book, A Good Man is hard to Find, written by the famous American novelist Flannery O’Connor. Influenced by her religious background and her home region, the O’Connor narrates the story of a family who are murdered while taking a vacation trip.
O’Connor is well famed for her emphasis of grotesque stories and characterization, which is considered as being realist, as opposed to, idealist (Connie 74-78). Her literary works were, greatly, influenced by the South, and she uses this setting to bring out her ideas in every literary piece she produces. Accordingly, the author uses her religious background when judging moral and ethical behavior, and for that reason, her literary pieces of work have good versus evil as their central themes. Using morally flawed characters, as well as, presumably morally upright characters, the author presents intriguing stories that capture the interests of her audience at all times (Connie 74-78). More specifically, the novel, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the story is set in Georgia, with the year and time having no explicit definition or designation. The story takes place in two main places: the first place is Georgia, whereas the second setting is on a roadside, more specifically in a ditch. Using these two settings, the author tells the story of how a family was murdered during their trip for a vacation in Florida.
This paper presents a literary analysis of the book, A God Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor. The paper provides an analysis of characterization, and point of views as brought out in the novel. The paper also examines how the author uses symbolism, irony, foreshadowing, and similes to elucidate and enhance the theme of good versus evil.
Characterization
In literature, the characters refer to the people in the text, whose story the author is keen on narrating to readers and audience. In view of that, characterization refers to the author’s development and presentation of characters in the novel (Peterson 1). Just like all other writers, O’Connor has employed two main methods of presenting her audience with her characters in the novel, A Good man is Hard to Find. These methods include direct characterization and indirect characterization. With direct characterization, the narrator directly informs readers about the characters in the novel (Peterson 1). This information can range from providing a description of the characters, as well as, the use of names and overt commentary. Direct characterization in the novel, A Good Man is hard to Find, is presented in two ways including an analysis of the characters by the author, as well as, naming. The author gives Misfit his name as an illustration of his personality and life experiences. Indirect characterization has also been utilized for the novel’s story development, and the author allows each of her characters to reveal themselves and their personalities as the story continues. O’Connor manages to bring this out through the provision of details such as, appearance, mannerisms, as well as, speech (Peterson 1). Evidently, two main characters are revealed in the novel including the grandmother and the misfit. Whereas the grandmother is brought out as the protagonist, the misfit is obviously the antagonist in the story. As a character, the grandmother is the focal point of the story, and she because she considers herself as morally upright, she constantly passes judgment to other characters and criticizes their activities. She does not judge her own ways, something that she later comes to regret immediately before her death. The misfit, on the other hand, is the character that seems to lack moral conscience and is constantly in conviction. Observably, the misfit is brought out as the strongest character in the book in relation to disposition, as he possesses characteristics that all other characters do not.
Point of View
The novel, A Good man is Hard to Find, is written from the third person or omniscient point of view. Accordingly, it is the grandmother’s thoughts and point of view that the readers have access to, thus revealing the use of the third person point of view in the novel. In the novel, O’Connor reports the grandmother’s thoughts, as well as, her actions and conversations thus introducing a new point of view namely, the limited omniscient point of view. An example of this is revealed where the author writes “she knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose anytime looking at an old house” (O’Connor 35). This statement reveals to the readers the grandmothers thoughts about her son Bailey. Misfit is the only other character whose actions, and thoughts that the readers are introduced to, thus building on the third person point of view. However, readers get to learn about Misfit’s ideas in the last part of the novel after he has murdered the family. In one of his thoughts regarding the grandmother, Misfit states, “She would have been a good woman,.. if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (O’Connor 89). This statement reveals Misfit’s thoughts about the grandmother, as well as, good versus evil.
Symbolism
Symbolism is one of the literary elements that O’Connor has employed in telling the story. In essence, symbolism refers to the process of giving a person, object. or event a meaning that is outside its literal meaning (Peterson 6). Put simply, it is a literary element, which involves the use of representation or imagery. A closer examination of the novel reveals the use of various symbols including grandmother’s hat, Misfit’s car, Toombsboro, the dark forest and the sunless cloudless sky. More specifically, Toombsboro, the town which grandmother and her family pass before their death is used symbolically in the novel. Ideally, Toombsboro is the old plantation where grandmother has memories about (O’Connor, 85). However, the name of the plantation, as well as, the events that take place immediately after passing the plantation reveal something deeper than an old plantation. The name of the plantation suggests doom and misfortune, thus the death of the grandmother and her family.
Irony
O’Connor also employs the use of Irony as a literary element in her novel, A Good man is hard to Find. In literature, irony occurs when one of the characters fails to perceive the obvious (Peterson 5). More specifically, the character fails to understand what the reader and the audience automatically understands when reading the novel. Irony in the novel is demonstrated in the way the grandmother considers herself as a proper and morally upright lady, something that the readers would not consider as true. To the readers, the grandmother actions and thoughts bring her out as a different person from who she think of herself. She is manipulative, she lies and has racist tendencies, and the character sees herself as the opposite of this. However, towards the end of the novel, the character soon realizes that she is not who she considers herself to be but she dies before she can make any changes.
Foreshadowing
In literary writing, foreshadowing is a literary technique where the author uses his characters to foretell the activities that are likely to occur in the novel. Evidently, foreshadowing is O’Connor’s main choice in relation to literary techniques and the author uses the character of the grandmother to foreshadow the tragic developments that occur later on in the novel. An example of the use of foreshadowing is illustrated when the grandmother wears her best clothes and hat for the trip with the excuse that something tragic might happen to the family during the trip. The grandmother states, “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that I was a lady” (O’Connor 6). This statement foretells the death of the entire family in the hands of the Misfit, which occurs in the last section of the book.
Simile
In the novel, O’Connor also utilizes a number of literary devices to tell her story. Evidently, the author makes her words contribute to the effect of the story through the use of similes. The author’s use of similes in the novel both demonstrates her literary skills, as well as, the events taking place in the novel. An example of a simile used in the novel is in the description of the children’s mother. “She was a young woman in slacks, whose face was as broad and as innocent as a cabbage”(O’Connor 24). This simile, illustrate the gullibility and incompetence of the mother, which makes it easy for others to manipulate her.
Conclusion
In her novel, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor employs the use of various literary elements, techniques and devices to narrate her story. These literary elements and devices include irony, foreshadowing, symbolism, and similes among other things. Because the central theme of the novel is good versus evil, the author uses these literary elements, techniques, and devices to tell her story. Observably, the author effectively utilized these elements, techniques, and devices to communicate the theme of good versus evil in the story.
Work Cited
Connie, Ann Kork. Critical Companion to Flannery O’Connor. New York: Infobase Publishing,
2008. Print. pp. 74–78.
O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. New York: Rutgers University Press, 1953.
Print.
Peterson, D. K. Literary Elements. 15 January 1999. Web. 13 November 2011. <<
http://www.smccd.net/accounts/erpelol/Courses/spring06/lit265aa/worksheets/literary_elements.pdf>>