Morality in America
Morals are defined as a set of principles of right action and behavior for the individual. The traditional morals of any given society are the set of moral principles by which the majority of its members have lived over a long time, a consensus which that society has reached on what is considered correct and decent behavior. It is the way one's society expectsone to behave, even if civil law-does not require it (Luce p. 1).
Many believe there is a universal morality that knows no race, no geographical boundaries, no time, and no particular religion. John Ruskin, the English social reformer, wrote, "There are many religions, but there is only one morality." Immanuel Kant, the greatest of German philosophers, called it the Moral Law, which, he said, governs all mankind. Kant compared this Moral Law to the Sublime Law that rules the movement of the stars and the planets. "We are doomed to be moral and cannot help ourselves," said Dr. John Haynes Holmes, the Protestant theologian (Luce p. 2).
In most civilizations truthfulness or honesty is considered the main principal of morality. "The aim of the superior man," said Confucius, "is Truth." In Judeo-Christian lore, the Devil's other name is "The Liar" "An honest man is the noblest work of God," wrote Pope in his Essay on Man. "Every honest man will suppose honest acts to flow from honest principles," said Thomas Jefferson (Stout p. 5).
Morality involves being just. "Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due," wrote Justinian. Honoring one's word is considered a high priority....
Moral Turpitude The question of ethics and morality, what is the right thing to do vs. The wrong thing in a given situation, can be an extremely difficult one to answer. There are occasions where right and wrong are clear, black and white distinctions. In such scenarios, the right thing to do is easy discernible, though it may not be the easiest things to do. However, this is the rarest of
(Lambro, 1998, p. 17) the value of looking at the moral state o ht nation or any nation through this more realistic scope is essential, as it gives those who stand for moral growth the idea that their efforts have not gone for not, regardless of the media take on the issue. It would be interesting to study the idea that such sensationalism, in the negative might actually be aiding
Unfortunately many aspects of modern American society threaten individual liberties. For example, the disparity between the rich and the poor in American society impacts the level of freedom enjoyed by certain segments of the population. The "freedom" to pay workers a pittance in order to increase profits in a large corporation is therefore not really a "freedom" at all. Therefore, it is up to the government and to the
" When a person files for bankruptcy, a person's trust, conscience, moral responsibility and accountability are all jeopardized. Trust Trust has always been an important factor in any credit transaction. With the increase of informal credit sales such as credit cards, trust is crucial between the debtor and the creditor for the liquidity of the transaction. In earlier days, economic trust was interpreted as strong as other forms of human interaction such
morality of the George Bush administration. The writer looks at classic texts to garner a sense of what political morality should be about and then holds the administration of Bush against the measurement to illustrate the lack of morality and the fact that it failed to promote the happiness of the United States people. In addition, the author explores the negative impact that was felt by other nations under
Such differences may lead us to question whether there are any universal moral principles or whether morality is merely a matter of "cultural taste" (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks and Meyer: 1). If there is no transcendent ethical or moral standard, then cultural relativists argue that culture becomes the ethical norm for determining whether an action is right or wrong. This ethical system is known as cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the
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