Good Ethical Questions/Journal Essay Example

The concept of utilitarianism bases on the premise that the greatest good is that one that guarantees happiness to a majority of people. Using this premise, we can argue that happiness goes hand in hand with pleasure and absence of pain. Unhappiness is the opposite of the other, the pervasive presence of pain and absence of happiness. In the concept of utilitarianism, the central object is happiness. If we consider the recent hacking of Petaluma High school my space accounts, and the subsequent results of bullying, then we could say that if the majority of the students are suffering from bullying accruing from my space hijack, then we could consider how many kid’s lives are affected. If the ones not affected are many, the benefit that comes from my space and other social networks outweighs the challenges.
2.) From a Rights Perspective.Do social networkers have a right to privacy? More and more users of Facebook and MySpace are finding that prospective employers are perusing their sites, despite the fact that they may conceive of their online presence as personal space. Also, what is a private person’s right to control the images and information about them available on line? David Weisbrot, president of the Australia Law Reform Commission, which has been investigating online privacy, comments, “Laws designed to protect privacy in the outside world struggle to cope with the issues raised by online communities. For example, online publication of photo-graphs, which may be sensitive and revealing, raises new challenges in relation to consent.”
The right to privacy is a formidable aspect of human life. It’s the function of philosophy to decipher the rationale behind human behavior. Laws are used to make humans think rationale and act in the accordance, the desire for happiness and the need for functionalism is perhaps the need for the rights at the individual that grantees the need for privacy. Still, it is important to understand that everyone has their own philosophy. While the individual have a moral dispensation, the process of formation of the moral code that individual follow is often shaped by the person’s environment.
3. From a Fairness Perspective.Some people believe social networking sites offer the ultimate in egalitarianism. When we interact with others online, we have no real way of knowing whether they are white or black, male or female, fat or thin, young or old. Will this disembodied quality of the online world lead to greater fairness, or will we lose the ability to engage concretely with others, and therefore truly overcome differences?
Personal morality thus plays an important role in defining intentions, understanding of right and wrong as well as agreements about certain moral ethics. Because of this reason, it is possible to find people of one culture, religion, and geographical place disagree about a certain moral or ethic. In retrospect, people may agree on some little aspects of morality even when they share completely different philosophies about life. In summation, while studying morality, it is important to keep in mind that each and every individual has their own moral philosophy and their own morals. As a philosopher, it is important to keep this in mind while engaging in the debate of philosophy of ethic and the philosophy of morality.
4. From a Common Good Perspective.Pope Paul IV described the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.” Certainly, many people turn to social networking sites to connect with social groups that share their interests and values. What would the common good look like in this context? Does fulfillment have the same meaning online as it does in the “real world?” Are there ways to structure online communities so that they better promote the common good of their members?
The practicality of the ethics depends on the type of activity, character, and motivation of the people engaged. The biggest challenge that inhibits the practice of virtue ethics is the inability of organizations to educate their managers on the benefits of virtue-based ethics. Still, effective management requires that morally inclusive excellence. The excellence here is not book- based but accrues from the common societal practices of integrity and professionalism.
5. Many of the interpersonal virtues we value evolved in the context of face-to-face communication. Honesty, openness, and patience, for example, are honed in the negotiations we must manage when we meet people in person. What impact will digital media have on these virtues? What, for example, would honesty mean in the context of a world where people are represented by avatars? Will other virtues emerge as more important in social networking, where we can be constantly connected to a large reservoir of others and can shut off communications easily when we are bored or encounter difficulties?
It is not arguable that social media has changed how people communicate with one another. In the last decade, majority of communications were based on mail and landline telephones. These communication channels required a detailed form of expression that did not leave room for informal communications. The social media phenomenon has redefined not only communication but also the use of language (p. 42, Savan, 2005). The reformation of language has had an enormous impact on the grammar and style of language as used by young people. One obvious change is the replacement of the one dimensional communication channel to a more robust and multidimensional communication channel that disregards conventional grammar, language and literature. In the world of social media, the pinnacle is passing the message. Social media worships instantaneous methods of passing message that leave room for lack of conventional methods or rules of grammar.