Assignment: Logbook

Rumaisa Shaikh

60101163

University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST)

SSHA1004 Ethical Reasoning

Section - 4

Ms. Thaiyyiba Ibrahim

May 26, 2022

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Table of Contents
12 May 2022................................................................................................................................................3
What is philosophy?................................................................................................................................3
The following are the areas of inquiry -...................................................................................................3
Activity.....................................................................................................................................................3
Write a short summary about any one of the following above...........................................................3
15 May 2022................................................................................................................................................4
Origin of philosophy –.............................................................................................................................4
2 divisions of ethics –...............................................................................................................................4
Activity.....................................................................................................................................................4
17 May 2022................................................................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY..................................................................................................................................................5
Natural Law theory..................................................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY..................................................................................................................................................5
19 May, 2022...............................................................................................................................................6
Kantian Deontology.................................................................................................................................6
ACTIVITY..................................................................................................................................................6
22 May 2022................................................................................................................................................7
Activity.....................................................................................................................................................7
26 May, 2022...............................................................................................................................................8
Activity.....................................................................................................................................................8
Hobbes state of nature............................................................................................................................8
Activity.....................................................................................................................................................8

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12 May 2022

What is philosophy?
Philosophy is all rational inquiry of science regarding anything or everything on their nature
During 1800’s many considered philosophy as science which was later split into natural philosophy and
moral philosophy where natural philosophy is related to science and moral philosophy covers meta
physics or simply philosophy

The following are the areas of inquiry -

 Epistemology – A field of utmost complexity and depth. It focuses on knowledge and how can it
be acquired. It is concerned with nature of truth and how that truth can be justified.
 Metaphysics – deals with general and abstract questions. It is said to come after physics.
 Logic – study of correct reasoning and to draw good inferences. can be deductive (true),
inductive (true but not certain)
 Ethics – how people should act under circumstances. Meaning of right or wrong and good or
bad.
 Aesthetics – It is related to the philosophy of beauty and taste. It is concerned with nature of art
and its concept
Activity
Write a short summary about any one of the following above.
ETHICS –

Ethics are often defined as study of morality. As per John Deigh “[Ethics] is a study of what are good and
bad ends to pursue in life and what it is right and wrong to do in the conduct of life. It is therefore,
above all, a practical discipline. Its primary aim is to determine how one ought to live and what actions
one ought to do in the conduct of one’s life.”

Ethics is a normative discipline. When ethics is looked at theoretical sense, it can be defined as meta
ethics, where as when ethics are considered in specific situations it can be named as applied ethics.

There are 3 distinction in ethics:

- Descriptive ethics – describing what group believes is right or wrong

- Normative ethics – what ought to be the case, the way we should live based on circumstances
- Metaethics – questions about the status of normative ethics

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15 May 2022

Origin of philosophy –
 Ancient Greece
 Presocratic Philosophers (Thales, Pythagoras, Permenides, Heraclitis, etc)
 Socrates (470-399 BCE)
 Plato (429-347 BCE)
 Aristotle (384-322)
 Individual Schools (Epicureanism, Stoicism, Scepticism, etc.)

2 divisions of ethics –
Metaethics – analyzing concepts and resoning
Nimative morality – study of how to live a good life

Difference

Ethics – type of a person and his/her character

Morale – individuals actions and duties to being good

Activity

Hellenistic –

Alexander the Great became the ruler of the Greek state of Macedonia in 336 B.C. Alexander
had constructed an empire that spanned from Greece to India by the ti me he died 13 years
later.
This ti me is known as the "Hellenisti c period" by historians. It lasted from 323 B.C. to 31
B.C., from Alexander's death.
Alexander's generals divided his possessions among themselves aft er his death. Three major
dynasti es emerged from the remnants of the Alexandrian empire: the Seleucids of Syria and
Persia, the Ptolemies of Egypt, and the Anti gonids of Greece and Macedonia. Historians
allude to the "Greek-ness" of diff erent aspects of Alexandrian civilisati on while writi ng
about the Hellenisti c Period. Kings controlled most of the Hellenisti c nati ons who greed
wealth. As a result, they worked hard to culti vate commercial relati onships throughout the
Hellenisti c world. 
Major people in the former Alexandrian empire spoke and read the same language: koine, or
“the common tongue,” a kind of colloquial Greek. 

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 https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/hellenistic-greece#:~:text=Historians%20call
%20this%20era%20the,the%20Macedonian%20king%20had%20once

17 May 2022

ACTIVITY
A theory introduced by aristotle

Aristotle believed that we all are aspired to be virtues. He believed if we focus on being a good person,
the right actions would follow.
Virtue theory is ethical theory that emphasized an individula’s character rather than following a set of
rules.
Virtue reflects proper functioning where everything has its own function and it is considered good if the
function is fulfilled and bad if tt is not.
On the other hand, virtue ethics focuses on the character of human beings. In virtue theorists claim that:
for one to be a moral person, one needs to develop or cultivate his virtues; by doing so, one manages to
flourish as a human being. and, when one flourishes (as a human being), one becomes a morally good
person.
Being virtue is the sweet spot between excessive and deficiency, which is named as Golden mean.

Natural Law theory

This theory believes that humans are naturally able to know what is ethical and what is unethical. For
example, it is natural that humans want to survive, so it is clear that killing people is a bad thing to do.
God created all humans with natural, sound Reason, so according Thomas Aquinas. This reason directs
us to what is moral and good.

As a result, reason, according to this argument, is the source of the Moral Law, which everyone should
obey in order to live a moral life.

ACTIVITY
Comparison between natural law theory and the divine theory

The main difference in both the theory is that Divine Command Theory merely asserts that good acts are
those that God approves of, whereas Natural Law Theory contends that God gave the universe,
including humans, a specific purpose, and our role is to use reason to identify and fulfill that purpose.
Natural law is established by our connatural understanding of the benefits to which we are naturally
attracted, as well as its opposite evils. Where as The divine law is revealed, that is, via Sacred Scripture
and the teachings of the Church.

Similarities:

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  Both natural and divine law are essential components of everlasting law.
 Both natural and divine law are concerned with human beings' orientation toward real
human satisfaction (fulfillment, perfection, flourishing)
 Both natural and divine law can be 'participated in' via knowledge and comprehension.

https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/301/hnature.htm#:~:text=Similarities%3A,in'%20through
%20knowledge%20and%20understanding

19 May, 2022

Kantian Deontology
- Morality, according to Kant, is a consistent truth, a reality. His stance was that what is ethical in
one culture, tradition, or religion should be ethical in all cultures, traditions, and religions.
- Where does the moral law originate from, according to Kant? How do we know what is and isn't
ethical? Pure Reason.
- Determining what is good and bad is entirely dependent on your intellect; it arises from within
your reason, not from a system of external laws.

ACTIVITY
50 words about

Deontology – deontology is an ethical theory where right or wrong is distinguished by clear set of rules.
Individuals have moral obligations towards others which are said to be ethical if fulfilled, and unethical if
not. Many might find following deontology unacceptable. For example, If an employee gets to know that
his company follows wrong practices to take advantage of their customer, that employee can not
disclose the matter as it would be against the privacy policy of the company.

Moral duty – Making moral choices regarding a person's moral responsibility for their actions, as well as
holding others and ourselves accountable for our actions and the consequences of those actions, is an
important and common element of our moral practices and interpersonal relationships. The human
does not have his free will as his actions are casually determined. Example – respecting the elders

Universal laws – Kant believes that our actions ought to be guided by universal moral laws. If an
individual does an action then others can be able to do it as well. Weather a person lives up to moral
judgments or not, a person is always concerned on how most others would act on certain situations.
Example – we are ought to pay our debts.

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22 May 2022

Activity
City of Omelas

1. A reflection on the moral dilemma in the city of omelas

The city of Omelas face moral dilemma in choosing what to sacrifice. The city lets a small child undergo
torture in a small locked basement because as per their belief, the pain of that child brings the whole
city joy and prosperity and if the child is to be given freedom. The whole city will have to face the
unfortune.
Choosing either way, the outcome is negative and one of the sides have to suffer. This is moral
dilemma for the city of Omelas

2. Is it worth sacrificing the wellness of few ppl for the happiness of whole society? Why?

For me, it is not worth to sacrifice wellness or happiness of few people to save other. The suffer feels
safe for every one, the number doesn’t matter.
If people can be happy knowing a child is suffering for their happiness, then its better for the child to
escape so that they can experience the same.
This belief is also not proved to be effective, which should not be encouraged, specially when it involves
suffering of an individual

Lather of nothingness

3. A reflection on moral dilemma that barber faced

Barber was hurt hearing out how many of his people did the customer killed. And it wasn’t his position
to kill the locals threat. However, if he kills the man, he might be able to prevent more crucial deaths.
Both choice had negative impacts where 1 of the side has to face death proving the moral dilemma the
barber was in.
4. What a utilitarian would do?
A utilitarian would kill the soldier ( if that’s what we consider hi to be) as that would maximize the
happiness and many of the locals would be saved from murders.

5. What someone who believes natural law theory would do

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Someone who believes natural law theory would not kill that customer as the actions one takes comes
back to them by nature. He would repay his actions.

6. Did barber choose right? why?

No he did not choose right as murdering a murderer doesn’t make you any different. Barber would be
going against nature. It is not for us human beings to decide a persons life and death. A person doing
right or wrong shall repay his/her doings when the time comes. If we are the one to suffer, then we shall
wait patiently for good time to come.

26 May, 2022

Activity
Scenario
In order to survive, my trial would be to work as a team. Though we are not sure about how the other
survivors are and cannot trust each other, It is important to consider that all others are on same boat as
me. I would try to discuss out on how we can survive, hear out everyone’s ideas and analyze them to
decide some best alternatives.
Gaining trust and supporting each other at this crucial time might help us to survive. Its best to work
hard to find ways to survive while trying to escape the island and use each individuals talent to best
advantage.

Hobbes state of nature

• Hobbes wants to provide a pure rational foundation for interpersonal relationships 

• He does this with a "thought experiment" inspired by the English Civil War.
• The Hobbesian state of nature is a stage of Human Society that is neither political nor moral.
• There was no such thing as a state, no government, no rules, no morals, and no one to rule over
mankind.

Activity
Contract –
1. We are not allowed to kill each other. If so, the killer would be immediately executed.
2. Anything sound for survival should be shared on equal ratio. Anyone who does not follow will
not be a part of sharing process
3. Everyone needs to work hard with what ever we have to survive and escape.
4. Any member who is taking the advantage of any survival members shall be used as prop for
experiments example the person shall testify if the mushroom found is safe or not.
5. Any form of betrayal shall not be accepted.