What Is Human Reproductive Cloning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

What Is Human Reproductive Cloning - Essay Example As the report declares the most prominent theoretical source of objections in the ‘deontological’ school of thought is the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, the German eighteenth-century thinker who stressed the ideas of ‘transcendental’ freedom and autonomy. To define his idea of the transcendental autonomy of human reason, Kant presented several formulations of what he called the ‘categorical imperative.’ This is the moral law that he thought people should obey without exceptions. The general idea and two specific formulations of this overarching rule, and see how they can (or cannot) be employed in objections to human reproductive cloning. This paper discusses that Kant’s first formulation, which is of more use, was â€Å"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law†. The definition of the goodness of genetic diversity does make some sense, but it does not support the Kantian objection to cloning. We can permit cloning in cases where people cannot have children by any other means without allowing it to become the only way of making babies – and without disturbing the human gene pool in any way. Besides, it could be argued that whatever accidental advantages the variety of genetic constitutions has had in the past could in the future be secured by considered genetic enhancements. The more Kantian way to proceed is to say that genetic diversity is good, because it is natural, or intrinsically linked with human reproduction.

Carl Eugene Watts aka The Sunday Morning Slasher Speech or Presentation

Carl Eugene Watts aka The Sunday Morning Slasher - Speech or Presentation Example Therefore, learning about serial killers is a significant aspect of legal practitioners in order to separate the myths from the truths. In this case, it is important for legal practitioners to learn about different serial killers in American history. Based on the foregoing, this expose elucidates  on the life and times of  one of the  most prolific serial killers in  America known  as Carl Eugene Watts, nicknamed as â€Å"The Sunday Morning Slasher.† According to Walter and White (2008), Carl Eugene Watts  was born  on 11 July 1953 to Richard, a private in the army, and Dorothy Mae, a kindergarten teacher, in Killeen, Texas. However, the parents separated when Carl was less than two years old leaving him at the care of his mother. Consequently, her mother moved to Inkster, Michigan where she married a mechanic called Norman Caesar, with whom she bore two daughters. However, Bell (n.d.) noted that Carl did not like his stepfather and consequently had problems adju sting to this new lifestyle, which arose from the fear of losing his mother. During his child, Carl developed a fantasy to torture and kill girls and young women. Indeed, he attacked a young woman aged 26 years while at the age of 15 years as he delivered newspapers (Bell, n.d.). Consequently, Carl underwent a psychiatrist evaluation whereby he talked of his strange dream. However, Hewitt, Stewart, and Cosgriff (2002) reported that Carl responded that the strange dreams and fantasies he experienced were not disturbing him and he derived satisfaction once he had these dreams and fantasies (as cited in Bell, n.d.). At school, Carl had difficulties in learning, although he excelled in baseball, due to an incident of meningitis he suffered at the age of 8 years old. Indeed, at the age of 16 years, Carl was at third grade level of reading. However, his mother guided him and tutored him whereby he  graduated from high school at the age of  19 years. Although Carl recorded poor grades in school, he excelled in sports, which was a way of releasing his aggressive behavior. Eventually, Lane College, in Jacksonville, awarded him a football scholarship although he left school after several months in school once he suffered minor leg injuries (Bell, n.d.). As earlier explained, Carl’s first encounter with the law was at the age of 15 years when he assaulted a 26 year old named Joan Gave. Consequently, Carl underwent trial and his subsequent sentencing was to a mental facility in Detroit called Lafayette Clinic where he underwent a psychiatrist examination. During the examination, the results indicated that Carl suffered from a mild form of mental retardation with an IQ of 75 (Walter & White, 2008). However, a police officer, who interviewed Carl after arrest, indicated that Carl had an â€Å"excellent memory† and appeared to be â€Å"very intelligent† (Leung, 2004). Carl’s career as a serial killer started in 1974 at the age of 20 years wher eby he kidnapped potential victims from the comfort and safety of their homes, tortured them, and finally killed these victims (Walter & White, 2008). According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (n.d.), a serial killing is â€Å"a series  of three or more killings, not less than  one of which  was committed  within the United  States, having common characteristics such as to suggest

Character, Dignity, and Self-Respect Essay Example for Free

Character, Dignity, and Self-Respect Essay This paper will summarize the movie Glory and relate one or two characters to Aristotle, Epictetus, and Saint Augustine on character, dignity, and self-respect. Alina Campbell This paper will summarize the movie Glory and relate one or two characters to Aristotle, Epictetus, and Saint Augustine on character, dignity, and self-respect. The movie Glory is based on a true story about the Commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry which was the first black regiment to be listed in the service of the United States. It is based on the letters by Col. Robert Shaw. Col. Shaw felt he was involved in something that he was not completely sure about, considering he had previously lost a lot of soldiers to battle. He was now faced with survivor’s guilt which he knew would heal in time. Shaw later became a mighty leader that lead the black regiment to take on the battle in Fort Wagner. Aristotle Character is mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Aristotle believed character to be neither a feeling or a capacity or a mere tendency to act in certain ways (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010). He believed instead that character was a settled condition we are in when we are well off in relation to our feelings and our actions. The virtues of character are dispositions to act in a certain way in response to similar situations. Good conduct arises from habits that in turn can only be acquired by repeated action and correction. Col. Robert Gould Shaw fits Aristotle’s view of Character best in my opinion. He was not only the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, their voice. The black men that fought with Shaw were slaves that wanted to fight for their freedom. When Shaw was told of the United States Government planning to form this regiment of black soldiers he agreed to take the Commanding position. He then asked his best friend Major Cabot Forbes to fight along with him and Forbes accepted. At one point Shaw fights for these men to get the proper uniform and boots. He also refuses pay along with them after finding out that they are paid less than the white soldiers. Both Shaw and Forbes strongly connected with this group of men: the angry Private Trip (Denzel Washington); Private Jupiter Sharts (Jhine Kennedy); Corporal Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher), a very smart and educated man that grew up with Shaw and worked for Shaw’s father, and Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), a runaway slave who speaks with the voice of wisdom and reason. Dignity is the state of quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Aristotle’s view on dignity consists of the consciousness that we deserve honors, not in processing them. You cannot earn dignity through external awards; instead it is something you bestow upon yourself. â€Å"Dignity consists not in possessing recognition from others, but in consciousness that we deserve recognition from others† (Sommers amp;Sommers, 2010). The character played by Morgan Freeman, Rawlings, knew that being a slave was not worth much, so he decided to help Shaw fight the battle at Fort Wagner. Forbes also displayed dignity in the movie. Forbes was Col. Shaw’s best friend and is who told Col. Shaw of this regiment. Due to the type of relationship the two had, Col. Shaw asked Forbes to come along with him to prepare the black slaves. Forbes agreed and stood by Col. Shaw and these black men through the name calling, getting the proper shoes, and receiving their uniforms like the white soldiers had while fighting in the Civil War. Aristotle describes the position of character, dignity and self- respect as character being a state concern with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, that this is determined by reason and in such a way that a man of wisdom would determine it. It is a mean between two vices that depends on excess that depends on defect (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010) Aristotle feels neither a feeling nor a capacity nor a tendency to behave in specific ways. It is the settled condition we are in when we are well off in a relation to our feelings and actions when we are in a mean or intermediate state in regard to them. Meaning we have a vicious character that we are badly off in relation to feeling and actions, and we fail the means in regards to them. The character that I felt showed this type of role would be Denzel and Andre’s characters, known as Trip and Thomas. Trip was a runaway slave that was very angry. He didn’t have anybody and had been previously beaten several times. Trip had specific thoughts of the white man and they were that the slaves were seen as monkeys. He thought that the slaves should be dressed up in uniform and fight, since the white men would only get themselves killed and wouldn’t be able to win. Andre Braugher played Thomas. He was an educated man that had worked for Col. Shaw’s father. He believed that black men should know how to read and have pride within themselves. In the movie Glory, Thomas had learned to take a lot. Thomas assumed that since he and Col. Shaw were close friends that he would be treated a bit differently, but to his surprise, he was called out by his best friend to train a lot faster than he was and then yelled at. Thomas learned much at the end of the movie, including self-respect. Thomas had been shot in a previous battle and he asked Col. Shaw to promise that he wouldn’t send him back, which Shaw didn’t allow Thomas to continue in battle. Later in the movie, Col. Shaw asks who would be willing to standin the place of the flagman, should something happen, and Thomas stated that he would and did. Epictetus Epictetus held the Orthodox Stoic view that everything in the universe is directed by divine will. Epictetus was different from the early stoics in that he believed happiness was found in maintaining one’s moral character as opposed to striving for moral excellence. He emphasized self-knowledge and keeping one’s moral character in order as the way to achieve a happy life. Epictetus warned his students to expect persecution since their actions and attitudes would be different from those around them. He encouraged them to view life as an athletic challenge, a festival or a short military service, where success would come from a combination of correct choices and skill. Epictetus believed that â€Å"grief was the most offensive emotion; he considered the suffering of grief as an act of evil. It was a willful act, going against the will of God to have all men share happiness† (Stockdale, 1995). Col. Robert Shaw, through his personal growth and internal realizations fulfilled his leadership duties on the battlefield, as well as beyond. He chose to take the beliefs he had from his life prior to war to another level. Shaw struggled with the question of equality among the races yet he recognized the character and desires of the Black Americans and chose to act on their behalf as well as the Unions. Shaw felt that his soldiers, regardless of color, deserved respect just as much as the white soldiers. Shaw was willing to not take pay to make a point that his soldiers deserved the same pay as their fellow white soldiers. He stuck his neck out to make sure they received the proper gear in order to fight. Shaw had finally decided to not let the grief from the prior battle to control him, he chose to help in the happiness of the slaves and continue to fight for their freedom. Saint Augustine Augustine’s approach was not just brilliant, it was practical. His insight is intellectually credible and emotionally satisfying in that it gives hope and offers meaning to the Christian trying to make sense out of life in a fallen world (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010). To Augustine, anything that had being was good. Good as the ground of being was perfectly good, along with everything he brought into being. This goodness was a property that came in varying degrees. The obstacles that Col. Robert Gould Shaw had to overcome is the fact that he failed in battle another time. He had to pick himself back up, and he then led the black regiment in the Civil War and was refused to let these black soldiers be treated with any less respect than the white soldiers. Another hardship that Col. Shaw and his black soldiers had to endure was the fact they were getting under paid, they were not given the proper shoes to march in, and the fact they were not given the proper uniforms like the other soldiers. Col. Shaw had shown a life of character, dignity and self- respect by being the honorable Commander that he was. Col. Shaw never let others views get in the way of his personal view of his soldiers. Col. Shaw had self- respect even though he had been defeated, prior to leading the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry soldiers with dignity and never gave up on them.  He was a man that believed in faith and that the black soldiers were no different than any others.

Capitalism vs Communism Essay

Capitalism vs Communism Essay Communism and capitalism, the totally opposite systems, always fight, although the capitalism is a bit older than the communism.The most important ones of these fights date back to the Cold War.This war was between the countries of Warsaw Pact and the ones of NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization).Actually, the primary participants military forces never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, a nuclear arms race, espionage, proxy wars, propaganda, and technological competition, such as Space Race.All right, what are the differences between these two systems?They can be contrasted out in terms of the viewpoints about ecenomy and the social life. The viewpoints of these systems about the economy are totally different.The capitalist system uses the opinions of liberal economy policy. The most important person about this policy was Adam Smith.In his book The Wealth of Nations, he expressed that the free market, while appearing chaotic and unrestained, was actually guided to produce the right amount and variety of goods by so-called invisible hand.Smith made his laws about the economic system like the natural laws.According to him,the individuals by pursuing their own interest frequently promote the society more effectually than when they intend to promote it.This was the brief explanation of the invisible hand term and similar to food chains in an ecosystem.In free market system, individuals join the ecenomy as consumers, laborers, and investors.For example, as consumers, individuals influence production patterns through their purchase decisions, as producers they will change production in order to produce what is most profitab le.As laborers, individuals may decide which jobs to prepare for and in which markets to look for work.As investors, they decide how much of their income to save and how to invest their savings.These savings provide much of the money that businesses need to grow.All of these forms supply-demand and competition parts of the capitalist eceonomy.On the other hand, the communism system was set up on the Marxism ideology.Marx gave the importance to the labor and labor power.He named people who must sell their labor power as proleterians and ones who buy the labor power as capitalists.He observed that in practice every successful industry input unit-costs are lower than output unit-prices.Marx called the difference surplus value and argued that this had its source in surplus labor, the difference between what it costs to keep workers alive and what they can produce.At the same time, this value was the capitalists profit.In fact, this value was created by the proleterians labor-power.There fore it should belong to the laborer.Communism sort out this problem and suggests that people earn proportionally to their labor-power.It is totally against the individuals competition.On the contrary, it encourages the collectivism of labor.For instance, a professor can work as a construction worker for the building necessity of the country in order to shorten the building time.After Long Walk of Mao in 1949, China became an communist country.However Chinas communism was different from the others.China wasnt a country of Cold War and Maoism, Far East version of Marxism-Leninism, was used in this country.In addition to the laborer, agriculture and villagers are given great importance by Mao because the life in China was associated with the soil.As it is said in the journal New China and the Old : What China is able to do on top of that, which other capitalist countries cannot, is use the power of the State plan large projects and harness both private and public companies to achieve them, today China uses the power of seeming communism to become big capitalist.Their actual political system is now capitalism. In addition to viewpoints about economy, their perspectives about social life are totally different.The capitalism encourages the individualism. Competition is the main element of individualism.Each individual must be better than the others to earn his life as if he were an animal trying to survive in the wild nature.This leads bad emotions to spread out in the society, such as mistrust, outrage ,and discrimination.Another result of capitalism is consumerism.In capitalism, the social life is formed with respect to the principles of Consume-Obey-Die.People dont have enough time to think, and examine their lives.They are encouraged to consume without thinking what will happen as a result of their actions.This cause people become alienated from production.In other words, this led people to become unaware the things which they produce, why they produce these and the results of their actions.On the other hand, as it is said in the journal Cuba, change is in the air: Its like young people here are in a cocoon, preparing and preparing themselves until they can one day break free and fly away., there is a closed social structure life in the communist countries.In fact, this is not the real property of communism.The reason for this is the real communism will not exist unless the borders of countries are removed. The system which now exists in the communist countries is not real communism, it is the dictatorship of proleteriat.Collectivism is also another content of communism.Communism encourages collectivism against the individualism.In communism, there is no family life because it is viewed as the rest of feudalism.People live in the units named as commune.They eat food at the refectories and sleep in the dormitories. To sum up, communism and capitalism have some problems.The principles of capitalism is against the humanity which is formed by the things which distinguish a human from an animal.Capitalism leads to an idea which is that all the actions done in order to get money can be acceptable.Imperialism, the fundamental necessity to maintain capitalism, is the biggest enemy of the humanity.World War 1, the war in Iraq, and in Palestine and terrorism in Turkey are some examples of violonce created by imperialism.On the other hand, the viewpoint of communism about the family life is wrong.This also causes big restriction in human life.In the near future,there will be a system which is composite of capitalism and communism.In this system,the difference between the earnings of people will be very small ,and there will be family life not communes but there will be collectivism of labor.Imperialism will be no longer valid.The most important thing is that the children wont be killed in order to make p rofit.

The Good Earth Point of View :: Good Earth Essays

The Good Earth Point of View The Good Earth is a third-person narrative, but the story it tells is Wang Lung's. Everything that happens is described as he experiences it and as it affects him. The narrator explains Wang Lung's thoughts and feelings but almost never those of other characters. You understand them through their words and actions. This is obviously a rather limiting way of telling a story. In staying strictly within Wang Lung's experience, the narrator can't be all-knowing. You might think that the novel could have been written in the first person, with Wang Lung as the "I." But this hero is an uneducated, indeed an illiterate farmer, and if the story were told in his words the novel would be limited not only to his experiences but to his vocabulary. In using the third-person form the narrator has somewhat more scope. Yet the scope is quite limited. For example, when O-lan brings a bowl of tea to her husband on the first morning of their marriage, you know that she is afraid of him only because he sees the fear in her expression. Later you see that O-lan comes to trust her husband from the way that she goes about her work, taking her full share of the toil as an equal partner, and also from the way she offers advice to Wang Lung on the rare occasions when a crisis moves her to break her customary silence. Just as the characters are described only as they affect Wang Lung, every event is told only as it relates to him. Drought, flood, locusts--all are part of the story only as they affect Wang Lung. Wars are fought all over China and robber bands plunder and murder in the villages, but we learn of these dire events only as Wang Lung does. His uncle turns out to be a member of a notorious band of brigands. He learns that a robber band raided the House of Hwang during the famine. His cousin brings a band of soldiers into his house. He learns that his third son has become a high official in the "revolution.

Logic and Moral Dilemmas Essay -- Logical Philosophy Philosophical Pap

Logic and Moral Dilemmas ABSTRACT: Logic is of great importance for the philosophy of education. In particular, logic provides a rational and critical approach in ethics, helping us understand the nature of moral dilemmas. Some suggest that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. Unsolvable moral situations simply reflect implicit inconsistencies in our existing moral code. If we are to remain moral as well as logical, then we must restore consistency to our code. This is accomplished by adding exception clauses to current principles, and giving priorities to some principles over others, or by some other device. I argue that we must accept moral dilemmas as an essential part of real-life reality on the grounds that some moral statements concern values. According to Moore's "axiological thesis," whether these statements are true depends on two factors: the set of alternatives from which we make an evaluation, and the scale of values with which we rate them. Also, it is po ssible that a given alternative is no better than another in some respect. Furthermore, there is no respect in which they are equally good or equally bad (the so-called "Condorcet's effect"). Thus, we must accept moral dilemmas as real rather than apparent. Among all the spheres of philosophy of education logic is of great importance. In particular it is logic that provides the rational and critical approach in ethics. So logic help us to understand the nature of moral dilemmas. It has been suggested that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. So our being faced with unsolvable moral situation merely reflected an implicit inconsistency in our existing moral code and that we forced... ...sibus perplexis// Th. Hobbes. A dialogue between a philosopher and a student for the common laws of England. Leibniz G.W. Specimen difficultatis in jure seu dissertatio de casibus perplexis. Doctrina conditiorum. De legum interpretatione/ Ed. by T.Ascarelli. Milano: Giuffre, 1960.P.267-302. 5. Lemmon E.J. Moral Dilemmas// Moral Dilemmas/ Ed. by Christopher W. Gowans. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.P.101-114. 6. Lemmon E.J. Deontic Logic and the Logic of Imperatives// Logique et Analyse. 1965. Vol. VII. No.2. P.39-61. 7. Moore G.E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press, 1960. 8. Rescher N. Ethical Idealism: An Inquiry into the Nature and Function of Ideals. Berkeley,etc.:University of California Press, 1987. 9. Schlesinger G.N. The Sweep of Probability. Notre Dame & London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.

Revelation Essay

Revelation The opening lines of the poem initiate the main themes; â€Å"Black bull† introduces one of the themes which are gender stereotyping. This suggests the bull is powerful, strong and very angry. Females are then introduced in the poem, â€Å"eggs and milk†. This suggests females are pale, delicate and easily broken. The poet highlights the theme of stereotypes by placing â€Å"black bull† above â€Å"eggs and milk†. This is to effectively state that the black bull is on top of eggs and milk which emphasises on the importance of gender stereotyping.The second theme is introduced which is innocence and experience, â€Å"They call him Bob – as though perhaps you could reduce a monster with the charm of a friendly name†. Tone her is cynical. The bull has been given a cheery, friendly name which is a irrelevant name for the harsh animal. The key words of the quote are â€Å"monster† and â€Å"friendly†. This is a very striki ng contrast between the idea of the name Bob being friendly, cheery and approachable, but in actual fact behind the cheery name lays a monster. The quote, â€Å"at the threshold of his outhouse†, is the turning point in the story.This is a symbolic quote that states you must go over a line before starting a new life. In the poem a young girl is standing in the area between safety and danger. The line is significant as the pause creates a series of tension building up to a sense of danger. The girl’s initial perceptions of the creature are conveyed in, â€Å"At first only black, and the hot reek of him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The girl’s sensory impressions of the bull are that the word â€Å"black† represents danger. The words â€Å"hot reek† represents the smell and stench of the bull.Her over all sensory impression is the smell of the bulls pungent aroma that is its natural smell and the limited sight gives her a sense of the unknown danger. The poet conti nues to reference the main theme of gender stereotyping by developing it, â€Å"We was immense†, This quote highlights masculinity and power. It shows that males are bigger, more powerful and the dominate gender. The theme of innocence and experience is also developed, and the bull and the girl are compared to each other. The girl is full of fear and innocence. She is extremely intimidated by the bulls presence.The poet powerfully, reinforces the contrasting thematic dichotomies suggested in verse one. In the first instance this is done by including details in verse two which contract with details from the first verse. The poet has reinforced the theme of innocence and experience as he shows that the bull knows he is restrained. Also reinforces the theme of gender stereotyping – girl and boy. This is done as it is dark and the girl cannot see what the bull is doing, whilst the girl is unaware of this, the bull is trying to break free from where he is chained up too.The poet condenses the contrast by highlighting them in a few lines of verse two. â€Å" I had always half known he existed† Here, the poet points out that the girl had always knew the bull was there, just she had never seen the bull and didn’t want to come to terms with the reality. Verse three is effective as it shows that the girl is fearful of her encounter with the bull. The girl is terrified by the bulls presence and runs away from the farm. She runs past a group of boys.Here the writer links the bull and the boys together by the use of harsh sound effects. It is important that this link is made as it makes a direct comparison between the bulls aggression and the boys cruelty. It highlights that they both share the same characteristics. Finally, the girls attention is redirected to the parlous state of the eggs and milk, due to the flight, â€Å"scared of the eggs shattering† While she’s too busy protecting the eggs it shows the reader that females are protective towards anything precious.In the girls eyes the eggs and milk are precious, and she wants to protect them from any harm. â€Å"in case the milk should spill† The precarious position of the milk is highlighted in the small hands of a weak girl, who has been charged with the responsibility of looking after the eggs and milk. She is protecting what is important to her. The poet seems to be suggesting that her experience shows that females are scared of males and have to protect themselves from any harm. Females protect all forms of life, they are caring and sensible creatures.