Third Assignment for Philosophy 310

        I have been an online student for almost two years now.  During that time I have had only four instructors make comments on each page of the assignment.  Most will make a comment by the grade but not explain specific details within the paper.  I still don't know the difference between relativism and contextualism but did get 100% on my assignment.

        The online school that I attend requires APA (American Psychological Association) for written assignments. My blog does not.  Rather than include the list of APA cited references, I will just include the link in my parentheses references should you be interested in more research on the topic.

"The moral values, ethical codes, and laws that guide our choices in normal times are, if anything, even more, important to help us navigate the confusing and disorienting time of a disaster" (Fink, 2018).

          Values are the things that are most important to us.  We may achieve these values through our moral outlook.  For some, there is a distinction between ethics and morals, but others may use these words interchangeably (Values, 2013).

Part I - Contextualist

            It appears that a relativist and a contextualist may be closely related - that is they understand right and wrong but are aware of the exceptions to absolutism.   For example, those who lead or follow dictatorship are using a form of what I believe to be absolute.  It is "their way or no way" where everything is black and white and there are no shades of grey. 

            A relativist and a contextualist both look at the exceptions to things like capital punishment, abortion, and things of that nature.  I think the relativist will consider whether the capital punishment is relevant to a certain individual and the contextualist may look at abortion to mean different things to each individual.  Is the abortion the only option for saving the mother?  Is the abortion to prevent a bad seed from spreading (for example, what grief may have been saved if Adolph Hitler's mother had had the option of abortion when she was pregnant with him).

            I think I'm more of a contextualist than a relativist as I tend to overanalyze everything.  I do not mean to, but the older I become, the more exceptions I can find to each rule - except math.  Math is absolute.

Part II – Virtue Ethics

            Regardless of each students' major, we are all given certain core classes, among which are History and Philosophy.  Many have questioned why. I believe the answer is to examine our own personalities and the way we interact with others.  Why do we trust certain individuals and not others? How do we present ourselves to others? What do we expect in return? (Ethics, 2017)  These guidelines are necessary for us to develop a new way of thinking (CrashCourse, 2016).

            My husband and I were watching 60 Minutes earlier this week. One story focused on a company in China selling inferior plastics to companies like Boston Scientific (Pelly, 2018). They in turn use to work with the human body after surgery.  The problem is the plastics have caused more damage.  I see this as a story of dishonesty and greed.  Some corporations have gotten so large and have so many employees in upper management; often it is hard to know who is responsible for allowing such a devastating thing to happen.  This is one of many corporations that have purchased inferior products for whatever reason. I think the value was placed on financial gain rather than the safety of mankind.

            There are many business majors in each of the classes I take.  Many have the dream of starting their own business and perhaps even creating a recognized empire.  This class is to teach them to focus on what is important to each of them and how to obtain their desires.  We need to be aware of moral values in others as we climb the ladder of success.  We want those we hire or work with to share our ethical values so that there we are all on the same page as far as accomplishing the goals or what it is the company is trying to accomplish.

Part III – My Outlook (Similarities)

            I think that both relativism and virtue ethics look out for the greater good or the interest in persons either individually or as a group (Mugerditchian, 2014). I want to work for a company that values humanity and kindness; I do not wish to work for a business in which the sole purpose is to get rich.  I would not continue working for a corporation if I thought there was dishonesty with inaccurate accounting or having knowledge of the purchasing inferior or illegal products.

           

Part IV – My Outlook Differences

          For the above, I would consider this kind of exception: a business for covering up a well-intended scandal.  For example, working in a bakery during Hitler's reign.  It might appear as a wholesome bakery, but in reality, there is the act of smuggling people out of Germany in the bakery delivery truck. Things like that really happened, and it was unfortunate for so many not knowing who they could trust.  Although it does not appear to be either vitreous or ethical, I believe the context for which I am "committing a grievous sin" (Fairweather, 1932).  I believe it is for the greater good.  I will always put people's lives and welfare over that of a business. 

Conclusion: What was Learned?

            I learned the names of moral values.  We each have our differences from culture to culture and person to person. We all form opinions.  There is no right or wrong to one's opinion, but perhaps the reasons are valid or invalid.  Who is to say?  Even philosophers do not agree on meanings or definitions (CrashCourse, 2018). It is what it is.

            I noticed some grammatical errors as I was reading over this before posting to my blog.  There weren't a lot, but enough that I know many instructors would have docked me for leaving out the punctuation or keeping "Who" when it should have been changed to "Why".  I am happy to know that this assignment was graded more on content.  That actually seems to be rare at this school. At least that is how it feels.

Philosophy and Religious Values

        I've been quite emotional for the last couple of weeks or so.  Watching "The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music" and seeing the horrors of bullying by supporters of Hitler. Crying over different stories featured in 60 minutes.  It's almost like five years worth of PMS took over.  What's up with that?

            In my philosophy class, I was supposed to take a quiz and post my results about taking the quiz.  I just now finished the assignment of what I learned about contextualism or relativism and explaining the similarities between those and virtue ethics.  Actually, I am only supposed to pick one value and one ethic.  I am really quite confused by moral values - which, by the way, are part of my religious upbringing and NOT philosophy.

            So I start off the discussion by saying that I really don't put much value into logic quizzes or emotional evaluations.  Keep in mind that I do not appreciate being analyzed and find the results of the test confusing.  I found the explanation of values even more confusing.  If I understand the definitions it seems I would fall into the category of contextualism more than relativism.  Even during the lecture I was in agreement but have not retained what it was I thought I had agreed to. So perhaps I accept either relativism or contextualism.  

"Let you give you an example and perhaps you can help me with the analyzation.

          "My mother has always expected each of her children to tell the truth.  She was a woman with a sixth sense or eyes in the back of her head or something.  She ALWAYS knew when we were lying.  Always.  The fact that we often got punished more for lying than whatever we had done wrong made us realize it would be better to just tell the truth and not bother with trying to hide it from her.  I was taught to tell the truth.  Not everybody has learned the same values I was taught.  I get that.  I can even accept that.  This next part of the post is what I'm having issues with. 

          "About ten years ago she was diagnosed with a form of dementia (she did not have Alzheimer's) and lost touch with reality - though in her mind everything she spoke was the truth.  Her children were told to "play along" and accept her reality - because really, what was the point in making her sad or angry by correcting her on something she was just going to forget in five minutes anyway.  When she was up for an evaluation, I opened the door to two strangers.  One sat with her and asked her questions while I took the other into my mom's room to show her what medications and dosages my mom was taking for various things.

          "When the two aides left, my mom got really defensive and asked why she had been interrogated.  I lied to my mom about who they were and why they had come.  [My exact words were, "Oh, those weren't your visiting teachers?" though I knew full well that they weren't] It was easier for both of us for me to do it that way.  That doesn't make it right.  The evaluation was more necessary than my telling the truth.  Still, it bothered me as I have been taught not to lie and there I was lying to the one that had taught me not to.  Is that contextualism or relativism? Does it matter?"

            Before I was more than halfway into my thoughts, I was crying about the lie and dementia and missing my mom.  I'm crying because my arm hurts as I haven't had it in a relaxed position while trying to operate the mouse.  I cry because I'm not able to have a face to face conversation with different family members like I used to. An uplifting post this is not.  Sorry about that.  But if it's of any consolation, I am feeling better than when I initially wrote this (I think it might have been Monday?)