EthicsAssignment2
Online Ethics
Assignment 2 "Can you think of a case in which you would count two values as genuine ethical values although they are in irresolvable conflict?"
Spending a few minutes thinking about conflicting ethical values yielded few results. Although it seems quandaries like this are a dime-a-dozen, when one actually sits down to identify such situations the ability to pinpoint them as clearly as when they happened, diminishes. The most prominent example of two genuine ethical values in constant conflict that I can recall in my life came from my father. My father has always been rather hard lined with his ethics. Things usually seemed to be clearly on one side or the other with him. When our family was young he would spend more than twelve hours a day at work, providing financial support for a young sparwling family. I remember clearly some late night battles occurring between him and my mother over the balance between financial support and spending time at home, nurturing the new family with a fatherly presence. Both of these values, providing financial support for one's family and being around to provide a strong masculine compass for two young sons, are most definitely genuine ethical values. Anyone in today's society would tout both as essential tasks to be performed predominantly by the male of the household. Both tasks are also immensely important for the health and development of children. We see children that come from families with an extreme imbalance in either these two areas and we shake our heads. I'm sure maintaining the balance between these two is anything but easy for a young father. This might be one of the most common conflicts between two values we see today. A father in this situation probably receives criticism on both sides of the fence from multiple angles no matter what he does. The real challenge is finding that sweet supple line of balance between the two. You can't really get too Utilitarian about it, beating
Assignment 2 "Can you think of a case in which you would count two values as genuine ethical values although they are in irresolvable conflict?"
Spending a few minutes thinking about conflicting ethical values yielded few results. Although it seems quandaries like this are a dime-a-dozen, when one actually sits down to identify such situations the ability to pinpoint them as clearly as when they happened, diminishes. The most prominent example of two genuine ethical values in constant conflict that I can recall in my life came from my father. My father has always been rather hard lined with his ethics. Things usually seemed to be clearly on one side or the other with him. When our family was young he would spend more than twelve hours a day at work, providing financial support for a young sparwling family. I remember clearly some late night battles occurring between him and my mother over the balance between financial support and spending time at home, nurturing the new family with a fatherly presence. Both of these values, providing financial support for one's family and being around to provide a strong masculine compass for two young sons, are most definitely genuine ethical values. Anyone in today's society would tout both as essential tasks to be performed predominantly by the male of the household. Both tasks are also immensely important for the health and development of children. We see children that come from families with an extreme imbalance in either these two areas and we shake our heads. I'm sure maintaining the balance between these two is anything but easy for a young father. This might be one of the most common conflicts between two values we see today. A father in this situation probably receives criticism on both sides of the fence from multiple angles no matter what he does. The real challenge is finding that sweet supple line of balance between the two. You can't really get too Utilitarian about it, beating