Subjective or Objective Morality on Campus
Subjective or Objective Morality on Campus
LVE8004
2013/5/24
Introduction
The question of morality is objective or subjective has been arguing for centuries. People who hold different perspectives stand on different sides. In this paper, I will exam this issue with my own finding in a University in China. I found lots of college students show lots misbehavior and poor in-class performance on campus in the University I teach. Students show misbehavior such as put trash in the wrong place, smoke in public area, drink alcohol in dorm, physical fighting, and etc. Student show poor in-class activity such as lose attention to their instructor, playing phone during class time, in-class chatting, sleeping, reading (non-course related), absent, plagiarism, and etc. As a college student, they should understand what is good for them, what should do, and what should not. If morality has only one side, which side (objective or subjective) they stand the most? That becomes my research questions.
Literature review
Morality is either grounded in human well-being or grounded in custom/conventions, has varied wildly through history and around the world. By definition, morality is “principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.”(Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). How to distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior, and what is the guideline or standard have been argued centuries. In other words, subjective morality-objective morality battle never stop, and scholars pick their side to stand. There's no debate that morals are different to different people. The battle of objectivism-subjectivism of morality has been lit up centuries (Staris, 2001). The whole fighting issue of morality stems from the source of what is “True”. If truth is subjective, then morality is subjective. Truth is objective then there are moral absolutes.
Subjectivist’s notion that subjective morality is about all morality is situational,
LVE8004
2013/5/24
Introduction
The question of morality is objective or subjective has been arguing for centuries. People who hold different perspectives stand on different sides. In this paper, I will exam this issue with my own finding in a University in China. I found lots of college students show lots misbehavior and poor in-class performance on campus in the University I teach. Students show misbehavior such as put trash in the wrong place, smoke in public area, drink alcohol in dorm, physical fighting, and etc. Student show poor in-class activity such as lose attention to their instructor, playing phone during class time, in-class chatting, sleeping, reading (non-course related), absent, plagiarism, and etc. As a college student, they should understand what is good for them, what should do, and what should not. If morality has only one side, which side (objective or subjective) they stand the most? That becomes my research questions.
Literature review
Morality is either grounded in human well-being or grounded in custom/conventions, has varied wildly through history and around the world. By definition, morality is “principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.”(Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). How to distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior, and what is the guideline or standard have been argued centuries. In other words, subjective morality-objective morality battle never stop, and scholars pick their side to stand. There's no debate that morals are different to different people. The battle of objectivism-subjectivism of morality has been lit up centuries (Staris, 2001). The whole fighting issue of morality stems from the source of what is “True”. If truth is subjective, then morality is subjective. Truth is objective then there are moral absolutes.
Subjectivist’s notion that subjective morality is about all morality is situational,