Group Final - Philosophy

Alexis Rowland
Class Group Assignment

5/2/15
Honestly, I believe that our money is just that, ours. We should not
have to do anything because we worked hard and thusly earned that money.
I think that IF you are in a position to help other out then it should be
something you do. However, unlike Singer, I believe that you need to be in a
position with more than just your basic needs being met. I think you need to
have a roof over your head, enough food to keep yourself and your family
well nourished, a decent and college-level education, a reliable vehicle and
money to be able to do maintenance, health/home/car insurance and a nest
egg of savings for those rainy days that inevitably always come.
Marcus believes that we should donate, but still have enough left aside
for ourselves. We all want luxury, within limits, according to Marcus. Paulo
disagreed, We work hard for our money, why should we donate it? He then
amended his belief stating that the idea is a good one but the amount of
money seems too excessive, especially if Peter Singer cannot follow his own
belief. Sarah also disagrees with Singer because not everyone has the same
basic needs. She used the example of: what if I have mold growing in my
house, should I leave it there because it is not one of the basic necessities?
Her solution is instead of donating follow the teach a man to fish
philosophy so that he can care for himself in the future. Ana says that you
can help out without donating money like giving the neighbors kids a safe
place when their parents arent home yet.
God made man to subdue the Earth, so how can eating meat be
unethical? This was pondered by Marcus. If it gives us nourishment it is
meant to be eaten. Paulo countered with why dont we eat dogs or kill each
other? I tend to follow more along the same lines as Marcus. I dont believe
that it is unethical to eat meat. Our bodies are made to digest it. I do think
that, typically, people overindulge on meat. We consume much more than
our bodies need because we like the way it tastes. I feel that everything in
life serves a purpose and that in some cases the purpose of an animal or
plant is for sustenance for other parts of our world.
In my opinion, if everyone became a vegetarian, people would struggle
to get enough protein into their bodies and that certain animal populations
would be out of control. Peter Singers beliefs are more closely aligned with
Paulo. He states that a humans life is not necessarily more sacred than a
dogs. (Philosophy a Way of Life pg. 539) Ana argued the middle ground
here by saying that there are ways that make the eating of meat more or
less ethical, and those mostly revolve around how the animal is treated and
then killed. Ultimately I believe that eating meat is a part of the circle of life
and an expectation in most animals.
The dictionary defines truth and the quality or state of being true; in
accordance with fact or reality; a fact or belief that is accepted as true. To
me truth is the ultimate knowledge. Truth is something that varies from

person to person. We have no way of having absolute knowledge, plus
things change the more we learn (we thought the Earth was flat and we were
absolutely sure of it!, and we were wrong). Truth is something that we have
decide for ourselves. In this case, I think the skeptics are correct because we
can never have a universal truth. Due to cultural, ethical, age, gender, and a
million more reasons. These differences will always cause some sort of
discrepancy but we can arrive at individual or self-truths.
I think that like truth, behavior has to be determined by the individual.
There are outside sources that may affect what we think and how we feel,
such as our society, parents, and even the media affect what we think of as
good or bad behavior. I think that its a combination of the consequences
and the intentions behind each behavior that make it good or bad. There are
times where good intentions end and the results are disastrous.
Alternatively, there are times when bad intentions bring about good things
and that shouldnt diminish the positive effects. You have to know both in
order to be able to judge appropriately.
Morals are another thing that is varies with the individual. I am the
type of person who believes in gray areas. By that I mean that some that
the right or wrong thing in that situation or circumstance is unclear. You can
end up in good places for a multitude of reasons. In these situations, I think
that doing the right thing is what counts, though I know that others would
not agree with this. Intentions are impossible to gauge though, so unless
you told someone what your intentions were, they would never know. That is
why I have come to the conclusion that it is the action that matters not what
motivates that action. In this case, Sarah took the cynical approach and
stated Anything you do is for you, so everything is selfish. If it helps more
than just you, it cant be wrong.
I love Robin Hood. I loved the movies and the plays, as well as his
entire concept. Stealing from the rich to give to the poor is doing what needs
to be done. I think that those who are really that rich should donate because
they have had their basic needs and their wildest dreams met and still have
more to spare. In that case, spare! Taking from those who have more than
enough to give to those who are barely (or not at all) scraping by while
technically wrong, I deem as good because you are helping the greater
good. That is one of the aspects of Utilitarianism that I do agree with. And
it is one of the ways that most people are able to distinguish between right
and wrong. Technically, yes, it is less moral but some extremes are just
necessary at times.
The good life to me means a lot of things. When I picture the good life,
I picture myself on a hammock with a drink in my hand. To me that says that
I live life beyond the basic necessities. However, that hammock is in my own
back yard, which says that I did not go overboard and buy an island or
something crazy like that. I would like to think that if I were in a positon that
I had all the luxuries that I wanted I would donate my time if not my money.
Volunteer like I do now only have more time to do so.
A superior individual to me is one that I look up to and admire. My
mother is superior in knowledge, her grace, and her unparalleled
experiences. My fianc is superior because he is a homeowner and has kids.
They are people that have things that I want or that I want to be like. My
group listed the following attributes as the traits of a superior individual:
wise, strong, independent, respectable, respectful, older, prettier, strong,
knowledgeable, innocent, or has what I want.
My group came to the conclusion, the only thing we ALL agreed on,
that in order to have a good life you need to be happy. If you are unhappy
you will make negative choices. Doing good makes you happy and more
likely to repeat the cycle. (Ana) To me a good life is not the same as a
moral one. I can have a good life by not hurting people. I can have a
moral life, by helping people. I happen to find happiness in helping others.
So they do go together but are not mutually exclusive.
I think that we have a duty to being good and not going out of our
ways to harm others. Yes there are a lot of times when, whether we meant to
or not, we cause harm to come to others. However, those are just the
casualties of living life. To be human is to err and no one is or can be perfect.
I think that there are times where you even have to put aside yourself to
make others happy, again this can tie into the Utilitarianism, but it doesnt
have to. To live a good life may mean that I dont get to have new clothes
unless I steal them. At this point I am morally wrong, so I would have to deal
with not having new clothes in order to make myself moral and I think
ultimately that would make me happier in the long run.
Sarah thinks that people need to contribute to society and set an
example. So she took the pro society route. I think this is good in theory,
but they have to be setting the right example. There are models and actors
and singers and a variety of other celebrities that are setting bad examples,
yet they are going out there, in front of society. Marcus (who took the middle
route) says that society only affects your happiness if society is a focus in
your life. If you dont care about society then it wont affect whether you are
living the good life or not. Lastly, shunning the need for society at all is
Paulo. He stated that you do not need society to have a good life. You can
live alone in a cave and still be moral. You can be happy with only yourself,
your family, and a small amount of things. Living your life completely away
from society. I argue however, that at that point, those few people become a
society.
I found that overall, the theorists we have studied like to go to
extremes to get their point across. They use absolutes and I dont feel like
there are absolutes that apply to everyone. We are too diverse to be able to
use blanket coverage. My group only had five people in it, yet between us
we were only able to agree on ONE small aspect of all ten of these questions
and that doesnt even come close to including all the branching off and side
topics that came into play during our discussion. That should give us a good
idea that we cannot do so with all of the world, or on a smaller scale, state,
city, or family. We have to find what works for us, what we believe to be best,
and figure out, as an individual, what we can live with or without. There is no
right answer, but in these cases there are no wrong answers either.

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Alexis Rowland

Class Group Assignment

me truth is the ultimate knowledge. Truth is something that varies from

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