Ethics and Morality in Literature Essay Example
Ethics and Morality in Literature Essay Example

Ethics and Morality in Literature Essay Example

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  • Pages: 5 (1226 words)
  • Published: February 9, 2022
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Ethics and morality are terms which are used as if they have a similar meaning. Sometimes they are used as if they do not have any connection with one other. I think most of the individuals realize morality and ethics have something to do with concepts of bad and good. The term morality has been co-opted by groups like moral majority, making people think morality that it only deals with the acts that the religious groups believe that are not proper or else are immoral. For instance, if you ask individuals to define the term immoral they will give an answer which has to do with sex. The meaning of the words morality and ethics can only be differentiated based on their origins in ancient Latin and Greek respectively. Ethics and morality of the person have been studied philosophically well for thousand years. The notion of

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ethics being principles that are applied and set to a group is comparatively new, yet, mainly dating back to 1600s. The distinction between morals and ethics is particularly vital for the philosophical ethicists.

Ethics are external standards which are provided by the groups, culture or else institutions to which people belong. For instance, law enforcement officers, doctors, and lawyers all have to follow the ethical code which is laid down by their profession in spite of-of their individual preferences or else feelings. Ethics can be taken as a framework or else social system for an acceptable behavior. Morals are also influenced by society or else culture, though they are personal principles which are created as well as upheld by the individuals themselves.

The distinction between morals and ethics is that ethic

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is a philosophical study of morality. The term is mostly used interchangeably with the word morality to mean subject matter of the research, and at times used more narrowly to mean the moral principles. My personal comment is that the term moral purports to illustrate something as if there were particulars of the subject. As if murder is wrong were similar sort of claim as white as snow. For this sort of usage, ethical require not to be factual. It may be unethical for the doctors to sleep with patients, though it is likely there are circumstances where no individual would call it immoral.

For Wallace in his book Consider the Lobster, individuals learn more on the process of preparing a lobster and the author finds it very cruel. The emphasis is put on the step by step procedure and then brings the fact that lobster might in fact feel pain like humans (Wallace, 5).

For instance the way lobster is killed and then boiled whereby it causes a lot of pain to the lobster. This is unethical for individuals to boil lobster alive and then consume it and then assume that nothing has happened. The blow of the lobster head is not yet praised either and the author contrasts how it is much different when people actively kills lobster as it is compared to when an individual kills a cow through a machine. It is morally right to eat and it is our natural part of lifecycle and every person has a dissimilar take on how individuals question the actions when all that they are doing is simply eating and living. The lobster that the author

talks about is painfully tortured by human and in addition they eat something that is lower in the food chain and the cycle is continual. Humans eat what they feel like and it is similar to all those lower in the food chain.

In the book Shooting an Elephant which is written by written by George Orwell we see him in an ethical dilemma whereby he must choose between two options which are undesirable (Orwell, 13). When the author goes to look on the report that tame elephant which is under the influence of must has just broken loose and is causing a lot of damage, he takes a caliber rifle which is much smaller to kill the elephant though the noise produced by the rifle may be useful (Orwell, 14). When he finds that the elephant has killed coolie he goes for a bigger gun for self defense. Orwell knew that killing the elephant was not good as he would just destroy this useful and valuable creature though the crowd demanded an action and they expect sahib to act decisively without wavering. In this context the author is left with unethical dilemma to either kill the elephant or else suffer the ridicule of natives.

The descriptive morals or else ethics are much of a study of human behavior as the consequence of beliefs about what is wrong or right, or else bad or good, and so far the behavior is ether practical or useful. For instance running pizza with the jalapenos before they are thrown may sound ethical though it is morally wrong as it has wrong been the food for the homeless individuals(Eighner’s, 410). They

may consume the food without the knowledge that they have been ruined with jalapenos which may, in turn, cause a health problem for the homeless and the mentally ill. Ruining pizza may sound immoral in the society we live as for wrong all individuals know it is food for the mentally sick and the homeless (Eighner’s, 407).

Ethics are much consistent within an individual context, though they can differ significantly among the contexts. The individual moral code is consistent as well as unchanging across all the contexts, though it is probable for certain events to change individual's personal values and beliefs radically. For instance one of an example of ethical dilemmas is about waste pizza where is it purposely ruined by the addition of jalapenos before it is thrown away so that the dumpster divers might get discouraged. It sounds immoral to destroy food with the jalapenos which could be of help to the homeless.

By viewing homelessness through the prism of socio-economic or else health indicator, conversely, reflects the understanding of the dilemma (Eighner’s, 411). One of the solutions to the ethical dilemma after analysis of traditional health systems to meet the housing needs of individuals with persistent and severe mental illness comprising all the people that are homeless. People with mental problems ought to be viewed as citizens more willingly than the patients with attendant, responsibilities, rights and needs which are similar to those of all citizens. The individuals with mental illness ought to be given chances to participate actively in the selection of housing from the available living environments which are available to other citizens. In this solving, this ethical dilemma individuals ought to

do short-term in intelligibility self-evident, By establishing aggressive outreach programs that can bring homeless people who are much eligible for the welfare support.

Morals are something that a person defines as wrong, like an individual thinking it is much morally wrong to lie whereas other people might think it is fine for several reasons. For instance ruining of pizza through addition jalapenos before disposing of it so as to discourage the dumpsters, it may sound ethically correct though it may be seen morally right and these remains are food for the homeless and the mentally ill individuals.

Work Cited

  1. George Orwell. Shooting an elephant. 2001. Print
  2. David Foster Wallace. Consider the lobster.2004. Print
  3. Lars Eighner’s .On Dumpster Diving. 2013. Print
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