These are totally unrelated areas of study in philosophy yet they are somewhat similar due to their aim, the study of force. Politics is the study of how political force in relation to the general public and Legal Law is the study of how to best laws can be used to achieve social and political aims. The two are often mixed and used in conjunction with each other because of this simple truth.Continue Reading
Genetics and the need to focus on Ethics
The Genome project has been an ongoing research program that has many critics due tot he possible implications such research may bring about. True to this, the identification of certain genes that may give a person more chances of being violent and others are raising the possibility of a genetic testing that may bring about discrimination. Other issues such as the area of stem cell research which could bring about cloning of humans (which in my opinion is already underway) making the movie 6th Day a reality with more than one version of yourself around to do your work.
Many ethical issues are rising form the research that have stemmed from the study of the human genome, and some philosophers have seen this as the move by man to become GOD. Manipulating genes to make better crops and animals, making them more productive and hardier to disease and other natural problems may have us dealing with artificial life that was created in a test tube or Petri dish in a few years time. Many have benefited from genetic engineering of rice that has resulted in higher yielding crops that are hardier to disease and better to withstand the wrath of nature. Mother Nature has been running the show till man decided he could get one good trait from one plant and give that to another plant with another great gene to make a totally new variety of plant that is better than both parents. This process normally happens naturally but man is meddling with matters that may become his end. The concerns about GMO’s are rising and people are not quite sure what they’re eating.
Medical experts say it’s bad to eat GMO’s but how do we feed the world which is growing by the millions each year. The rice shortage of the past few months highlights the need for more productive crops in order to feed the population of this earth. Domesticated animals thrive only with human care and medicine that boosts their immunity allowing them to ward of disease and other pests. The balance between need and the real world is a very thin line and the world of biogenetics has managed to keep up till man himself became alarmed at the implications of the things that he has invented. We are truly in a dilemma today regarding what side to choose, natural or manipulated and there may be too little we can do in the case for the law is supply and demand. What people wants, people get and at whatever cost.
Education’s role in promoting Ethics
Education is the key and this applies not only to the US, but for all people around the world who are only now beginning to get a taste of how good democracy and freedom is. China’s older generation is void of such concepts but the events of the past five or six years where the government has accepted more liberal ideas allowing free trade fueling it’s breakneck economic boom placing it before the laws that are widely accepted around the world. Many see China as the biggest market on the earth which has credence for they have 1.3 Billion citizens and it is just about opening up to the world of trade and products from the country is beginning to flood world markets. Here too, the rapid economic growth of the several economic regions in China has spurred unlikely problems like their habit of cutting corners in order to increase profits to the use of sub-standard materials in the manufacture of products for export abroad. Recalls of various products which have been found to contain dangerous amounts of poisonous chemicals contained within paints and other finishing products (even toothpaste that is laced with trace amounts of anti-freeze chemicals) have led to many arrests and rapid changes to the government’s governance regarding products standards. These manufacturers are simply not used to following rules and do whatever it takes to deliver finished products which have resulted in deaths and health problems mainly in children who have used such products.
China faces many hurdles to become a more open and transparent state but being a socialist state may be one of it’s main obstacles. The government hopes to increase profits in terms of economic growth but another aspect of that society that has ruled the country which is human rights has repeatedly failed world standards. The education system of China has also been forced to adopt more open curricula such as the teaching of democracy which is a word banned from the verbal repertoire of many generations of Chinese in times past. The population might be finding it hard to adopt a more open world but this might be the only way for China to continue its growth and evolution into one of the world’s greatest economic powers. The next ten years will be the determining period if the growth in its economy will continue or the drive will simply crumble and fail into oblivion.
Ethics Losing its Purpose These Days
One thing apparently missing in whatever we do, both personally and professionally is the lack of ethics. Actually, the phrase “Don’t Trust Anyone” seems to be the easiest way to sum it all up and this includes relatives and friends. There are apparently a lot of factors that have lead to this and much of it includes money and power. Some may not admit it but the evils that these two have are apparently given more weight than traditional ethics among people who should trust each other.
Apparently families in some parts of the world have lost the true meaning of family ties. Living and financial survival is all that matters today. And thanks to the crisis and inflation plaguing any part of the world, this seems to be the trend as far as personal survival is concerned.
So if this is the case, why push for ethics when it is eventually being written off? Indeed much of this has been the doing of man himself. No longer can you afford to freely trust someone who has not intention for his own. At the end, there will always be some form of benefit and reward. This is something that will definitely be a reward and normally it includes money and properties.
So while we are all wondering where ethics has gone, much of it has gone to the new philosophies we have all instilled in ourselves. It is not pretty but it is a reality and we just have to face the facts surrounding it.