Journal: 3-1

The Golden Rule

     Last week, I left off with the question, is there really a defined greater good? To research this I typed into Google "define: golden rule" and was only able to get one legitimate response that seemed to be accurate. One site defined it as: "The benefit of the public, of more people than oneself; that which is better and more correct", however I find this to be quite vague. Although this tries to define the golden rule, it only made me think of questions instead of excepting the answer. For instince, what is deined as "the public" and is family included in that? What is a definite way to tell whether something is a better or more correct solution? Perhaps this concludes that there really isn't a clear way to define the greater good and how it should apply, and it all depends on your moral character.

    
     This past week in ethics class we watched two TED talks dealing with the idea of a charter for compassion from a religious viewpoint and  a scientific one. The charter for compassion essentially called upon the whole world to become more compassionate in all regards of life such as religious toleration and treating others with respect just to name a few. The religious viewpoint of this concept was explained by a former nun who seemed to give off this vibe that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and there are very simple ways to go about this. The scientific viewpoint came from a biologist who believes that being compassionate is already a part of human nature set in our DNA but he argued that there is no simple way to make the whole world entirely compassionate. It was interesting to see how one viewpoint seemed to be whimsical while the other seemed to be realistic.

     For me, I would have to side with the biologist on this issue. Sure I wish that I could magically make the whole world become more compassionate and aware but that can't possible happen. There will always be hard headed people who think that the evil they do is religiously justifiable and people who are ignorant towards others feelings and situations. It would be extremly difficult to convince everyone that peace is the only solution and would take a very long time in order to show some hint of improvement. Everyone is born into a certain environment that shapes your beliefs and morals as you grow. When you're born in a place where compassion is frowned up, that's all you ever know and therefore it would be very hard to try and change people's minds who have been emersed in such culture for all their lives.

     Today I encountered an ethical issue which I had never thought of before. I was sitting in Calculus today reading an issue of National Geographic and it's issue on dinosaurs. My teacher saw me looking at the magazine and asked if I had heard about a scientist who was trying to take chicken DNA and reverse it in order to create prehistoric DNA of the chicken and thus genetically alter it. I responded, "That's fascinating! What a great idea to study prehistoric DNA." She then proceeded to ask me, "Well what if a scientist were to do the same thing on a human?" and I responded, "Well, I'm not sure how I would feel about that." This discussion made me think of the Golden Rule. Ofcourse we eat chickens all the time so it seems like no big deal if we genetcally altered one in the name of science. However, when you bring the human race into the discussion, one becomes unsure and concerned about what that would lead to when you start to do that. Would it be just as immoral to do this to a chicken as it would be to a human?

     I end today with a question: What in the world of Ethics is considered stepping over the line and going too far in the field of science?

"Greater Good - Wiktionary." Wiktionary, the Free Dictionary. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/greater_good>.

"Language as Imitative, Intersubjective Communication, Pt. 4: Communication as Multimodal, Sensorial Production and Perception | Markwk.com." Minding the Borderlands | Markwk.com. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. <http://www.markwk.com/2008/04/language-as-imitative-intersubjective-communication-pt-4-communication-as-multimodal-sensorial-production-and-perception.html>.

"Remember the Golden Rule! - Thor's Hammer." Thorsten Consulting Group, Inc. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. <http://thorstenconsulting.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/56-Remember-the-Golden-Rule!.html>.