Watch the video titled “The Ring of Gyges: Morality and Commitment”located at . TWO PARTS & 2 CLASSMATE DISCUSSION

“Morality and Fear of Punishment” Please respond to the following: Debate It: 1. From the YOUTUBE which discusses hypocrisy and the essay “The Ring of Gyges” Take a position for or against this statement (paraphrased from Plato’s, “The Ring of Gyges”: People behave morally and refrain from criminal behavior because they fear punishment. Provide reasons and examples to support your view. 2. Debate It: Take a position for or against this statement (based on Hobbes’ essay “The State of Men without Civil Society”): “We do not … by nature seek society for its own sake, but that we may receive some honor or profit from it.” Provide reasons and examples to support your view.

PLEASE RESPOND TO CLASSMATE DISCUSSION WHETHER YOU AGREE OR NOT & A DETAILED WHY: In regard to the statement “People behave morally and refrain from criminal behavior because they fear punishment” I do agree with this statement. There are often times where people make comments about “if I could get away with it” followed by what they’d do if they could get away with a crime. No one wants to be in trouble nor be punished. Most of us enjoy our freedom and would like to continue living a happy life. From another view, if there wasn’t a punishment for doing certain crimes, I really feel like there are people who would carry out those crimes.

As far as the second statement “We do not … by nature seek society for its own sake, but that we may receive some honor or profit from it” My take from this statement is more of a “you do good you get good” point of view. Sometimes we are put in positions that we don’t want to be in but we make the best of it because of the rewards that could come from it.

“Morality and Self-Interest” 1. Please respond to the following: Review the philosophical arguments put forth by Hume and Rachels. Then, discuss at least two arguments (one from each author) with which you agree or disagree. Provide reasons and examples to support your view. 2. Review McGinn’s short list and explanations of virtues (kindness, honesty, justice, Independence) in “Why Not Be a Bad Person.” Propose which of them that you would remove from the list and recommend at least two virtues you would add. Provide reasons and examples to support your view.

PLEASE RESPOND TO CLASSMATE DISCUSSION WHETHER YOU AGREE OR NOT & A DETAILED WHY: According to Hume kindness and compassion are pretenses, friendship is a lie, public spirit a farce a sham and fidelity a lie to gain the trust and confidence of others in order to benefit our personal goals. He believed that these tactics are used to throw others off balance in order in order for them to be taken advantage of by others. I agree with this argument because there are some people who employ this type of behavior in order to benefit themselves at the expense of others. According to Rachels self-interest and selfishness are different and it portrays egoism as a flawed concept. Self-interest is a concern for one’s own well-being, while selfishness is a concern exclusively for yourself. I agree with Rachels’ argument and an example is a person doing well financially. A person acting in their own self-interest would be paid for providing a service or product, while a selfish person doesn’t care what they have to do to get money and have no ethics or morals.

McGinn states that being good offers moral justification and the key virtues include kindness, honesty, justice, and independence. If I could remove one it would be independence since to me this really isn’t a virtue, and replace it with empathy and patience. I picked empathy because I feel that if more people took time to understand another person’s thoughts and feelings there would be more compassion and understanding in society. I would also add patience because being able to wait for something and not become angry or upset is a very valuable quality to possess.