Dream Silently

1 class down, 3 to go. Ethics is officially over. Well, unless she comes back and makes me rewrite something, at which point I will venemotly (sp?) protest on the account that I’m graduating.

And I’m not sharing that last paper. It’s poorly written and is mostly redundant. I can’t wait to get the feedback sheet. Yes, I’m famous for living criticism and suggestions for changes to consider. And since I was semester based, I think I can complain alot more about the course.

Not that the course sucked… it was just way too much reading and writing in my opinion. Normal classes have about 3-5 essays, not 14. It was a very long night by the way.

The problem with Casey jumping the fence has been solved. She now hates me when I put her on her leash and whines pathetically because she needs the freedom to run around and stuff. I just look at her and shake my head. I’m going to take her for a walk though after work today. It’s really beautiful and warm, so I figured why not? I have no obligations to have anything done tomorrow!

To my knowledge, my heater still hasn’t been fixed. I’m holding the rent check until it is fixed. My LL left the fucking lights on too when he went out there to check things. HELLLO! College student! I already can’t afford to live in this place as it is! ~_~

And on that note, here’s two fractals. The Search for Innocense was done with the newest beta version of Apophysis. I’ve also started working on the Seasons Series, which will be revealed later.

From Chaos is Order

Search For Innocence

This is one of my absolutely favorite subjects: virtue. I was actually surprised when we started this course and hadn’t done much on the classic greek ethical theories on morality. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle are clearly the fathers of current modern thought.

So, 2 down and 1 to go. Forgot to mention, I have a paper due tomorrow for Ethics on a law case and homework for Timber. Fun, eh? My third paper for ethics is also a 7-10 page paper. I am so going to need some luck in writing it.

And so:

“The Morality of Character”

When faced with a moral discussion, we find ourselves asking, “What would be the right thing to do?” Popular modern thought is to base our moral choice on what we feel is right and not in conjunction with the idea of our character. If we were to reword the question based on character, it would look like this: “What would be the most virtuous thing to do?”

Virtue ethics is based on this conjecture. What makes a good person? The general notion is that people of good characters will make good moral choices. Is this a valid ethical theory or a revolution of thought? Unfortunately, this is not some new and wild idea. It has simply been put into hiding in favor of more modern theories. So, what is virtue ethics? How did it come to be? Why isn’t it a leading ethical theory today?

The idea of Virtue or a virtuous character dates back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In reality, it does not even truly begin with him because Aristotle developed the concept of virtue based on the teachings of Plato and Socrates. According to him, the virtues are character traits that form from habitual actions. If you are constantly repeating something, then it is a part of your character and, thus, is a virtue of your character. Such as, praying before you go to bed every night versus every so often. You would be demonstrating the virtue of being pious. Vices are along the same concept, except they are abhorrently evil and considered bad character traits if constantly repeated. That is, if you enjoy torturing animals all the time versus only hurting them once or twice by accident, then you have a vice as a part of your character. Edmund L. Pincoffs suggests that in using the concept of virtue and vice together helps us to determine who is of good or bad character and, thus, who we choose to interact with or avoid.

So what makes a trait a virtue? A theory of Virtue must consist of at least five parts that qualify it as a virtue: What is the virtue? What character trait is the virtue? What are the features of this character trait? Why is it worth having? Who should have this sort of virtue? As an example, let us look at the concept of patience.

Patience is needed with teaching or even parenting. It is a virtue of taking one’s time and waiting for another to grasp something without rushing them. If you are a teacher, it is an important character trait because if you rushed your students and did not wait for them to catch onto the important meaning of a concept, you would be a poor teacher. Your students would not learn anything as a result. Both you and your pupils would then be frustrated.

By this simple explanation, one can see that virtue can cover a large list of things. Generosity, honesty, loyalty, courage, bravery, and compassion are just a few other possibilities that could define one of good character. Advocates of modern day Virtue Theory say that this is what has been missing in many of the ethical theories to date. Kantianism, Utilitarianism, and even the Social Contract fail to explain things beyond duty and requirements, making them incomplete. However, the same thing befalls Virtue Ethics.

Suppose we have a friend who comes to us with a deep dark secret. This secret involves theft, where our friend has pocketed an expensive iPod. What should you do? By Virtue Ethics, a very good trait is loyalty. That is loyalty to both friends and family, even if their actions are offensive. By this fact, the most you could do is chastise your friend for the theft, but you would not be required to turn them in for their crime. This is where Virtue Ethics begins to fall apart. Do we not have a moral obligation or duty? By the concept of “the right thing to do,” we would be morally obligated to turn our friend in for this theft or to drag them back to the store to return the merchandise. However, if we believed in being virtuous and that loyalty is valued in our character, we would have qualms about carrying out our civic duty for fear betraying that loyalty our friend has in us. After all, if they did not believe in our trustworthiness, they would not have told us of their theft.

Should we be required then to make ethical decisions based on our character habits versus our sense of duty and obligation? With each situation that we face, we would always run into a conflict that is similar to the previously mentioned. In many ways, people probably choose how they will solve it based either on holding true to their character traits or with their sense of duty depending on the situation. So, couldn’t both concepts work together?

This then would mean that Virtue Ethics could not stand alone as an ethical theory. It would have to work in conjunction with another theory. However, what theory would be best for it to accompany? On the other hand, perhaps, as the other theories need to evolve to involve the concepts of character, Virtue Ethics must also evolve to accompany the sense of duty and obligation.

The title says it all. I have three essays and a final to have done by thursday. I have 1.5 essays completed at this very moment and my mind is fried. We went and saw American Dreamz on sunday instead of saturday night. As a matter of fact, Saturday didn’t go as planned.

I got three hours of sleep on friday night. Somehow, I didn’t fall asleep during my 8 hour exam. It’s split into two and I managed to get done early with both parts. My truely honest feeling about the test is that it felt… too easy. I should be worried then, right?

I won’t find out for 12 weeks though. Royally sucks. So, I got home after that, and I’m hanging out and then the cleaning mood smacks me instead of laying down and taking a nap. My front lawn is almost finished in getting junk picked up. I just need to fix the license plate on Joe’s truck before I head off to the dump.

After talking to my sister and finding out she had a car accident that totalled her car, I ended up finding out that J caught my nauscious sickness. So our plans got postponed until sunday and then changed. We went to lunch and then a matenna.

American Dreamz (dddrreeamzzz with a zzzzzz) was funny and very amusing. It was also alot longer than I was expecting, with an “explosive” ending. MWAHAHAHA.

Then, I started my next house sitting job (I’ve gone straight to the next one and haven’t even had time to adjust). I crashed a little after Midnight and slept for a good 12 hours. I so needed.

So, what then? Casey has learned how to jump the fence. I got up and let her out before crashing for a few more hours and she goes off for a joy ride around the neighbor. I figured out where she was doing it at too. There’s a lump of snow that gives her just enough edge to get enough height to jump. I’ve tried to scrape it down lower, but I’ve hit ice and can’t go much lower. At the moment, she’s now stuck in the house when I’m not here. When I am here, the moment I let her out, I go to the window that’s closest to her jumping spot. Seeing me glaring at her when she starts testing scares her off from completing her task.

Then, I went to my place that evening to hang for a bit and play Guild Wars since I haven’t played it in FOREVER and you know what happens next? My heater craps out on me. I’m sitting at the computer, in the middle of a mission (and making friends with a new guild) and I hear this high pitched whining sound. I thought it was odd, shook it off, and figured, squirrels gone wild. It’s about that time of year and they can get pretty loud. Then the sound changes pitch and I realize that its not wild squirrels. Something is wrong with the heater. I ended up unplugging it and taking Sparkz with me to my place of house sitting so she didn’t freeze to death. Called my landlord this morning, but he hasn’t been out there to fix it yet. Or it didn’t appear like anyone had showed up when I swung out there this evening.

*sighs*

This is probably the most detailed entry you’ll get from me for the rest of the week. To those who’ve e-mailed me, I’ll be sending out replies soon… hopefully. Dude, I feel horrible if I take forever to reply, which I realize is really silly.

And now, I leave you with an essay on the the Female Ethic.

—-

The ethical theory of Care, proposed by Nel Noddings, can come to many similar conclusions that make it a reflection of the ethical theory of Egoism. So, is it truly a new and original idea? Some may believe so because they believe that the Ethics of Care reflects the idea that men and women think differently. However, are the genders truly different thinkers or is it something more, something else?

Thinking, or the ability to think and make moral choices, is shaped by more than just by our gender. The environment we are raised in, the individuals we call friends, and how our very own parents act is what shapes our outlook of morality. Can we not assume then that the Ethics of Care is nothing more than a derivative of the Ethics of Egoism and that there is no defining moral difference between a male and female perspective?

First, what is the Ethics of Egoism? Egoism is promoting the thought that a person is better off making choices (especially moral decisions) that help promote the individual self. In this context, if an individual was faced with the need to be charitable or to throw a super incredible birthday party for their one year old, there is nothing wrong with them choosing their daughter over charity. Why? Because we will naturally want more for someone we care about, rather than for someone we have never met. It is in our self-interest to act egotistical in the sense that we are only concerned about ourselves and the immediate outcome or effect we have on others.

So, then, what is the Ethics of Care? In order to answer this, we must first understand how it came into development. Lawrence Kohlberg developed a study in which this situation was proposed: Heinz’s wife was near death and her only hope was this drug discovered by a pharmacist that cost $1000. However, Heinz could not pay for that and when trying to bargain with the pharmacist, he could not bring the cost down. He is faced with the decision of either stealing the drug and saving his wife or letting his wife die. What should he do?

This scenario was proposed to children. The original purpose of this study was to determine how moral thinkers developed. Kohlberg developed a leveled system that he felt reflected this development in children. However, others have taken it to further their own purposes and to prove a supposed difference between male and female thinking based on two children alone. A boy by the name of Jake gave the answer that a human life was worth more than money and that stealing it would be ethically right. A girl by the name of Amy said that the stealing was wrong and he could go to jail. She further explained that he should continue to work with the pharmacist to get the drug. Both children were 11 years old.

This particular scenario is used to help explain Noddings’ concept of the Ethics of Care. Amy showed care, while being mindful of the social consequences of theft. However, did not Jake show a sense of care as well? Granted it was to the idea that a human being was important and not to an individual. This is why the Ethics of Care fails to prove that there is a “female ethic.” Both children showed care, but they showed it in their own way. Kohlberg should have taken the study farther and examined their living environments to better understand why these children came to such different opinions on the matter. The experiment is then flawed, and to use it to prove something is to make that theory just as flawed.

What the Ethics of Care does show is that it is a derivative of Ethical Egoism. The Ethics of Care simply states that when care is used to make a decision, we will want to help those that we are closest too. Our parents, children, and closest friends will always be foremost in our minds when it comes to a moral decision. We are then saying that the Ethics of Care is nothing more but for the benefit of our self-interest. Ethical Egoism shows the exact same thing.

So, is there a female ethic? Do females think differently than males? Absolutely not. Our environments and social conditionings are what shape our outlooks and opinions. To say that there was a female ethic would also confuse those who are one gender but act as the opposite gender. That is, if a man were homosexual, what ethic pattern would he fall under? A female point of view or a male point of view? He would fall under neither perspective because he is neither female nor male and yet both genders. The Ethics of Care then cannot simply apply to a female perspective because it must take into account all individual perceptions. Therefore, it fails to prove that there is a radical difference between female and male thought.

I was feeling great, well… more like okay. So I went to work. About an hour later, I headed back home because I was feeling pretty queazy. Ripped off my jacket, tied my hair back (and was very happy that I always had a rubberband around my wrist) and spent some time hovering over the toilet.

Yes… not a very pretty picture. I do not know what made me sick, but I can say this. I feel very good right now and can now hold down food without too much effort.

I have my huge 8 hour test tomorrow. And then I’m going out to see American Star (? …the satire on american pop culture) and then we’re going to go get sloshed. Pending I’m not feeling queazy again.

Too bed now, even though my mind is wired for tomorrow.

And while she looks so sad in photographs, I absolutely love her… when she smiles

I have a song stuck in my head. It came on the radio right after my sweety called me! Yes, he made it through Preranger School. And he’s sick… he sounds horrible. I wish I was with him so I can make him feel better (and not just with sex… yes, I know exactly what’s going through some of your minds. I’m telepathic you know.) Of course, you know what this means? He will now go to real ranger school in roughly ten days.

That means, I will have no communication with him for two months. A year ago, I would of been going into a panic at the thought of not being able to talk to him for that amount of time. But I’ve grown… and hardened some. I must be crazy though at the fact I feel so calm. Of course, that hasn’t stopped me from whining to him on the phone about it.

I truly would not be a real girlfriend if I didn’t whine a little bit ;P.

I had another site on DX that was a collection of the letters I wrote to him, while he was at bootcamp. It was called Letters to Joe. I’m going to start it again. Only it’ll be filled with letters that I cannot mail to him since he will not be able to have communication with the outside world. Maybe that’s why I feel so calm…

When he comes back, he’ll be able to read them and I think that’ll make him feel ackward and at the same time all filled with grins. What more can a girlfriend in love do?