Which Element Is Not An Element Of The Moral Point Of View

This essay sample essay on Which Element Is Not An Element Of The Moral Point Of View: offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion are provided below. Student cheating in the class – an ordinary phenomenon which happens in the school all the time. Nevertheless, many factors have been bought to the attention concerning the issue of ethics. Is cheating in the class against the elements of moral. How can people judge what is right or wrong.

From which points of view should this case to be studied. These are all the topics which will be covered by the essay.

Prior to analysing the case, it is important to know what is ethics and what is moral. Ethics is more about the theoretical concept which studies the moral principles and rules of conducts. However, even moral does not tell directly what is right and what is wrong. It provides a path on guiding what constitutes right and wrong conducts.

The coming essay will be divided into Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis which analyses several elements from a moral point of view using the theories in normative ethics concerning the case of cheating in the class. It is believed that human’s behaviours are guided by certain rules, norms and values.

Therefore “Should” and “Should Not” are only separated by a line depends on different perspectives. Normative ethics is considered as a more practical way to regulate right and wrong conduct which consist of three main theories: Virtue, Duty/Responsibility and Consequentialist Theories.

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Basing on these three main theories, argumentation will be given in the coming chapters. Firstly, the “Virtue Theory” will be taken into consideration for the case. Virtue theory points out that it is important for human to develop good habits of character instead of giving straight rules on what to do and what not to do.

Honesty will be one of the key elements which is related to case of cheating in the class. According to the virtue theory, it is believed that student should learn to be honest and cheating in the class is definitely against this theory. In addition, having the ability to respect is also a virtue in life. Cheating implies the low confidence of the student which in another way shows the disrespect to the teachers, exams, school as well as the rules. There are also many other virtues which can be developed by a student. For instance, hard working, well prepared for the tasks, obey the regulations and take action in a fair way, etc. Moreover, virtue theory also states the importance of avoiding the bad habit. The student should avoid being lazy and prepare properly for the exam. He/she should also avoid being dishonest and cheat even without preparation in advance.

Secondly, the “Duty Theory” can be applied in the case. The theories are based on specific and basic principles of obligation which show clearer on what do you and what not to do. The theory mentions what kinds of positive characters should a person carry. Basically it can be responsibility to god, to the own or to others. For instance, the main responsibility of a student is to study, prepare for the exams. These are their own duties and will be done for their own goods. On the other hands, they also have duties for others. They suppose to respect the teachers and obey the rules. Also, instead of taking things for granted, they should appreciate the effort spent by their parents to support their academic life. Again, cheating during the exam strongly against his/her own duty of being a student since he/she obviously did not prepare properly before the exam.

Furthermore, the student also fail to be responsible to others by disappointing the parents and disrespecting the teachers and the school regulation. Thirdly, the “Consequentialist Theories” determines morality by focusing on the consequences of an action. The rule of the theory is quite clear. It mentions that if the consequence of the action is good, then the moral is proper. However, it will be an improper moral if the result of the action is negative. When discussing about morality, there is no absolute right or wrong. Therefore, a couple of argumentations can be taken to against the thesis which has been made in the previous chapters.

Firstly, a student may cheat for the “surviving” purpose. In case he/she will not be allowed to continue the study if the result of the exams will not be sufficient to reach certain level. Human finds different ways to survive and therefore people all behave in different ways. The student decided to cheat in order to get a better result without harming any other parties in a directly way so as to maintain the criteria to survive. Secondly, human acts in the way according to the “rules and punishment”. The result of failing the exam may lead to a serious punishment. Under this circumstance, a student will find a way to create a protection from being punished. When weighting both factors, a student may see the power of punishment heavier than obeying the rules and thus cheating occurs.

Thirdly, in response to the natural feelings of fear to fail the exam, the student may “develop a vice” to “against the fear”. In the case of cheating in the exam, in order to eliminate the fear, the student chose to get a good grade by cheating. Fourthly, the student may see study as his/her “own responsibility” which means he/she understand that studying is for his/her own goods and he/she needs to bear the result of not able to learn in a proper way. He/she knows clearly that the consequence does not go to others but to him/herself. Therefore, they did not take other people like their parents or teachers into consideration when they decided to cheat.

Fifthly, the “ethical egoism” can be argued in this case. The consequences play an important role on telling people what to do and what not to do. Simply the consequences of cheating in the exam are more favourable than unfavourable to the student when he/she is only result-orientated which means he/she cares about the marks more than the learning process. Sixthly, “vanity” tries to remind people not to lose. When vanity exists in the student, he/she will strike to show their best. Under this circumstance, getting a better result then other student will be the best reward from cheating in the exam. Finally, the “individualism” definitely affects one’s behaviour. Individualists use personal achievement to define themselves. The way to show the achievement is to get a good result and thus the student choose to cheat in order to show his/her ability and performance.

Synthesis is the analysis of the combination of the thesis and antithesis which is able to interpret the case as a whole. Firstly, according to Aristotle, “virtue regulates the emotions”. The student was fear to fail the exam, he or she should develop the courage or confidence in order to face the fear. By developing the courage, the student should be able to face the poor result of exam if he/she did not prepare well. He/she can also develop the confidence so that it is able to take the exam without cheating. Secondly, “Utilitarianism” indicates the action is morally right if the consequences are more favourable than unfavourable to everyone. Cheating in the exam seems like more favourable than unfavourable to the students who did not prepare but want a high mark.

But it is more unfavourable to those students who study hard. Practically, it is a kind of unfair for those students who have worked hard but get the same result as those students who did not do anything at all. However, mark is one of the rewards by means of grade. Those hard working students gain by means of learning as well while the cheater can never get. Thirdly, no matter what the consequence is, a student is supposed to perform his/her task. Students should study not only because they will fair the exam if they do not. The focus should not only be spotted on the result. It is more about the norm and value. For instance, it is believed that human should have to right to be educated. Thus, student should prepare for the exam and follow the regulation when he/she is entitled to have to right to be educated.

Fourthly, self improvement is considered as another important element in the life. According to the British Philosopher, Ross, human are supposed to keep improving their virtue and intelligence. Cheating in the exam does not allow any buffer to improve neither the student nor the quality of the course. It does not provide any space for further development regarding the intelligence. Finally, the “collectivism” indicates that people define themselves as a member of clans and they share the same goal. In the case of being a student, he/she belongs to the class, school and thus they share the same regulations as well as same goal about learning.

Personal achievement is not so important anymore when they are all focusing on the same goals which is about process of learning and enrichment. Thus, passing the exam may not be the main reason of taking the exam. The main objective will be to learn the best out of it and cheating to get a good result is no more necessary. Basically it is difficult to judge absolutely what is right and what is wrong since people have different values, norms and cultures. We also live in different societies which are bounded by different rules. Since people are grown up in such different environments, way of thinking and perception can be various as well. However, we do believe there are certain universal values which are supposed to be shared by most of the people. This guides our behaviour in a kind of standard way which brings a harmonic life for the world.

After weighting the thesis and antithesis of the case, cheating in the class can be considered as morally improper rather than proper. Even it does not harm any parties in a direct way, it creates an unfair atmosphere. Moreover, it blocks the path for the cheater to learn in both academic aspect and responsibility aspect. Besides performing one’s own duties, it is also agreed that human should develop certain positive virtues and avoid the negative virtues. It is believed that moral education is very important according to the Virtue Theory. Adults are suggested to be responsible to guide the youth developing positive virtue. Cheating in the class seems like a very minor matter for the world. But try to imagine what will happen if this cheating behaviour keeps growing to certain extend, it could be harmful to individual as well as our society. Therefore, when taking an action, try to consider whether it is morally proper from different aspects since we are not living alone in the world.