Are Our Morals Genetically Determined or Merely Assumed? :: Philosophy Biology Essays

In a recent commentary for BBC News, Clark McCauley, Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College, analyzed the issue of human evolution from a standpoint that drew on his knowledge of psychology: gradual and collective changes in human behavior. According to McCauley, as environments and situations changed, human behavior was forced to adapt accordingly. In his comments, McCauley cites the example of disgust; although it is now a common human reaction, McCauley claims it once did not exist. As humans became less capable of digesting raw meat, disgust became an important deterring force that, through the process of evolution, became a familiar and shared part of human existence. Evidencing his claim, McCauley pointed to the fact that humans have a shared and easily recognizable facial and bodily response to disgust. Following McCauley's line of reasoning, if there is evidence that supports changes in active human behavior over time that can be attributed to the evolutionary process, it seems likely that other aspects of human cognition and its manifestations would also be subject to evolution. This paper will address the issue of the evolution of human morality; namely, whether morality is an aspect of humanity that is constructed or innate, and, depending on those findings, whether evolution plays any role in the process of determining our morals. In order to assess morality, we must first define it and identify the prevalent philosophy behind it. In this paper, morality is defined as the rules that determine what is 'right' and what is 'wrong'. In his dissertation, Van Mildert College Student Nicholas Giles notes that while we do have forces that counteract our morals (i.e. our own desires), morality is often the "limiting factor" of our behavior. We (as a majority) do not steal, because somehow we have internalized that this is a 'wrong' or immoral behavior. Giles uses the example of being nice to our friends, so as to be considered nice ourselves, to segue into a discussion of altruism. Although Giles sees altruism, the notion of giving to others at the expense of oneself, as a counterintuitive philosophy, he recognizes that it the philosophical basis for morality (1). The biological basis for altruism seems fairly straightforward: organisms that put the welfare of other organisms before their own will be less successful than 'selfish' organisms. However, there are situation specific benefits to altruism; in many cases, organisms in a group will fare better than individual organisms (1).

Food Adulteration Essay

A) Adulterated food: a serious public health problem in Bangladesh Adulteration of food with toxic chemicals harmful to health has reached an epidemic proportion in Bangladesh. The newspapers have dubbed it as the ‘silent killer’. It is very difficult to find a sector of food industry which is free of adulteration. From raw vegetable and fruits to milk and milk products to fish, meat and processed food–every food item is contaminated. Almost every day in the news papers, newer and newer methods of adulterating newer and newer types of foods are reported. Carbide, formalin, textile colors, artificial sweeteners, DDT, urea etc. are used rampantly for this purpose. Contamination of foods with toxic chemicals pose a serious threat to public health, especially in a country like Bangladesh where due to poor health literacy, level of awareness is very low. Immediate effect of ingestion of such foods may be severe forms of diarrhoea (food poisoning), threatening life. Ironically, people from all walks of life is aware of the hazards of taking foods adulterated with toxic chemicals, but this knowledge is not translated into practice. There is no paucity of laws and regulations to contain adulteration of food in Bangladesh such as Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) Ordinance of 1985, and the Pure Food Ordinance of 2005. Under the purview of these rules come the following offences: fake licenses, poor quality of food, substandard infrastructure and lack of maintaining hygiene, food adulteration, food impurity, incorrect information on food packages, selling products whose date have expired etc.. B) GM Food in Bangladesh Bangladesh takes to GM food crops [DHAKA] Bangladesh has become the first South Asian country to approve commercial cultivation of a genetically modified (GM) food crop — brinjal (also known as eggplant or aubergine) spliced with a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis . On 28 October, Bangladesh’s National Committee on Biosafety (NBC) approved cultivation of four indigenous varieties of brinjal incorporating a gene from the B.thuringiensis (Bt) to make it resistant to attacks by the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), a common pest in South and Southeast Asia. â€Å"We will make seeds and distribute them among the farmers. Hopefully, the vegetables will be available in the market next year,† Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director-general of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), tells SciDev. Net. According to BARI scientists, the Bt protein in GM brinjal disrupts the digestive systems of the FSB pests, causing them to die within three days of ingestion. The approval comes in the teeth of protests from a section of health, agriculture and environmental activists, accusing the government of ignoring the possibility of negative impacts on public health from consuming the GM version of a popular vegetable. http://www. scidev. net/south-asia/agriculture/news/bangladesh-takes-to-gm-food-crops. html ?Who should and can be held accountable for uncontrolled food adulteration in Bangladesh. ?What are the main ethical issues of massive food adulteration in Bangladesh? ?What are the corruption interfaces of uncontrolled food adulteration in Bangladesh What are the ethical issues related to unbridled rise of GM food in Bangladesh and how government can play role to face the challenge rising GM food in relation to of food security and food safety? ?How best ethical practices of the civil servants can play vital role to curb food adulteration and meet the challenge of GM food. Please write down a comprehensive essay of about 1250 words (Word ranges between 1125-1375) addressing the above questions in your own work. You c Instructions 1. Use your own thinking and ideas and learning from the course. 2. Should be hand written. 3. Use A4 size paper. With margin 1. 0 top and bottom margins; 1. 0 to 1. 25 left and right and about 100-150 words per page. Use both side of the paper. 4. Use Given assignment cover page format . 5. Do not any spiral binding and extra binding 6. Use at least 6 references from different scholarly books, articles, journals or other sources. 7. Standard apply to evaluation. 8. Follow standard referencing system. Individual Assignment: Structure and Content: 40% Language, Style, Logical Flow, Referencing: 20% Consistency and Relevance: 20% Analytical Capability: 20%.

Summary Of The Negro Artist And The Radical Mountain By...

Langston Hughes has made many accomplishments that most people couldn’t make. It was a great challenge for colored people to express their feelings without going through a lot of trouble. Hughes was successful in expressing he feelings. Considering the fact that he was half Caucasian and half African American, he wasn’t treated the way he was supposed to. So he wanted to do something about it and change the course of history. On June 23, 1926, Hughes published a stunning essay called â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Radical Mountain.† This essay captured the philosophy behind art and radical problems faced by black artists. In essence, he talks about how a young Negro poet did not want to be recognized as a â€Å"Negro poet.† Instead, he wanted to†¦show more content†¦We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesnt matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesnt matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.† Hughes clarifies how colored people should pay more attention to their own beauty. Hughes sums up the life and thoughts of young negroes’ like the young poet he described at the beginning of his essay. Another great work of art by Langston Hughes was a poem called â€Å"Harlem Sweeties.† He uses the term â€Å"sugar hill† and different shades of food to illustrate the personality and beauty of the melanated people of Harlem. Some of these examples include descriptions such as coffee and cream, chocolate, walnut tinted, coco brown, and many more. In another poem called â€Å"My People,† Langston illustrates how wonderful his people are. He express es the beauty of his people by talking about the beautiful night. Not only does Hughes describe the people of Harlem in his poem, he also demonstrates the struggles in his life that he had to deal with. Hughes has a white

Evaluation Field Report On Supply Chain Management At The...

Introduction Objective The aim of this report is to perform critical evaluation field report relating to implemented operational Supply Chain Management (SCM) at the Sumitomo Machinery Corporation of America (SMA). The information in this report was gathered during the company’s Chesapeake, VA plant visit on 9th Feb. 2015. A detailed presentation was given by company’s US regional operations manager prior to plant visit followed by a question and answer session. All these helped in gathering the supply chain strategies at Sumitomo, highlighting the organizational drivers behind the development of SCM and state of the art SCM tools applied at the company manufacturing plant. Scope This report examines Sumitomo Machinery Corporation of†¦show more content†¦According to Sumitomo corporation website â€Å" Sumitomo’s Quality Assurance team is committed to ensuring the highest quality products and service for our customers. The quality assurance team ensures that processes are in place to consistently meet or exceed our customers expectations. We achieve this by implementing and measuring our quality performance both internally and throughout our supplier base. As an ISO 9001 certified facility, we have been recognized for our commitment to quality standards and continuous improvement.† Corporate Values The Chesapeake, VA site (Visited Site) The Chesapeake, VA site was moved from New Jersey in order to take advantage of proximity to Norfolk International Terminal (NIT). A warehouse was also opened in Suffolk, VA for the same reason, which is marked as tax free zone. Here are details of visited site. †¢ Opened in 1988, expanded in 1991 †¢ Facility 260,000 sq. ft. manufacturing, assembly offices †¢ Manufactures power transmission and control products. †¢ Assembles highly engineered GM product only. †¢ Has a small RD area. †¢ ISO-9001 registered. †¢ All departments are housed in same plant vicinity. Customer Centric Focus – CRM metrics Operations Supply Chain Objectives Upon visit, company executive presented the following supply chain objectives. †¢ Improve Customer Satisfaction by: âž ¢ Improving parts

Avah Sherman. Professor Highfill. Engl 1304. 1 May 2017.

Avah Sherman Professor Highfill ENGL 1304 1 May 2017 The declining value of education in America Since the end of the Cold War, there have been a number of changes that have occurred globally. The mobile communication and internet technology has exposed this world to the new avenues of possibilities. With the advent of globalization, a borderless world has started to emerge, and the significance and demand of the education in this new world education has grown even more. The United States and the entire Western region has been witnessing n erosion of advantages in technological, economic, and defense arenas. This is because the country is lagging the other countries of the world with respect to education. In the present times, the†¦show more content†¦(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). The scarcity of the American STEM workers leaves the organization with only two options. They are either compelled to import into the country, expensive foreign labor force, or end up moving their operating facilities to the other countries. A great amount of money is constantly be ing spent by the United States for the school goers than it is done by any other country around the world. According to estimates, it costs around $11,800 per child in comparison to the $4,000-$5,000 in the others countries under comparison (Hood, n.d.). This excludes the huge amount of money which is spent only on the 10 percent children who opt to afford private school education, America spends approximately $8,000 in the form of public money on every child every year. Still, the country is ranked 27th position on the global ranking list of the educational achievement of school, and this position is below Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico. Most social critics blast the public schools in America regularly calling them the factories that are mind-deadening and developed and designed to propel the white students belonging to the working class join the brain-dead jobs. On the other hand, the schools are known to be excoriated like the retirement parks that have been designed for the unionize d and lazy teachers who would like to involve in into the activities of

Essay on The Importance of Education I Was Left Behind Essay Example For Students

Essay on The Importance of Education: I Was Left Behind Essay By fourth grade I was already crashing and burning. Almost every student in my class was moving ahead in subjects that I seemed to be understanding less and less by the day. If education were a race where we all started at the same time; than I was quickly becoming the guy falling into last place. Truthfully, math was the beginning of the end for me. Even now, the feeling I get trying to solve simple math problems is one of frustration and embarrassment. I feel like Im hitting a mental wall. Try to imagine your mind pushing past a barrier that you could not breakthrough regardless of how hard you tried. Sort of like trying to understand someone speaking to you in a foreign language with almost no previous experience. When someone asked me to solve a problem involving long division, a deep-rooted sense of insecurity would overwhelm me. I would desperately try to understand where to begin; It was the feeling of hopelessness and it only grew over time. I slipped away from the rest of the herd around fractions and division. Its kind of funny actually; I literally began to fracture and divide from everyone else. Hephzibah Roskelly, a professor at the University of North Carolina ¬-Greensboro explains the process of separation that mirrors my own: â€Å"By third or fourth grade †¦ you and your fellow students were â€Å"tracked† by this point, grouped into classes according to the results of standardized achievement tests.† (175) I was regurgitated into the lowest levels of math in the hopes that something would stick, but it never did. I might have had ADD or a learning disability. Its really all speculation at this point because it was never formally diagnosed. I wasn’t held back in school, but I never moved forward in math. Dont worry; t. .NH: Boynton/Cook, 2006. 209-217. Print.Freire, Paulo. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970. Gourdine, Tracy â€Å"Seeing the Invisible.† American River College, January, 2005 Convocation Speech.Hibel, Jacob. George Farkas, and Paul L. Morgan. Who Is Placed into Special Education? American Sociological Association 83.4 (2010): 312-32. Jstor.org. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .McAndrew, Donald A. That Isnt What We Did in High School. The Subject Is Writing: Essays by Teachers and Students. Ed. Wendy Bishop and James Strickland. 4th ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2006. 219-226. Print.Roskelly, Hephzibah. The Cupped Hand and the Open Palm. The Subject Is Writing: Essays by Teachers and Students. Ed. Wendy Bishop and James Strickland. 4th ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2006. 175-185. Print.

Freedom of the Press free essay sample

Liberty to print or to otherwise disseminate information, as in print, by broadcasting, or through electronic media, without prior restraints such as licensing requirements or content review and without subsequent punishment for what is said. Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through mediums including various electronic media and published materials. While such freedom mostly implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state, its preservation may be sought through constitutional or other legal protections. With respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret and being otherwise protected from disclosure due to relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to sunshine laws or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest. We will write a custom essay sample on Freedom of the Press or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Freedom of the press, which has been limited not only by governments but at times by churches, is absolute in no country. In modern democracies it is rarely attacked by overt forms of censorship but is often compromised by governments ability to withhold information, by self-censorship in reaction to various pressures, by selective government leaking of information or disinformation, and by other factors. In the United States, freedom of the press and the broader freedom of speech are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and are considered fundamental rights of the people. In practice, though, some kinds of speech and publication (e. g. , obscenity or violations of copyright) are considered outside the amendments purview, and others, like commercial speech (advertising or product claims), receive a reduced level of protection. In addition, broadcasters are subject to government licensing requirements. The protections to be afforded users of on-line computer services, the Internet, and other new means of publication are the focus of a developing debate; in 1996 a federal district court panel struck down the new Communications Decency Act, holding that Internet communications were entitled to the same degree of protection as printed communications. History Historically, restriction of the press has occurred in two ways. The first may be either censorship or mandatory licensing by the government in advance of publication; the second is punishment for printed material, especially that considered by the government to be seditious libel. Censorship of the press began not long after the invention of the printing press. Pope Alexander VI issued (1501) a notice requiring printers to submit copy to church authorities before publication, in order to prevent heresy. Penalties for bypassing the censors included fines and excommunication. Key Principles -Publishing was liberalized, with the law requiring only that publishers present their names to the authorities and deposit two copies of every work. -The authorities were denied the power to suppress newspapers. -This had previously enabled prosecutions of critics of the government, monarchy and church, or of those who argued for controversial ideas on property rights. The scope of libel was severely reduced, with the criteria for defamation being much more tightly defined -A limited number of press offences was retained, including outraging public morals, and insulting high-ranking public officials including the President of the Republic, heads of foreign states and ambassadors. Scope -It applies to statements made publicly, whether through oral or printed means. -In recent years, French courts have repeatedly ruled that the law also applies to defamatory content communicated via the World Wide Web. Defenses -Truth of the defamatory statement is available as a defense in most libel cases other than those concerning the privacy of the plaintiff. -Where privacy is infringed, truth is not an absolute defense, though some latitude is permitted if the plaintiff is a public figure. A plea of good faith is permitted by the courts in circumstances where the issues at stake concern matters of public interest. A defendant may be acquitted on that basis if the court is satisfied that the defendant has carried out at least a basic verification of the source of the information on which the defamatory statement is based. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers This philosophy is usually accompanied by legislation ensuring various degrees of freedom of scientific research (known as scientific freedom), publishing, press and printing the depth to which these laws are entrenched in a countrys legal system can go as far down as its constitution. The concept of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of the press, thereby giving equal treatment to spoken and published expression.