Singer's Practical Ethics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Singer's Practical Ethics - Term Paper Example He is strong in his convictions about the utilitarian ethics. He argues, â€Å"As far as my underlying ethical views are concerned, some of my friends and colleagues will no doubt be distressed to find the countless hours spent discussing these matters with me that have served only to reinforce my conviction, that consequentialist approach to ethics†¦.is fundamentally sound† (x). The society impacted by the materialist civilization, industrial and internet revolutions is, to some extent, responsible for the present day maladies afflicting the society, according to him and the basic values of humankind have gone haywire. Peter Singer’s concept of utilitarianism ensures the individual right and freedom to come to own conclusions, and he advises all not to be follow-the-leader type individuals. He writes, â€Å"We have to reach our own decision. The beliefs and customs we were brought up with may exercise great influence on us, but once we start to reflect upon them we can decide whether to act in accordance with them or to go against them† (6). His intended audience is the political leadership, economists, scientists, sociologists, intellectuals and who's who of the society. Animal Rights: Peter Singer is the strong supporter of animal rights. From the scientific viewpoint, he relies on speculative conclusions and absolute assumptions. He is against animal experimentation and argues for banning it totally. His arguments have something to do with his personal convictions and emotional repugnance of the whole exercise of torturing and killing animals. He equates the utility of human beings with that of animals and as such humans have no right to exercise control on the life of animals. He terms this distinction as â€Å"speceisism† and that is as bad as the practice of racism and sexism. He states that all animals feel pain and inflicting deliberate pain on them is an illegitimate action. Peter Singer clinches the issue by highlight ing the physical responses of the animals when at the receiving end of the pain, including chemical and physiological responses to pain receptors. That animal cannot reason or talk is no issue for Singer. The point is it suffers. Singer’s argument is based on the solid grounds of scientific approach and it has the element of unassailable logic. He argues that some of the animals are more intelligent than the human babies and/or mentally retarded. Ethical considerations demand that such animals need to be excluded from biomedical research. Moreover, the onus of proving that the benefits of research are in tandem with the suffering and pain imposed on the animals, vests with the scientists. Will those conducting such experiments take that responsibility? Whether similar experiments will be conducted on human infants to decide the ethical status of the relative experiments? Singer’s argument is based on the premises that animals and humans have equal rights. But the criti cs of Singer stick to their basic stand that animals are not members of the moral community and it is the duty of all concerned to act in the manner that is supportive to the moral duties for the benefit of humankind. Peter Singer is a compulsive controversy creator. Controversy and finding its solution are like alternative beats of the same heart to him. He is the greatest defender of animal rights and equates their right to exist with that right of human beings. His ideal is nothing short of

Antitrust Practices and Market Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Antitrust Practices and Market Power - Essay Example By pairing the two together, every Windows user had a copy of the internet explorer which led to Microsoft’s victory in the market. It was clear that bundling them together had restricted the access for other browsers in the market that had to be bought. It is alleged that Microsoft used its monopoly power to favor the internet explorer over the other web browsers. In its defense, Microsoft said that merging its operating system and the Internet Explorer was as a result of fair competition and invention, and that would enable users to use the internet explorer for free. It was still clear whether the operating system and the Internet Explorer were two separate items or whether they were one piece. However, Microsoft maintained that it had made its operating system a bit more expensive, and thus it could not be said to be y free. The case focused on predatory strategies Microsoft had engaged in and a market barrier to entry as opposed to interoperability (Brinkley, 2000). The action by Microsoft to favor internet explorer over the rest of the browsers in the market violated the Sherman antitrust law section 1and 2 where Section one states that any contract that would cause restraint in trade among several states and thus the contract could be declared illegal. Section two, on the other hand, states that any company that will attempt to monopoli ze any part of trade shall be declared guilty of a felony punishable in a court of law (St.Olaf College, 2004). A monopoly is a company that has only one seller in the market who has absolute rights in a particular interest, and they are te only seller in the market thus have the right to fix the price. In most cases, the cost of entering into the market is very high thus causing a barrier to entry to new entrants. The monopoly fixes the price as consumers will still buy. There are monopolies owned by the government especially where the