Reflection

I really enjoyed learning about the basics of ethical theory so we can carry on the rest of the semester with some backbone. Thinking about the meta-ethical debate was something that started my gears to turn. There is the question of are these familiar problems, new problems or old problems with a new twist? I have decided that these are old problems with a new twist. Common things like stealing, bullying, and controversy of sharing information have always been problems. The difference now is that they are shared throughout the whole world for a lot of people to see. I really wanted to see different people’s opinion when it came to “stealing” information from the internet. I brought it up in conversations to see what other people thought. I got so many different answers. What really made me have a different view was Stallman’s take on the whole thing. He says that information is something that naturally we want to share and communicate. This does have a very good outlook on the human race but I think that it goes much deeper than that. It was interesting reading how in other countries it is an honor for someone to steal work off of the internet, almost as a form of flattery. However, I do not agree with this. I am big on making lists. To do lists, list of things I need to buy, and especially lists of pros and cons. That is why I immediately took a liking to the utilitarian outlook on things. If I was to apply this to the problem of illegal downloading I would lean more towards it being a bad thing. I liked learning about our exclusive society and reading about other inclusive societies. Someone in class said that the companies do not get hit very hard from people stealing information. However, others pointed out about the smaller businesses getting affected like record store owners. Although it kills me to say it I feel like our world is a little greedy. And therefore we are out for personal gain. We should not take advantage of others. If they want their information to be shared they will make it public for free. I realized that simple ethics we use in everyday life can be used online as well. Like I said there may be some new exceptions because it is a new medium but like Tavani said ethical theories are guidelines and framework for our decisions.