University Ethics Forum: HUM206 Weeks 2, 3, and 4 Discussion Analysis

This assignment presents a student's responses to various ethics-related prompts from a university course (HUM206). The student defines human nature, reflecting on its complexities and the interplay of different aspects. The assignment includes a personal reflection on homosexuality, articulating personal beliefs and values. It also involves an identification and analysis of personal social categories, discussing how these categories enable or hinder achievement. The student addresses the concept of uncertainty in critical thinking, exploring its impact on decision-making. The assignment further delves into ethical frameworks such as absolutism, relativism, and pluralism, along with an exploration of utilitarianism. It also examines the concept of integrity and its importance in personal and professional life. Finally, the assignment includes a comparison of the business ethics of Apple and Pizza Hut, analyzing their strategies and outcomes.

Running head: ETHICS PRACTICE QUESTIONS
ETHICS PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
Week Two-
a) Human nature is referred to as the psychological and the social qualities such as the
way of thinking, acting and feeling that characterise the humankind, particularly in
contrast with the other living creatures (Batson et al. 2016). It is often said that human
beings are social animals. The four very basic social instincts of human beings are the
fact that human beings are advantage seeking, equality seeking, authority seeking and
community seeking. Moreover, as per Bell and Adams (2016), it is the evolutionary
forces that have shaped the human nature into complex amalgam of the heroic and
bestial, the pitiless and the compassionate. Also, many have argued that the bad in the
human nature is comparatively stronger than the good. Both compassion and
benevolence are evolved part of the human nature and they are rooted in the human
brain and biology, ready to be cultivated for the sake of greater good.
b) To me, homosexuality is not an issue. In fact, I believe that homosexuals are nothing
other than the usual human beings, alike in emotional, physical and mental feelings.
Although different cultures have different values regarding the appropriateness and
inappropriateness of sexuality, my culture, i.e., western culture clearly sanctions the
same-sex love and relations and so do I. I don’t think it is wrong at all as people have
the full freedom to choose their partners. We all have the right to do what is right for
us and if we are happy living our live with a partner that belong to the same sex like
us, then I do not think that there is anything wrong in this decision.
Week Three-
a) I belong from middle class family. I am Australian and I belong to aboriginal
Australian race. I am a male of 22 years and my mother tongue is English. I am doing
my graduation right now. My father is a physician and my mother is a house wife.

2ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
However, I think my nationality, gender and age are enabling me to achieve well in
my present life and with the same, I think I should have stronger educational and
family background in order to achieve well and for overcoming the cultural and social
barriers.
Equality and equity are two completely different strategies that we can make use of in
an effort for producing fairness. Equality refers to the task of treating every one
equally and it is basically aimed at promoting fairness. On the other hand, equity
means giving every person what they need in order to be successful. For instance, a
turkey is carved at the dinner table. Equality in this case would mean that everyone
including the father, mother and the child would get same sized piece. On the other
hand, equity would mean that each one of them choose the sensible option and divide
the turkey in accordance to their needs, that is, the larger sized piece for the adults and
the smaller one for the child.
Exercising sympathy towards the disability policy or showing pity for the hardships of
the disable people could ensure them that they are not alone and they would fight for
their right.
Week Four-
a) Uncertainty is the situation in which people experience unknown and imperfect
information regarding certain things (Mai 2016). In the field of ethical and critical
thinking, uncertainty might led to poor decision making and thinking. It can hamper
the intensity and relevance of the decisions that are made or thoughts that are show
cased. It shows the state of limited knowledge regarding certain subject where it is
impossible to describe the prevailing state as well as the future outcomes. There are
several problems associated with having uncertainties in the process of critical
thinking. Uncertainties increases the level of complexity in the process of solving the

3ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
business related issues by means of proliferating the amount of information that are
necessary to be considered for making decisions. This is because some of the date
would converge and the other would be contradictory. Also, there could be cases
when some date would not even exist and yet a decision is necessary to be made and
that too, quite quickly. Uncertainties could result in some really ineffective and
irrelevant thinking and decisions.
Week Six-
a) I think it is reasonable to claim to be an absolutist for some issues and a pluralist or
relativist for others. In this contemporary world, there is high cultural diversity and in
this tremendously high cultural diversity that this world is offering, it is just not
reasonable to think that the set of cultural practices that one is following is the one
and only right set and the rest others are false. It should be understood that all the
cultural practices are equally valid and relevant. It is just that the perspective of
people regarding things and their view points are different. The subjective
relativism claims that it is completely wrong to become judgmental, that we
should not judge other people. Something about this claim seems
reasonable. Notwithstanding this, subjective relativisms claim that people
should not think that anyone else’s opinion, view point or lifestyle is wrong.
This seems absurd. However, if the formation of an opinion regarding
someone else means judging them, then it is not possible to accept the first
relativist claim and reject the second one. It is to note that Absolutism
allows the moral rule to be critically evaluated and it is very fair because
human beings are treated same as the rules are same for each and everyone.

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If any moral rule is right, there would be no necessity for having different
rule for different people as the absolute rules are universal. However, it is
also to mention that sometimes it is not correct to treat human beings the
same as the circumstances that take place because of the situations. It is not
right to make each and every one to live by same rules.
Week Seven-
a) There is a very complex relation in between the human rights and the state power. The
state power is often considered to be the police power or the potential or ability of the
state to regulate the behaviours as well as for enforcing the order within its territory.
The protection and promotion of the human rights by the individual states have an
internal and external dimension. It is the state power that could enhance the protection
of human rights. They can raise their voices when the rights of human beings are
violated. Right after the Second World War, the human rights were regarded to the
rights of the individuals to get protection against the external elements. However,
gradually it was understood that the main role of human rights is to empower the
communities and individuals. It is not for single or individual people but it seeks for
making people one and encourage unity and oneness among them so that they fight
for their right collectively. The third world countries have not yet formulated and
implemented human rights to that extent. They are not yet convinced that human
rights should be a primary concern of political ideology. Still, they do not consider
human rights to be that important and this is why there are so many violence seen and
are still evident in the third world countries as compared to the other parts of the
world. On the other hand, the first world nations have realised the value of human
rights and its ideology.

5ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
Week Eight-
a) Vegetarianism refers to the practice of abstaining oneself from consuming meat of
any living organism and also sometimes, it include the abstention from the by-
products of the animal laughter (Dagnelie and Mariotti 2017). It is to note that the
most commonly objection to eating meat is that for many of the people who are living
in the developed nation, it is not important for health or survival. There are many who
argue that people slaughter the animals due to the fact that people enjoy the taste of
meat and this is something that is morally unjustifiable. The ethical vegans and
vegetarians also object to the practice of underlying meat production and they cite
their strong concerns regarding animal rights, their welfare and the environmental
ethics. Also, there are certain meat eaters who object rearing animals in ways they are
done in many of the factory farms as this depicts cruelty. Human beings are capable
of innovating and sublimating the instinct for acting in ethical way but animals are not
the same and therefore, they are not equal to human beings on the basis of moral
level. However, this does not excuse the harsh and cruel behaviour done towards them
but it simply implies that the animals are not morally equivalent to the human beings
and therefore, they do not possess the rights that human beings have. Hence, it is to
state that vegetarianism is far more a moral issue than an ethical issue.
Week Nine and Ten-
a) My personal integrity depends upon the level of trust, truthfulness, moral character
and honesty. I think integrity is all about doing the right things and becoming
dependable for the other person. It is all about being impeccable in all of my actions-
both private and public. I basically stand with my head held high for what I believe in
and constantly strive for being a man whom people could trust in all situations. I

6ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
always do right things all times, whether anybody is seeing me or not. This is because
I feel that integrity is about the consistency of our honesty, truthfulness, loyalty and
moral characters and consistency means constant. One should never change this
nature on the basis of circumstances. Also, if I comes to a situation where I am shown
to be wrong, I try to correct the situation as early as possible. With the same, I do not
allow my own pride to interfere my work of doing the right things at right time. I
personally believe that a man with integrity is a man with strong power to attract the
entire world towards him. He is the one who have the potential to mould anything by
truthfulness and trust. Hence, I always try to maintain these two things in all my
works. It is very rare to find a person with strong integrity. There is barely any person
left in this world whom we can trust with love, money or even life.
b) The two business are Apple and Pizza Hut. Apple was on the verge of falling apart.
Right from 1993 to 1997, the company was struggling hard to make a consistent place
in the market and to find a profitable source of revenue (Fernandez and Hendrikse
2015). It was failing in marketing everything right from its digital cameras to the
portable CD players and televisions. With the help of Steve Jobs who was ousted
because of the internal squabbles, Apple attempted to right ship with a revolving door
of stopgap the CEOs. Later, in the year 1997, Apple finally managed to bring back its
market reputation as Steve Jobs returned as being the CEO and he was the one to
institute the bold change of the direction of the company. Instead of aimlessly
following the marginal ideas of product down the rabbit hole, Apple started focusing
more on the creation of beautiful customer electronics, beginning with the launch of
iMac in the year 1998. Moreover, it is also to mention that the company also acquired
many companies in the field of digital production space and video editing that
comprise of most of its customer base. Customer earlier perceived Apple as poor

7ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
quality as it is made in China but after the change, it is perceived as high quality as
because of the higher quality parts that it provides to its customers. Launch of iPod
was yet another bigger success with a successful selling of more than hundred million
units within just six years after its launch in the global market. The next biggest hit
was the launch of iPhone that very recently produced cent percent year over year rise
in terms of sales. All this was possible because of its business model and its consistent
work and business ethics. Apple sets under B strand.
The next business is that of Pizza Hut. Pizza hut under a significant change for
enhancing its business as well as to give better services to its customers as there were
high demands from the parts of the customers for improvements in the business
operation of Pizza Hut (Kim et al. 2017). It has adopted franchise system for store
forecast and for monitoring the performance of its people as well as the food ordering
and inventory management of the very business in order to ensure that they maintain
the set ethical standards and principles. It has adopted this for applying technology
and service in better way by means of management information system. With the
same, it is also to note that Pizza Hut is running its business with the standard models
and the ideology of leadership. It is also to mention that the company is maintaining
strong ethical standards in its business operation in recent days and is striving its best
to ensure that it never compromise on the quality materials that are being used in
different products and the quality services that it provides to its customers. This has
changed the perception of its customers from negative to positive. However, Pizza
Hut sets under A strand. It provides safe, healthy and quality products and services to
its customers it believes the fact that if products are delivered in poor quality, it could
led to lawsuits, injury and increased government regulations.

8ETHICS PRACTISE QUESTIONS
References:
Batson, C.D., Ahmad, N., Lishner, D.A. and Tsang, J., 2016. Empathy and altruism. Oxford
handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena: Theory and research on the quiet ego, pp.161-174.
Bell, L.A. and Adams, M., 2016. Theoretical foundations for social justice education.
In Teaching for diversity and social justice (pp. 21-44). Routledge.
Dagnelie, P.C. and Mariotti, F., 2017. Vegetarian Diets: Definitions and Pitfalls in
Interpreting literature on health effects of vegetarianism. In Vegetarian and Plant-Based
Diets in Health and Disease Prevention (pp. 3-10).
Fernandez, R. and Hendrikse, R., 2015. The financialisation of Apple.
Kim, K., Park, O.J., Yun, S. and Yun, H., 2017. What makes tourists feel negatively about
tourism destinations? Application of hybrid text mining methodology to smart destination
management. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 123, pp.362-369.
Mai, J.E., 2016. Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking,
needs, and behavior. Emerald Group Publishing.