ATS1835 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Tachyonic Antitelephone, Gerald Feinberg, John Earman

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tancaribou170

24 Mar 2020

School

Monash University

Department

General Education Studies

Course

ATS1835

Professor

A N

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Document Summary

It is concerned with the most fundamental aspects of our world view: metaphysics ideas lie deeply embedded in many of our ordinary ways of thinking about ourselves and our place in the scheme of things. Five ways to prove the impossibility of time travel. If time travel is possible it must be possible for a person to be present in more than one location at the same time but a person cannot be in two places at one time. One can be partly in one place and partly in another: the grandfather paradox p. 2. If time travel is possible, it must be possible for a time traveller to visit a time before her birth and then do something that would prevent her birth occurring eg killing him. This would be impossible - if the birth does not occur then there would be no time traveller.

Related Questions

Which person best represents Kantian deontology?

		Susie refused the take Jimmy's life because to kill him would be to treat Jimmy purely as an instrument or object to whatever end she was trying to achieve.
		Susie refused to take Jimmy's life, even in self defense, because in her religion it is considered a sin for which she will be punished by her god.
		Susie refused to take Jimmy's life because if all people were to take the lives of others the world would be chaos.
		Susie refused to take Jimmy's life because doing so would make her a vicious person.

According to Kant's theory, being capable of acting morally means you have dignity and to have dignity means you are priceless. Things and persons who lack this capacity, lack moral worth.

True

False

According to Kant's theory, there are certain actions, such as lying, that we are never permitted to do regardless of the affects of those actions on others.

True

False

What gives humans value for Kant?

Being valued by others.

Having the capacity to reason.

Having capacity to love others.

Acting morally.

All are important components in Kantâs theory except for which of the following:

The motive from which we perform our actions.

The universalizability of actions.

The consequences of our actions.

Recognizing the dignity of humanity.

To properly apply the original (universal law) formula of the Categorical Imperative (Act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should be become a universal law, we should take do which of the following:

Ask ourselves "Would I want this done to me?"

Ask ourselves "If all rational beings were to do this action, would there be negative consequences."

Ask ourselves "Would I want my action to become one that all rational beings should follow?"

Ask ourselves "If all rational beings were to follow this action, would it create a logical contradiction?"

If we were to apply the Humanity Formulation of the Categorical Imperative, we would:

		Ask ourselves, "What would be the consequences of such an action on humanity?"
		Ask ourselves, "Is my action recognizing my dignity and the dignity of others or is it treating myself or others as a mere object?
		Ask ourselves, "Do I want to place a value on human life?"
		Ask oursleves, "Will treating myself or others in this way make me a moral person?"

Need help revising, and recommendation for a conclusion.

Throughout this paper is my understanding of what I have learned in class chapters 1-4, expressing my understanding and opinions. Economics is the study of how we deal with scarce resources. Microeconomics specially deals with business in the home country exclusively. This type of economics affects small businesses in the home country only. On the other hand, macroeconomics concerns our national welfare concerning trade and international business.

I believe that many things affect our economy on a microeconomics level. Things such as our understanding of our country in reflection to the world are very important. That is why we study ourselves before we study the macroeconomic principle of the world. Understanding ourselves is what microeconomics teaches us. Working from the inside out. The world is a place where there are differences in our wants and what we get. That is what makes items scarce. That is what positive economics is. Positive economics deals with what is and what we have. The other type of economics is called normative statements. This deals with what we should receive instead of what is and deserved to some extent. It's our scarce resources that determine our allocation of resources and how we use our resources and time. This is where opportunity costs come in, giving up something to do something. A successful business or country never ignores opportunity costs. We must ensure that we have a comparative advantage instead of the absolute advantage. Our resources must be used to achieve maximum output. Comparative is met when we have fewer opportunity costs to make some certain products than the other person or entity.

My initial understanding was scarcity was oil potentially running out, but we have so much of it that you can always find more with techniques such as fracking. Now it's obvious to me, one of our most scarce resources is time. You cannot avoid the 8,760 hours in a year. I understand that people have unlimited wants but limited resources. Everything has a cost and we must make a choice as we don't have unlimited farms, factories workers, etc. scarcity forces choices and this ties in with opportunity cost, for every gun made, a theft from the hungry is made. The opportunity cost not being used to feed the poor, but to make guns. And I find it easy to understand no one can have everything choices must be made on benefits. If I'm going to school, imp giving up making cash, as I'm giving up money for an education, I value education more. Scarcity is also related to the invisible hand. As it's an achievement that leads free markets and capitalism through competition for scarce resources.

My understanding of the invisible hand is a person neither intends to promote public interest and does not know how much he is promoting it. Only intending on his own gain. Without being his intention a person can be lead by the invisible hand to do good for society by pursuing one's own self-interest. Going into equity and efficiency the invisible hand does ensure both equity and efficiency. People work in their selfish ways to maximize profit while also contributing to the economy as a whole. It can also be argued that as the invisible hand wants to ensure efficiency, it cannot guarantee efficiency, because it can fail to produce an efficient allocation of resources, which in turn lead to a market failure. It can also be argued that it can't guarantee equity because not everyone gets a fair price. The way I like to remember efficiency is with a real-life example, like a reduction in the number of workers needed to produce a particular good for a particular amount. Equity refers to the ownership interest in an asset, for example, if a person owns a house with a market value of $800,000 and owes $100,000 on the mortgage leaving a $700,000 equity in the home.

It can be predicted that if the price of beef increases - ceteris paribus-the quantity of beef demanded by buys will decrease. In other words, if the price of beef increases, then the quantity of beef increases, then the quantity of beef demanded will decrease because all things have to be equal. In-class lecture thought me all other things remaining the same. Economists use ceteris paribus to determine the effect of a factor when all other factors have been held the same and helps simplify the study and get a more refined data set.

Economists deal with many issues that pertain to assuring that both a countries domestic output is efficient and that there is an effective trade balance. This means that there are a balance and limit on the amount of imports. Also, this means home production must be able to meet export demands. There are many factors that affect the production of goods and their effect on shifting the production possibilities frontier. This involves evaluating every detail including knowing the products and any close substitutes and compliments. It also involves knowing how an action or other external force will affect demand. This is called price elasticity; Substitutes are products that can replace any given product or service. An example of this would be Coke and Pepsi. The presence of substitutes affects price elasticity because if there are other options, then any change to the price or quality of the product will cause a shift of the demand curve. O course, price is a huge reason why the demand for a product decreases or increases yet it doesn't shift the curve because of the price only. This price change will cause a domino effect that will end with the shifting of the demand curve because it will cause an increase or decrease in demand of the substitute good if the price change is either lower or higher respectively. This price change serves as a catalyst that will change people's desire to spend more money on a more expensive product and that will instead choose to buy the substitute good for cheaper or buy more of the desired product. The change in the price of actual products will not shift the demand curve yet the change of the price of substitutes will because it serves to change people's purchasing behavior. On the other hand, compliments serve to boost demand when there is a decrease in price. The use of complementary goods is dependent upon another product. An example of this would be hot dogs and buns. If the price of hotdogs decreases then, conversely, the demand for hot dog buns will increase because of this change in price. In this scenario, the decrease in price will cause a positive shift in the demand curve because of people's desire and willingness to buy more buns. This is an example of a demand shifter. There are a few other demand shifters. The shifters of the demand curve are changes in expectations, disposable income, price of substitute goods and complements, tastes and preferences, and population size and composition. Changes in income affect the demand curve because if income is lower then people tend to save any extra income instead of wasting it. Disposable income is minimized and spending is lower. This also causes people to see a perceived value of things and distinguishing between what is necessary and what is a relative luxury. The lower the income, the higher the saving and avoidance to spend. An example of this would be if someone needs to buy some medication and it is relatively expensive, that doesn't mean that someone won't buy the medication just because it is expensive. It is necessary. Other factors that contribute to spending and demand are having a price ceiling and price floor. Having a price ceiling is a limit on the price of the product this is a government-imposed idea that is meant to protect consumers from unfair pricing and other conditions that may be malicious or obscure. This affects demand because if there is a price ceiling there is a limit on profit on a unit-to-unit basis. The other factor is the price floor. This price floor was created to encourage competition and affect consumers' willingness to pay because sometimes this new price may be higher than the original price. This causes a negative impact on a product that has a less than wanted perceived value. Many factors contribute to economic prosperity and certainly do help assure that information is analyzed and implemented into an economic and business plan.

limejellyfish231

Assignment Instructions: The founder of On-Time Technology Products is being pressured by their biggest investor to use cheaper parts that will not last more than one year. Based on your reading of ethics in this PowerPointÂ©presentation, apply ethical reasoning to respond to this big investor regarding your companyâs ethical position on using these cheaper parts.

Checklist:

â¢Review the PowerPoint presentation on consequential, non-consequential, and virtue ethics. below copied in word

â¢Then using an ethical perspective from the above presentation, and apply it to respond to the big investor.

â¢Discuss how your ethical response also complies with providing exceptional customer service. Scenario Background:

On-Time Technology Products (OTTP) sells products relating to time. Their product line consists of a huge assortment of clocks, watches, daytime planner books, and software. Many of their products are unique and innovative. They have been frequently compared to other high-end retailers.. Their products are sold in retail stores, via the Internet, and via catalogs. Their call center is presently in Dayton, Ohio. Mark MacGibson is the new President for On-Time Technology Products. Mr. MacGibson is a graduate from Kaplan Universityâs MBA program. Mary Graff has a Bachelorâs degree in Business from Kaplan University and is the supervisor for the Customer Service Representatives. Mr. MacGibson and Ms. Graffâs plans are to take On-Time Technology Products to a new level of exceptional customer service.

PowelPoint below in word..

An Overview of Consequential, Nonconsequential and Virtue Ethics Theories

What is Ethics?

Ethics is the study of those values that relate to our moral conduct, including questions of good and evil, right and wrong, and moral responsibility.

Consequentialist Theories:

Consequentialist theories claim that the morality of an action depends only on its consequences.

It only considers the result of actions and not principles or rules in determining morality.

Types of Consequentialist Theories:

Ethical Egoism argues that each person should act in their own self interests.

Act Utilitarianism argues that each person should act in a way that produces the greatest happiness for everyone.

Rule Utilitarianism argues that each person should follow rules that tend to produce the greatest happiness for everyone.

Weaknesses of Consequentialist Theories:

Requires person to predict the future and all possible outcomes.

Can easily be used to justify questionable actions (the end justifies the means).

Nonconsequentialist Theories:

Nonconsequentialist theories claim that the morality of an action depends on principles or other factors that are not related to consequences.

Types of Nonconsequentialist Theories:

Divine command theory argues that we should obey the laws of God.

Kantâs Categorical Imperative states that we should always act in a way that is based on reason, duty, and would be considered ethical if everyone acted in the exact same way. Also, people should be treated as an ends and not as a means.

Weaknesses of Nonconsequentialist Theories:

Divine Command requires a high degree of interpretation skills.

Variety of religions makes standards hard to develop for all.

Can be rigid and ignore outcomes

Virtue Ethics:

Virtue ethics seeks to identify character traits of a moral person and develop those with the idea that the virtuous person will act in a virtuous manner. It does not look to principles or consequences.

Virtue ethics was developed among the ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Confucius.

Virtue ethics enjoys modern support as an approach that avoids many of the problems with Consequential and Nonconsequential ethical theories.

Weaknesses of Virtue Theory:

Difficulty in determining just which characteristics are virtues

Justification for respecting a virtue usually brings one back to either consequences or principles.

Difficulty in applying to specific situations.

Conclusion:

One theory is not enough to cover all possible choices.

Theories can be synthesized to fit oneâs philosophy of life.

One theoryâs weakness is anotherâs strength.

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ATS1835 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Tachyonic Antitelephone, Gerald Feinberg, John Earman

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