ethics homework

Ethics assignment:

Thrasymachus said that justice "is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger."  Do you agree?  Why or why not?

After reading this passage, I really didn’t understand it very well and I didn’t necessarily understand Thrasymachus’s comment about justice, so I decided to google it to find out more information. Sparknotes says, “Though Thrasymachus claims that this is his definition, it is not really meant as a definition of justice as much as it is a delegitimization of justice. He is saying that it does not pay to be just. Just behavior works to the advantage of other people, not to the person who behaves justly.” It goes on to say, “Thrasymachus assumes here that justice is the unnatural restraint on our natural desire to have more. Justice is a convention imposed on us, and it does not benefit us to adhere to it. The rational thing to do is ignore justice entirely.”

If Thrasymachus truly means that, “it does not pay to be just,” I can actually see both sides of this to agree and disagree with. It may not pay in a tangible way with money or goods, but being just can pay off from an integrity standpoint. So, it all depends on what a person values more: money and stuff, or peace of mind. What may be okay for one person, may be appalling to another.

 If Thrasymachus truly means that, “justice is the unnatural restraint on our natural desire to have more,” As mentioned above, although not in these exact words: we are all different. To some, being just is very important and there isn’t a desire to have more, unless they earn it in a just way, while others may be willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get ahead.

Does having the ability to do something make it morally acceptable to do that thing?  Put differently--if you can, may you?  Why or why not?

There are so many “somethings” a person can do, and I don’t think this can be answered with a simple yes or no. I think in life there are a lot of things that are black and white, right or wrong, but there is also a lot of gray area. Just as an example, if a person can hack into a company, I don’t believe they should. I believe that is wrong. As I stated in class, and believe me, I realize this isn’t realistic, I don’t think IT Security and fields of that type should even be a thing, because people shouldn’t be trying to get other people’s information. I know not everyone is like me and there are a lot of people out there who are crooks and bad people, whether they admit it to themselves or not. Stealing is stealing. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but if I did something wrong and got called on it, I like to think I would admit to my mistake.