Jared Velez

Jared Velez
5/2/2016
Critical thinking

Critical thinking essay

In this group assignment we spoke about a lot of topics that had to do
with money, religion, morals, ethics, and much more. It was a good way to
see other peoples point of views. For the assignment we were assigned a
group my group consisted of myself, Tyler, Gibson, Marcus, and Guinevere.
We all have different backgrounds which made it interesting for all of us to
share our opinions and create new opinions.
Our question was Do we have any ethical duties regarding what we do
without money? For instance, Peter singer says that we have an ethical duty
to give away any money that we earn that is on meeting our basic needs of
food and shelter to those who cannot afford to pay for their basic needs For
this question I found myself disagreeing I do not think that it is my ethical
duty to give away the money that isnt spend on my needs to someone who
is in need of my unused money. For example, in my group discussion we
used an example of a homeless man who is in need of money. I disagreed
that I have a duty to help him because Im skeptic to thinking why he is
homeless how did he get there. In my past experiences with giving money to
panhandlers it went not well. I gave money to this man who claimed to be
homeless I was skeptical so I gave him the money and I hopped into the car

Jared Velez

and followed him. He jumped into a truck and went to a new spot to pan
handle. So from my personal background I do not find myself trusting my
money to someone else. In our group Gibson leaned toward more agreeing
by saying that giving our money to a less fortunate person is great. But he
did not agree that it is our ethical duty. Meaning he doesnt think we need to
give our money away, but it is nice to give away our money. When hearing
all of our opinions I did find myself second guessing myself Im more in the
neutral side. If I was making enough money where I can take care of myself
then I would be willing to give money to help others in need.
Our next question was Is it unethical to eat meat? Do we have an
ethical duty to be a vegetarian? Why or why not? Is it unethical to eat any
type of food? My opinion on this was absolutely not, I disagree that it is
unethical to eat meat. I dont think that I need to stop eating meat because
its unethical for any reason at all. I think that Americans eat too much meat
but I do not think that it is unethical and we should stop eating it. I would
agree that we should lower our meat intake for humans but I do not think its
our ethical duty to be a vegetarian. I respect anyone who is a vegetarian but
I do not agree that I need to become one. My group all disagreed our
opinions were very similar we all think it is not our ethical duty to become a
vegetarian because there is no need to become one.
Our third question was What is truth? How do we know if we have
arrived at truth? Are the skeptics correct that we cannot ever have
knowledge of the truth? Is the truth relative? This was a question our group

Jared Velez

struggled to answer. Our opinions were all very similar to one another, we
both agreed that truth is something that yourself can only believe. Everyone
has their own skepticism and how much they would like to trust what
someone has to say. I think truth is something that is subjective to how much
skepticism you have. For example, media is a big topic, they sway control
how much information we get to have but to me I try not to listen to media
too much because they are only telling us what they think they want us to
hear. But I know other people believe anything that they hear on media. I
think the difference depends on the person and how much they want to trust
a source.
How is good behavior vs. bad behavior determined? Do the
consequences of ones actions define whether an action is good or bad, or is
it the motivations or intentions of the actor that matters? What matter mostthe actions, the intentions behind our actions, or both? For this question we
used a topic to answer this. We used terrorism as an example. My opinion
regarding this topic was it depends what side of the table you are on. A huge
issue today is ISIS, on their side of the table what they are doing is about
their political and religious opinion they themselves think they are doing
good. But in our eyes what they are doing is terrible. We think that how they
are thinking is doing to create terror in our country and to hurt us. So for our
conclusion regarding this question is it depends what side of the table you
are on.

Jared Velez

Our fifth question was If we do the right action for the wrong reason,
is it less moral? This question we all had very different opinions. Half of the
group agreed that by doing a good dead but with bad outcomes is moral if
the dead was selfless and helping other not yourself. The other half of the
groups opinion was it is less moral if in the end your action is for the wrong
reason because no matter what in the end you were hurting someone. My
opinion is more neutral. It depends on what the action is and how much
wrong did the action do. I used an example of Robin Hood he was stealing
from the rich and giving to the poor. He was doing a good action because it
was selfless but in the end he is hurting the more fortunate people of the
village. His action is good but still hes hurting someone still, but how much
pain is it really hurting the rich. Not very much because the rich were hurting
the poorer people so is that not karma? What comes around goes around. It
was a very hard topic because to me it depends on what action was done for
me to determine if it was less moral. But we all agreed by doing something
with bad intentions knowing you did something wrong is less moral.
Are bad actions that are completed with good intent less moral. This
question was interesting because the example that was provided Stealing
food to help the poor was a good example because we all went back the
Peter Singer and alleviating suffering. Because yes, it has good intent but at
the end of the day by stealing that food you are still hurting someone. What
if the person you stole food from needed to sell that food in order for him to
have money for his family? Now he is in the same boat as the people youre

Jared Velez

trying to help. So our group opinion is yes it is less moral. You do have good
intent but I cannot think of a bad action that are completed with good intent
and still hold its morality.
What does living the good life consists of? This question was a very
subjective answer. All of us had our different opinions on what the good life
is. My good life consists of having enough money to full fil my needs and
wants. Being able to take care of my family and myself. I dont need to be
extremely rich but just enough money to satisfy my needs and wants. Most
of the people in my group agreed some of them wanted to be filthy rich have
cars, big house, big tv, etc. I think the biggest thing we all agreed on about
the good life had to do with money. To get to this Good life we need money
to get there. But there are people out that may have a different definition of
the good life. I cannot disagree with anyones ideal good life because thats
what makes them happy not me.
What are the qualities of the superior individual? This question was
interesting because it very subjective to what you think is superior. On group
member was reverting back to religion god being a superior individual. But to
me I think me having also a religious background I do not think any of us can
be a superior individual. I think we can all strive for to be superior by being a
good person, honest, trustworthy, do good deeds, kind, loyal, and many
more qualities. But it is something that is un reachable. We should all strive
to be a better person I believe that but reaching a level of superior-ness is un
reachable.

Jared Velez

To what extent, if any, does happiness relate to living the good/moral

life? What is happiness? To me happiness varies to each individual.
Happiness also can change throughout your life to me as a young college
student getting my degree, having fun with my friends, building my car,
going to the gym, spending time with my family, and work. Is happiness to
me but to someone with a family, spending time with their family and
making them happy is all the happiness they need. Happiness and living the
good life to me is the same thing if Im not happy then Im not living the
good life. If Im not living the good life, then Im not happy. You need both for
them to work.
To what extent, if any, does ones duties to society/other people relate
to living the morally good life? I do not think that we have a duty to people at
all I think it is our duty to be a good person to ourselves. I dont think that I
have to be a certain way or treat someone a certain way. I think we have our
culture norms in society that make us act like this which is good. But it is
only ourselves that can tell us how we should act.
This group assignment was very interesting to me because it showed
me different point of views of other people and how they think. It did change
some of my opinions and strengthen them. It was good to meet with others
and talk to them hearing their stories to make me think a different way. I
really enjoyed doing this assignment because it helped me see other
peoples opinions and why they think that way.

Jared Velez