write 3 reflections, one for each paragraph based on your own thought. 100 words minimum.
1. I learned a lot reading this chapter, especially at the beginning of the reading. It was interesting to find out how generic drugs came to be on the markets. I have taken generic drugs all of my life, and I guess I always thought they were composed of a different chemical make up, which is why they were cheaper. I honestly had no idea it was due to the lack of a patent, or basically a copycat of the brand name drug. I enjoyed the example from Abbott Laboratories and their competitor’s generic drug. It did sadden me to learn that Abbott Laboratories would not step up and help the poorer countries who really needed the antiretrovirals for the HIV/AIDS patients. However, I am glad a different company could come up with the generic brand, in hopes to help the poorer people and countries.
The rest of the chapter was enlightening as well. I guess I never really put much thought into the free markets and free trade before. I think a part of me had always thought about them as the same. Now, I know differently. The free markets are where individuals can choose and decide where their product goes and how much of it goes someplace, without the government stepping in and telling them what to do. On the other side, the free trade enables people from all over the world, in different nations, to buy and sell things. I know there is more to it than just those basic definitions, but that is how I understood it in its most simplest form
2.
Chapter five of Thinking Critically about Ethical Issues is titled and all about Comparing Cultures. There are strong differences between different cultures that govern our ideals and views about what is right and wrong. In week one we reviewed how our ethical views are developed based on a series of factors. In this chapter we were given examples of how differences in cultures change a perception about moral issues. Another important concept discussed in chapter five of according to Ruggiero (2015) was the Three Important Cautions (pg 59.)
- Understanding is no substitute for moral judgment. (We should not make judgments about something unless we understand it’s context).
- The essential moral quality of an action does not change from time to time or place or place. (We must not be susceptible to evaluating something’s moral quality based on when or where it took place. It should not change the moral quality of the action.)
- Culpability for immoral acts vary widely. “Culpability is moral responsibility or blame. If someone unknowingly does wrong or harms another we must weight the moral responsibility differently then if we knew the person did the act intentionally. This goes back to caution number one about making a judgment based on what we know in its complete context.
3. Chapter one of Ethics Across Cultures provided an in depth explanation of cultural diversity. The chapter started off with a heart breaking story of a girl subjected to female genital circumcision. This practice has been seen as almost part of customary culture in many countries like Africa and the Mideast. For those in the West or better known as the United States we see this practice as a form of mutilation and extremely unethical. The chapter also described the difference between ethical relativism and moral absolutism. Ethical relativism is based on backing of evidence, incorporated with social behaviors, and different cultural practices. Moral absolutism is very one sided and a person that is a moral absolutist will believe solely in their culture. Brannigan (2005) stated, “A moral absolutist presumes to have some monopoly on the moral truth, and goes on to impose that “truth” on all others.”(pg. 27). Ethical relativism is more tolerant toward cultural diversity
