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Module 4 Answer Key 5 Answer key Activity 4.1 Myth and epic

Module 4 Answer Key 5

Answer key

Activity 4.1 Myth and epic

1. While the modern representation of Santa Claus as a gift-giver still reflects the generosity attributed to Nicholas of Myra, it also reflects the consumerism of our society in which excessive gift-giving is a hallmark of Christmas.

2. Although myths are often fantastic and unrealistic, they do capture certain cultural values and beliefs. An epic, on the other hand, which is a narrative composed from many myths, captures the basic world view: the people’s beliefs about the place of humans in the world, their divinities, the relationship between humans and their gods, what it means to make one’s way in the world and live a good life and, quite often, what people expect to happen when they die.

Activity 4.2 Gilgamesh and Mesopotamian kingship

1. The story presents Gilgamesh as someone who has seen everything and travelled to the ends of the earth. In other words, he is presented at the end of his great journey, content and at peace. This presentation is in contrast with the young, restless Gilgamesh who emerges soon after. In contrast to this, the Gilgamesh at the opening of the story is often seen as an older man looking back on his life.

2. A king such as Assurbanipal needed not only to manage the massive bureaucratic and military organization of the kingdom, but also to project to the people an air of royal power and authority. Gilgamesh, being the ideal king, was therefore a model to be emulated.

3. As king, Gilgamesh was charged with the protection and prosperity of his city, as well as the maintenance of the holy places of the gods. The city’s great walls and temples are physical proof that Gilgamesh has lived up to his responsibility as king.

4. Gilgamesh himself fits the typical propaganda of Sumerian kingship in a number of ways. First, Gilgamesh is a legitimate king in that he is the son of a king, Lugalbanda. Second, he is a familiar of the gods, in that he meets face to face with divinities such as his mother, Rimat-Ninsun. Finally, he is a great warrior who leads his people into battle.

Activity 4.3 The taming of Enkidu

1. Enkidu represents the chaos of nature in that he lives in the wilderness among the animals, running free without any obvious order or purpose. His appearance is also wild, as he is naked and covered with hair. We can imagine Enkidu’s appearance as not only hairy but unkempt, with rather matted, knotted, completely uncombed hair. Gilgamesh, on the other hand, can be imagined as well kempt, with well-trimmed and styled hair, wearing well-tailored clothes, as well as beautiful jewellery.

2. Clothing, bread, and beer are all products of civilization. Clothing comes from domesticated sheep, bread from the domesticated wheat grown in fields, and beer from domesticated barley fermented in clay pots.

3. The constant conflict between nature and civilization is shown by Enkidu ripping up the traps before he is civilized and hunting down the animals to protect them after becoming civilized. It may also be seen to be reflected in the conflict between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, which ultimately ends in a stalemate.

Activity 4.4 – The Mesopotamian afterlife

1. The Mesopotamian afterlife is not a pleasant place. In his dream, Enkidu sees kurnugia as a place where there is no light and the people have dirt to drink and clay to eat. They also “wear garments of feathers.” The name itself, kurnugia, means “the road that does not lead back.”

2. In his dream, Enkidu is taken to kurnugia by a fearsome-looking creature with a “dark visage,” a face like Anzu, a monstrous bird with the head of a lion. The creature has paws of a lion with talons like an eagle. This creature drags Enkidu to kurnugia by seizing him by the hair and striking him. This struggle between Enkidu and the dark creature reflects the Mesopotamian view that the afterlife is not a pleasant place to go. Rather than looking forward to a pleasant afterlife, Enkidu does all he can to avoid it but is ultimately dragged down to kurnugia by force.

3. In kurnugia there are no social distinctions. All people are treated equally. In Enkidu’s dream he sees the crowns of former kings in piles. People who had once had the privilege of serving the gods, including priests, sit among the souls of the dead in darkness. Even great heroes of the past, such as Etana, and gods, such as Sumuqan, live like all the other souls, in misery.

Activity 4.5 – A good life in ancient Mesopotamia

1. The Mesopotamian good life is to accept the fact that all humans must one day die. Immortality is impossible even for a great hero such as Gilgamesh. Because of this, people should cherish the life they have here on Earth by taking good care of themselves and their loved ones.

2. Because the people of Mesopotamia saw the afterlife as such a dark and terrible place, it made living this life to the fullest all the more important. Since kurnugia is so terrible, there is nothing to look forward to at the end of life, and therefore life is to be lived here and now.

3. There is no certain answer to this question. Some believe that this part of the story is misplaced and should take place after Gilgamesh loses the plant that brings immortal life. Although this is possible, it is also possible that Gilgamesh initially rejects Siduri’s advice because he still hopes that he will find immortality. Later, when the plant of immortal life is lost, his only way to find meaning in life is to think about what Siduri told him.

Activity 4.6 – Mesopotamian astrology

1. Scholars agree that once observers were capable of predicting in advance something as complex as an eclipse using mathematical formulae, they had crossed the frontier from divination into science. Although many Mesopotamian celestial observers (astrologers and astronomers) would not be considered scientists by today’s standards, some were actually “doing science,” even though they continued to use such information for divination and religious purposes. Those who only attempted to predict the future but were unable to calculate mathematically when the moon or the planets would return would not be considered scientists, but strictly fortune-tellers or diviners.

2. There are two possible explanations for this transition. First, they may have made this jump by repeated attempts to calculate an accurate and predictable calendar based on the moon. Secondly, it could have developed from the desire of certain scribes to learn how to predict lunar eclipses. Because eclipses were such bad omens for the king, any celestial observer who could predict when an eclipse would take place would have great power in the king’s court and could use such knowledge to advance his own career.

3. It is difficult to determine, but probably calendar making. It should be remembered that all celestial observations were somehow either directly or indirectly connected to fortune-telling. It could be argued that eclipse prediction, which was a form of divination and was done for religious and cultic purposes, also led to the development of astronomy, since in order to predict an eclipse, it was necessary to know how to mathematically calculate lunar movements. Thus we see that it is impossible to dissociate astral fortune-telling from the origins of scientific astronomy; the two went hand in hand.

NOTE

A quick look at celestial observation literature indicates that when calendar makers accurately calculated the beginning of the month, good omens would follow. If they got it wrong, however, bad omens ensued. For example, in the text below, the calendar makers miscalculated the date when the new month was supposed to appear. They were off by one day, and the new moon (the first crescent) appeared on the 30th day of the previous month. This was taken as a bad omen that one of the Assyrians’ traditional enemies, the Ahlamû, also known as the Arameans, would threaten them.

1. If the moon becomes visible on the 30th day: the Ahlamû [the Arameans] will devour Subartu [Assyria]; a foreigner will rule the Westland [Syria].

2. From Nergal-etir

4. Fortune-telling meant that priests and diviners had to observe events in nature. Looking for answers in nature is one of the key elements of science. Even more important and far-reaching, however, was the Mesopotamian discovery that it was possible to create mathematical models that would yield numerical predictions concerning complex astronomical phenomena. It was an outgrowth of this Mesopotamian compulsion to predict things in nature that, recast in a mathematical format, motivated all subsequent astronomy and indeed all science.

Activity 4.7 – Egyptian medicine

1. In essence, the Egyptians believed that diseases had two major causes: wekhedu and supernatural forces and beings. People in both ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia knew quite well that there were natural causes for some diseases. The ancient Egyptians placed special emphasis on the processes of putrefaction associated with infections of wounds and sores, disease, and ultimately death. It was this emphasis on wekhedu, or intestinal decay, that dominated the Egyptian concept of the causes of diseases. Outside the realm of physical causes, the Egyptians believed that diseases could be caused by supernatural forces such as gods and goddesses like Sekhmet, “the lady of pestilence,” (see section III.A of this module in the Workbook) or simply by the “breath of an outside god.”

2. There were essentially two ways of understanding and treating diseases and illnesses in the ancient world: the empirico-rational and the magico-religious. Empirico-rational describes a more physical approach to diagnosis and treatment, where empirical observation of the patient in an attempt to understand the sickness was combined with the use of herbs, salves, creams, and ointments along with physical manipulations such as massages to bring relief to the patient. The magico-religious approach saw the causes of illnesses as divine or supernatural in nature. This approach to diseases and their origins and causes emphasized the use of magical prayers and incantations to heal the sick.

3. Egyptian healers depended on both methods and often mixed the two of them together in their healing strategies. A mixture of rational medicine combined with magico-religious practices such as prayers and incantations is still used throughout the modern world to help in the healing process.

4. The wekhedu theory stipulated a physical cause for diseases, and this was a step away from the more traditional magico-religious causes and treatments of diseases. Even though the concept of wekhedu may seem like a non-scientific approach to the treatment of diseases, it is one of the earliest attempts in the ancient world to take medical diagnosis and treatment out of the magico-religious realm and place it on a more physical and practical footing. Even though in most cases they were wrong, Egyptian healers were among the first to look for physical causes of diseases instead of simply assuming that all illnesses were cause by angry relatives, wandering spirits and ghosts, or “the hand of a god.”

KNOWLEDGE: The Civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia 345-101-MQ (65.1)[supanova_question]

Assignment 4B 1 Assignment 4B (15%) Description Congratulations, you have now passed

Assignment 4B 1

Assignment 4B (15%)

Description

Congratulations, you have now passed the mid-point of the course! Modules 4 and 5 are focused on demonstrating how you might apply the moral theories that were introduced in Module 3. The objective of Module 4 is to introduce you to several contemporary issues: euthanasia, warfare, and animal rights. To analyze these issues you will need to apply the moral theories you have seen in the course in order to arrive at a conclusion. Just as you found in Assignment 3, the outcome of your ethical analysis of these issues depends on which moral theory you apply. On one hand, the outcomes of two moral theories may be similar, but the reasoning that leads to the conclusion can be completely different. On the other hand, there will be issues where the reasoning of two moral theories lead to completely different conclusions. This will be an important point to remember in this assignment, as you will have to support a counter-argument to an ethical position presented in an article!

Scenario

Mid-term is always a unique period in a course. It doesn’t matter whether it’s by distance education or on campus: everything changes at mid-term. Time seems to quicken and slow down. Time quickens because mid-term homework is due, and it’s already time to start thinking about end-of-term assignments. These are usually essays, and the process of writing an essay seems to make time stand still. The staccato clicking of keyboards—accompanied by words that somehow appear on the screen—contrasts with the slow, minute-by-minute turning of the computer’s clock in the screen’s corner.

And you are a teaching assistant for a sick professor: now that’s unique! The professor’s illness continues, but so too must the class. The result is class sessions interspersed with “excuse me” and “just a minute” while the professor ducks toward the side of the room to deal with his infection. In other words, the professor is doing exactly what no one who is sick should do: go to work.

All the same, the mid-term assignment needs to be completed. The assignment asks the students to choose an article studied in class and construct an opposing argument. The students are reluctant to go see the professor during office hours, because none of them wish to fall ill. The professor is on pain medication and antibiotics so he is slow and drowsy. The students are choosing to see you instead.

One afternoon, during your office hours, a student brings you an article that was assigned in class. It is an ethical analysis of an issue, and you happen to entirely disagree with article’s conclusion. You feel so strongly that you end up writing a rebuttal to the article right there during your office hours. You then email your piece to the professor, who is astounded and amazed. The reply: “I am astounded! Your rebuttal just needs one more thing; if you can support your counter-argument with a relevant academic article, then we should show it to the entire class. You never cease to amaze me! Please have this ready for class next week.”

Your Task

Starting from an article that presents a position on an issue studied in the course, you must select an academic article and use it to construct and support a counter-argument against the first article’s position on the issue. You must present your position in the form of an essay that is
750 words (±10%) in length.

Instructions for Completion

1. Chose an article to rebut with a counter-argument. Your choice is limited to ONE of the following three articles from your course Textbook:

Rachels, James. “Active and Passive Euthanasia.” The New England Journal of Medicine 292.2 (1979): 78–80 (edited). Rpt. in Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. 3rd ed. Lewis Vaughn. New York: Norton, 2013. 302–6. Print.

Steinbock, Bonnie. “Speciesism and the Idea of Equality.” Philosophy 56.204 (1978): 247–56 (edited). Rpt. in Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. 3rd ed. Lewis Vaughn. New York: Norton, 2013. 585–91. Print.

Burton, Leiser. M. “The Case for Iraq War II.” Morality in Practice. 7th ed. Ed. James P. Sterba. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2004. 619–26 (edited). Rpt. in Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. 3rd ed. Lewis Vaughn. New York: Norton, 2013. 633–40. Print.

2. Analyze the argument in the selected article. To do so:

Analyze the ethical issue by applying the five Ws: Who? What? When? Where? Why? (as you did in previous assignments).

Map the article’s argument: identify the article’s conclusion, premises, and fallacies (as you did in Assignment 2).

3. Decide on your counter-argument:

Brainstorm and jot down your ideas and conclusion.

Find a moral theory with an outcome that supports your counter-argument’s conclusion.

4. Select an article with an argument that supports your counter-argument. Your selected article should be one of the articles that appear in the Textbook chapter related to the topic of article you selected in Step 1.

5. Write a draft of your essay. For the structure of your essay, you may refer to the Writing an Essay for an Ethics Course document available on your course website.

6. Write an MLA-style works-cited list.

7. Review and edit your essay—ensure that it is 750 words long (±10%).

8. Review your work again and do the final copy editing before submitting it.

Ethical Issues: Ethics and Society 345-HUP-FD (65.1)[supanova_question]

Applying Moral Theories 1 Applying Moral Theories Consequentialist moral theories For both

Writing Assignment Help Applying Moral Theories 1

Applying Moral Theories

Consequentialist moral theories

For both act- and rule-utilitarianism, you must first determine the consequences of the action for all agents involved:

Determine all agents affected by the act, both in the present and in the future.

Determine the consequences that will be experienced by those agents, in both the present and the future.

Establish whether each of those consequences results in benefit (“happiness”) or harm. You need to be able to describe the benefits versus the harms. At this point, the two theories of utilitarianism begin to differ. You must choose to do one of the following:

Act-utilitarianism requires you to establish the total amount of net utility. In other words, do all the consequences add up to a net outcome of greater benefit or harm? For this, you must describe the intensity, duration, and fecundity (see the Textbook) of each agent’s consequences. Now work this “hedonic calculus” (see the Textbook) into a 150-word description.

Rule-utilitarianism requires you to look at the case and determine what sort of rule can be created which, if applied to any and all similar cases, would produce a greater amount of benefit than harm. Now work this rule-creation into a 150-word description.

Formulate a rule for the kind of action that you are analyzing.

Explain the consequences—benefits and harms—of that rule.

Show how that rule produces greater overall benefit for the agents who experience the consequences.

Finally, demonstrate that the rule applies to this case and does produce greater overall benefit.

Nonconsequentialist moral theories

Deontological theory is Kant’s ethics, and the procedure for analysis according to Kantian ethics differs significantly from natural law theory.

Kant’s theory has several layers of analysis. Each layer is a kind of “permission test” that is guided by a categorical imperative (see the Textbook). If an agent can pass each permission test, then the act can be carried out. If an agent fails to pass just one of these permission tests, the act is considered wrong!

Test 1: Can the rule (“maxim”) for this act become a universal law?

This permission test seems like rule-utilitarianism, but it is not. Here is what you have to do to apply this test:

Determine the agent and the action. Now ascertain the reason why the agent carried out that action. What was the reason for doing it?

Formulate an “if-then” rule that uses this reason (e.g., if I can get a higher mark by cheating, then I should cheat).

Describe whether or not this rule could be consistently adopted by everyone and anyone such that the act remains worth doing. (e.g., Would it be worthwhile to cheat if everyone were cheating? No, since there would be no point in giving exams. Everyone cheating makes exam-giving worthless.) Depending on your reasoning here, the act and its rule either pass or fail this permission test.

Test 2: Does the act respect the means-end principle?

Go back to your description of the agent and the act. Include any other agents involved with this action. Who are they and what is their relationship to the act?

Ascertain whether the act in question required a compromise of the other agent’s freedoms. In other words, were these agents used as a means toward the act’s end?

If you can show that no other agents’ freedoms were sacrificed for the act to be carried out, then the act is permissible.

If you can show that other agents’ freedoms were indeed sacrificed for the act to be carried out, then the act is wrong.

Natural law theory also works by way of “permission tests,” but these tests are focused on determining whether the act under analysis meets the tests of the doctrine of double effect (see the Textbook).

Describe whether or not the action is morally permissible in a basic sense. In natural law theory, this means that the act is not directly wrong (such as outright killing). The test is passed if the act is basically permissible.

Look at the effects of the act. What are the beneficial effects? What are the harmful effects? Your description must detail whether the harmful effects were directly required for the benefits, or whether they were only side effects. Carefully consider this and give a precise explanation at this step. The test is passed if any harmful effects can be shown to be side effects.

Look at the intention of the agent or group that performed the act. What was the intent? Was it to bring about a good effect? “Good” for natural law theory usually means to promote life, social relations, or knowledge. A bad effect is permissible if it was foreseen but not intended. If the basic intention of the agent is something you can describe as good, then this test is passed.

Finally, the beneficial effects need to be proportionally greater than any harmful effects. Natural law theory calls this “proportionality.” As in utilitarianism, if the harms outweigh the benefits, the act is wrong. The test is passed, however, if the overall benefits are greater than the total harms.

Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics focuses more on the nature of the agent and less so on the consequences or rules of doing an action. As a result, the application of virtue ethics stands apart from consequentialist and non-consequentialist moral theories. For its application, you need to explain your judgment of the agent’s character more than the act itself. There are two “tests” to perform.

Test 1: The “golden mean” (see the Textbook)

The golden mean is the balance between two extremes. Consider the act, and think about this:

If the act were performed to excess, how would you describe it? What vice would you associate with this excess?

If the act were performed to a deficit—that is, in a way that barely accomplished the act at all—how would you describe it? What vice would you associate with this deficit?

Given each of these two descriptions, determine whether the actual act in question lies at one of these two extremes. If so, be sure to describe how. This makes the act wrong.

If the act cannot be associated with either of these extremes, then describe how the act is a balance between the two extremes. In other words, the act is correct because it lands within “the golden mean.” Finally, what virtue would you associate with this “balanced” act?

Test 2: Describe the agent’s character

Virtue ethics also requires that you reflect on what the act in question “says” about the character of the agent.

Is the agent virtuous or not?

If so, what virtues can you associate with the agent?

If not, what vices (lack or perversion of virtue) can you associate with the agent?

Be sure to describe these in your analysis.

Ethical Issues: Ethics and Society 345-HUP-FD (65.1) [supanova_question]

Be sure to answer all of the questions including the sub-question Minimum

Be sure to answer all of the questions including the sub-question

Minimum 1 paragraph per question and DO NOT quote or cite the entire paragraph. 12 Times New Roman fonts, double-spaces, and default margins.

Please also provide TurnItIn. See other attachment to answer question #5.

1.) Drawing upon “Experts react: The Taliban has taken Kabul. Now what?” (published on Aug. 15), what are some of the questions and answers?

2.) What do the authors conclude on Biden’s decision on withdrawal?

3.) What do you think about U.S. withdrawal?

4.) What do these developments mean for security throughout the region of the Middle East? 

5.) The following is a great piece from 2009 that might have predicted why the Taliban was recently able to take over (just click: The Taliban’s Winning Strategy in Afghanistan). Quickly looking at the article choose one thing the invasion did wrong and what forces could have done better for a long-term success?[supanova_question]

365 Careers. (2017a). The marketing mix – The dynamic nature of the

365 Careers. (2017a). The marketing mix – The dynamic nature of the 4 P’s [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNiRYFM8XG0

Transcript

the only way a marketing plan can

succeed is if the 4ps are aligned and

working unison their role is to

implement the strategic direction the

top management is chosen however if one

of the four PS is not in sync with the

others the entire plan becomes

compromised let’s provide an example

Hugo Boss sells high-end men’s and

women’s clothing their products are

superb and customers love the way they

look when wearing them these are

high-end products the pricing range is

high but that’s not surprising given the

high quality products and the high

propensity to spend extra by the firm’s

customers Hugo Boss runs promo campaigns

with world famous testimonials like

Gerard Butler these advertisements are

shown on TV and in magazines like Vogue

and men’s health that’s great because

the brand can reach target customers

through these media channels and boost

its premium brand image everything

sounds great right product price and

promo are synced in an excellent way

let’s consider the 4th P place let’s

imagine the following hypothetical

situation the firm’s marketing team

sells both clothes in Cheaper locations

slightly outside of city centers what do

you think will happen well it will lose

its clients that’s what’s going to

happen premium customers are unwilling

to look for top brands anywhere outside

of top shopping streets and luxurious

shopping malls a shop in a cheaper area

would send a mixed signal which will

confuse the clients trying to imagine it

a superb product high prices and solid

media presence three strong signals

matched with the shop outside of city

centers in inexpensive areas right next

to discount stores this example is

extreme but it illustrates that all four

PS must be integrated and directed in

the same direction otherwise a company’s

competitive model wouldn’t succeed the

four-piece shouldn’t be applied in a

static way either there can be times

when one changes usually it will be the

firm’s product or the pricing of its

products maybe this is better

imagine you are a marketing manager in a

company that produces air conditioners

your R&D team has just

you know they’ve come up with an amazing

breakthrough they have created an air

conditioner that uses 50% less energy

than any other air conditioner in the

marketplace great until this moment your

company strategy has been cost

leadership but this new finding allows

you to create a differentiated product

so what are you going to do

tell the R&D team their amazing

breakthrough is not in line with the

firm strategy even though it might win

the firm market share and allow it to

charge more for its products and

marketing studies indicate potential

improvements of profitability or perhaps

you could readjust the 4ps plan to

correspond to a differentiated product

that’s going to cost more will be sold

by premium resellers and will need an

extensive advertising campaign

the second scenario sounds better right

the four PS can be readjusted and need

to be readjusted when one of the P’s

changes think of the peas as an

ecosystem that must adapt to a changing

environment if one component changes all

four must evolve and adapt accordingly

English (auto-generated)[supanova_question]