Introduction Recent researches have shown that people are often subject to making mistakes due to their own cognitive system. Therefore, some behavioural economists, remarkably Cass Sunstein, came up with the idea of “libertarian paternalism” that advocates soft intervention by the government to steer people to make certain decisions. The book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, illustrates how nudging could improve public welfare by recruiting a choice architect. Proponents represent nudging as an effective means to improve individual behaviour regarding to some important decisions from the social level, while this approach is often criticized for ethical issues like manipulation and violation of individual autonomy. …show more content…
Regardless of the paternalistic tradition in most Eastern countries is theoretically good or bad, the current situation where the public in general does not resist paternalistic policy at least indicates that the application of nudging in China, or even the whole Asia, is promising. In fact, there are already some good designs done in China even before the birth of the concept of nudging. For example, the addition of guidance line for queue to the platform since 2005 clearly does not force passengers waiting in a line, yet has shown significantly positive impact on public order. Since Asian people are less likely to go against well-intentioned government guidance, it can be logical and reasonable to believe that good compatibility of libertarian paternalism and Asian culture, especially Confucianism, may create considerable space and numerous opportunities for …show more content…
If education is believed to be a reliable way towards a better life, why can’t nudging be? The modest goal of this essay is to encourage people to rethink about nudging, taking into cultural variance into consideration. Since the Confucian paternalism is a fundamental and common traditional cultural norm in Asia, it is right time that the government should take action and adapt to this newer approach, nudging, for a better society. The points that nudges have been questioned in the Western countries are possibly nothing under Confucian culture. More exciting, if Asia starts to pay attention to nudging and tries to adopt it with different cultural values, there could derive interesting, or even gratifying results that in turn may give valuable feedbacks and even significant influences towards the Western
Dan Ariel discusses how people own decision can be influenced by others. For example, he uses the organ donor example to show how some countries in Europe had far better organ donors than other countries in Europe. His argument is based on the fact of how different the two forms were written for getting participants being part of the organ donor program. European countries that have high rate participants of the organ donor program has a written form that mentions to “To check the box below if you don’t want to participate in the organ donor program” So many people don’t check that box various for reasons.
“In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students” (line 37-40). Every other successful country values intellectual people. Instead of being outcasted they are praised. “How can a country where typical parents are ashamed…. Of their son reading Weber…… be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe?”
Libertarian Party The libertarian party was originated in Westminster, Colorado and was founded in 1971 by David Nolan. They stand on a platform that puts individual rights first. They are known as the “Party of Principles”, which is a representation of their beliefs that individual rights, if honest, peaceful, and not interfering or harming other individuals, should not be limited by government interference. This is illustrated by their platforms on personal and economical liberty and securing those liberties.
In “The Choice Explosion” by David Brooks, the author describes the state of decision-making skills and how they have affected life in recent years, specifically in America. Brooks begins with a description of a social psychology experiment on Japanese and American college students and the decisions they wanted to make for themselves. The results showed that the American students wanted to decide in four times more areas than the Japanese students. Brooks then makes the conclusion that this is the result of American individualism; this individualism has provided more choice and control over everyday life. However, the author also points out that arriving at good outcomes is no easy task, even for qualified decision makers.
What is the most effective way of governing? Is any one form government the correct one? Is there a form of government that is absolutely better and will significantly improve the quality of life of the individuals it governs? If people were sent somewhere far off for example, Mars, should the individuals sent there live under utilitarian principles or libertarian principles? Some individuals believe that a libertarian government would best govern individuals within its geographic control, and I concur with the libertarian perspective.
As for forms of appeal, the author has established a strong ethos. This can be explained due to the author’s education, including her job, but can most importantly be explained due to her experiences. Throughout the article, the author discusses the contrasts between how Chinese and Western parents are educating children, and in this context, she mentions her own experiences, for instance: “[…] I was extremely
Living the American Dream For over decades now many people from all over the world travel to America, to pursue the American dream. The American dream, gives hope to those who seek opportunity and a new life of fulfilment. The idea of everyone having equal opportunities to seek out their own desires and to succeed in life is known as the American dream. Everyone has their own aspect of the American dream, for example most might view the American dream as buying a house with a white picket fence or just having wealth and enjoying life.
Utilitarianism and Deontology are two major ethical theories that influence nursing practice. Utilitarian principles of promoting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people parallels the nursing tenet of beneficence. Deontological principles of treating individuals with dignity, and promoting the well-being of the individual parallels the nursing tenet of non-maleficence. Utilitarian and Deontological principles can be utilized to resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the nursing profession. The purpose of this paper is to define utilitarianism and deontology, discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and to address an ethical dilemma utilizing utilitarian and deontological principles.
Bernard Williams’ essay, A Critique of Utilitarianism, launches a rather scathing criticism of J. J. C. Smart’s, An Outline of a System of Utilitarian ethics. Even though Williams claims his essay is not a direct response to Smart’s paper, the manner in which he constantly refers to Smart’s work indicates that Smart’s version of Utilitarianism, referred to as act-Utilitarianism, is the main focus of Williams’ critique. Smart illustrates the distinction between act-Utilitarianism and rule-Utilitarianism early on in his work. He says that act-Utilitarianism is the idea that the rightness of an action depends on the total goodness of an action’s consequences.
As a result, new students were drawn only from those who from the lower class, such as workers or peasants. As most of them were uneducated before attending the school, they did not understand the teachers’ words and their options for success were limited, hence the educational system became substandard. Moreover, the quality of university education dropped not merely due to the lower student intake quality, but also due to the lack of qualified lecturers and professors, many of whom had been sent to the countryside for re-education (Meng 4). Students suffered, just as they still do today, from backwardness and failure as a result of under-qualified teachers educating them. As teachers without any credentials directly cause poor academic performance in students, they play a paramount role in the educational system.
Libertarianism is a political philosophy that said that the state should interfere as little as possible with people. Utilitarians, differ from Libertarianism, because are primarily concerned with the advocating for human provision of a minimal level of well being and social support for legal resident and citizens. They maintained that society ought to be systematically arranged in whatever way that would best reached this end potentially defend the vase and achieve greater social equality for the needy. Utilitarians think that the right thing to do is whatever produces the greatest amount of happiness.
Confucians value self-cultivation considered as long-life learning that one person must pursue for his whole life, accordingly, people have to learn constantly, and the only way for them to achieve their understanding is learning (Thang, 2013). Absorbing this idea, Vietnam and Singapore’s education encourage pupils to be an eager and diligent learner, balance the ‘self’ with ‘others’ through active learning, self-reflection and self-evaluation. The distinction is that subjects in Vietnam’s school bias towards knowledge in the curriculum, and Vietnam’s education have a tendency to feature scores and achievements of individuals that make students under pressure of exam and studying (Education in Vietnam: Development history, challenges and solutions, 2005). Besides, academic achievements are highly appreciated than non-academic achievements, thus arts subjects are secondary subjects. Singapore’s education is more creative because subjects combined knowledge and skills through questions and interaction in class.
Based on the argument from Mack’s article, Individualism and Libertarian Rights, and Michael Sandel’s chapter on Liberalism, they both state that people have a right to make their own choices with their beliefs, resources, and possessions. This means that people could have choose to sell their organs, send money to the poor, or even commit suicide as they wish. This is based on Michael Sandel’s examples (Sandel, 70-74). The ultimate argument is that liberals believe that a person has his right to private property in order to protect their human rights; however, they believe that some action (e.g. refusing to pay taxation) has its restrictions. When reading this text, I felt that some events cannot apply to liberalism due to the severity of
Reda (2015) states “If we want to see the world as a just and fair place where everyone is given equal opportunities, education is what we require. Education is a must if we want to do away with the existing differences between different social classes and genders. It opens a whole world of opportunities for the poor so that they may have an equal shot at well-paying jobs.” Creating education in a democratic state has been aimed by many states, theorists, philosophers and so on. Countries in this era have succeeded is aiming for a democratic education, some are getting there and other countries fail in creating a democratic education.
Malcolm X once said “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepared for it today.” In the western world education plays a vital role in shaping our future; it determines if we will survive or fail in the world we created for ourselves. Our world is constantly changing and it requires a society that is well versed in understanding the problems deriving from cultural differences and tolerance of one another’s beliefs and perceptions. With the power of education we are able to deal with the problems of economic, government, religion and culture differences.