climate小组第二次作业

齐薇格UID: 2321656

issue180
180."Many problems of modem society cannot be solved by laws and the legal system because moral behavior cannot be legislated."

Moral behavior cannot be legislated and therefore many laws remain ineffective in solving society’s problems. I agree with the assertion insofar as it relates to constraints on certain personal freedom, because the incidence of moral behavior is so high in our daily life that it is not convenient to regulate it. However, when it comes to the conduct of business, I think moral behavior not only can, but must be legislated for the purpose of alleviating societal problems.

Laws are intended to impose morality impinge upon our freedom of choice and daily behavior. But we do not consider that it is impossible to control moral behavior by legislating. The paradigmatic example is that the government promulgated a decree which do not allow person to expectorate during the Sars period in China. I think legislate morality have benefits for society outweigh any impingement on person freedom they may cause. For instance, increased incidence of domestic violence need laws to avoid it and defend the female. Women are weaker than men in the society and face a lot of pressure from society, family and work. They must take care of children, do housework even suffer the domestic violence from their husbands that lead to them lose confidence and courage to face the life, increase burden on their health-care. Therefore, we need a series of legislate morality diminish and prevent this action, or even deter it. In short, examples inform us that legislating morality can restrain unmoral behavior and get benefits outweigh cost on impingement them.

Moral behavior cannot be legislated; however, we don’t get the conclusion that many laws remain ineffective in solving a number of society’s problems. Unlike personal behaviors, the behavior of businesses must be controlled through legislation. Left unfetter, business trend to act on behalf of their own finance interest, not on behalf of the society at large. And excessive business profits accrue at the expense of public health safety. According to a recent survey, four-million people die each year from disease linked to smoking. Tobacco companies have known about the hazards of smoking cigarettes, yet they weight the cost of defending law suits against the profit from the cigarettes sale and continue to cater to nicotine addicts. And some food companies in order to pursue the profitable goals, they add to chemical substance in foods and then increase the incidence of cancer. And when given the chance, many manufacturers will exploit underage or underprivileged worked to reduce labor costs. In a word, only government holds the regulatory and enforcement power to impose the standard to ensure moral business behavior.

In short, some moral behaviors are regulated through legislation, especially the conduct of business. On the other hand, moral behavior needs everyone to restrain their own behavior and have a kind heart.

argument142.The article entitled 'Eating Iron' in last month's issue of Eating for Health reported that a recent study found a correlation between high levels of iron in the diet and an increased risk of heart disease. Further, it is well established that there is a link between large amounts of red meat in the diet and heart disease, and red meat is high in iron. On the basis of the study and the well-established link between red meat and heart disease, we can conclude that the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease, then, is most probably a function of the correlation between red meat and heart disease.

The author of this article asserts that the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease is mostly probably the correlation between red meat and heart disease. To support this assertion, the author cites the fact that high levels of iron in the diet lead to an increased incidence of heart disease and red meat ultimately come about it because of the high in iron. The argument for explaining the reasons of heart disease connect with red meat seems logical.

However, the article is failing to consider other possible alternatives to the increasing heart disease. Such alternatives may include the fact that genetics is the major factor to heart disease. It is possible that many people have a genetic heart disease and they neglect it. When falling ill, they ignore the genetics and find other reasons to explain why they suffer this disease. It appears reasonable, facing the cruel competition; we must endure lots of pressure from society, family and so on. And the stress increase burden on our heart and health-care. In short, an increased risk of heart disease attribute to many factors, not only correlate with high levels of iron in the diet.

Another problem with the argument is that it is possible that other substances lead to heart disease except iron. The recent surveys only find a correlation between high levels iron and it, but do not investigate vitamin and other necessary mineral, for instance, whether connect with zinc, calcium and selenium. Perhaps alcohol and intemperance are probably a function of the correlation with heart disease. In short, unless the experiments ensure that other minerals are not relevant to heart disease, we do not establish a link between iron and it.

A third problem with the argument involves that red meat remain effective in leading to heart disease. Although high levels of iron relevant to it, we do not well-established a correlation between red meat and heart disease. In our daily life, we eat a lot of foods contain a large number of iron, like eggplant, spinach and liver which may be establish a link. Moreover, the author provides no evidence to explain why are red meat relevant to heart disease.

Overall, the reason behind increasing heart disease seems logical as presented above it is correlation with iron. However, before many final decisions are made about a link between red meat and heart disease, we should evaluate all possible alternatives cause for the increased of heart disease.






[ 本帖最后由 齐薇格 于 2007-11-19 10:21 编辑 ]