Consider the following cases: (We will talk about these, and others, in class!)
- In the American Civil War, men who were drafted for the army had the option of hiring a substitute to take their place, or paying a fee to avoid military service. Are these practices tantamount to selling off one’s duty as a citizen, or are they perfectly acceptable market transactions? Does it make a difference whether the transaction takes place during a war or in peacetime?
- A surrogacy contract is an agreement to carry to term someone else’s baby in one’s own body in exchange for money. Should people be allowed to act as surrogate mothers? Should prospective parents be allowed to pay for their services? Should surrogacy contracts be enforced by the courts, even if the surrogate mother changes her mind and wants to keep the baby?
- What do think about the morality of prostitution? Is it morally wrong to sell (or rent?) the use of one’s sexual organs? Is it morally wrong to buy sex? Should be it legal to buy or sell sex?
- There are Web sites on the internet that advertise grooms and brides. Is it morally wrong to buy a marriage partner from them, assuming that the transaction is voluntary and the bride or groom agrees to marry you?
This is a very difficult subject to reason through. I believe that exchanging goods and money for certain services is not inherently wrong unless it is harmful to the participants on a spiritual level. Physically and mentally, I think it should be a person's choice whether or not to put themselves in harm's way, like if one offered to serve as a paid substitute in the Civil War. However, I think that a person's spiritual well being transcends immediate control and is tied up in something beyond the individual, which is in my case a God. Reasoning through these scenarios is tricky because my judgement calls are heavily anchored in my fundamental, faith-based beliefs. But I believe that situations you put yourself in for money, like prostitution, that tend to bruise the spirit are not only hurting you, but God as well, which dissolves the libertarian argument in some of our hypothetical scenarios. Again, a lot of this is based on my personal faith and is therefore really difficult to translate into plain logic.
ReplyDeleteI believe that money can buy pretty much anything... I mean I don't care what you say... Everything and everyone has their price (no matter how high). However I do not think that it should be this way. Selling humans might cross that line between moral and immoral. But as one person, I can't single handedly can't change anything about this cruel fact. I'm okay with knowing that no matter how lonely I may get, I always have the option to pay a woman to be my wife.... She will learn to love me :(... But yeah... Everyone has a price, you just need to find it.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid that I must respectfully disagree with Josh. While I TOTALLY see where you are coming from. I understand that many people, though appalled by certain tasks, if offered the right price would do them anyways I do not believe that you can generalize that against all people. For me in particular. I may not speak for anyone else but there is absolutely no amount of money that you can pay me to become a prostitute or murder for any cause because those blatantly go against my faith based beliefs and I will not do them. Period. Many many people can be bought I however will firmly argue that I cannot be paid to go against the law of my God. But i see where you are coming from that most people can.
DeleteI believe that money does indeed help us out in the world we live in, but it cannot purchase everything in life. I believe that you might be able to donate your organs, but there isn't a morally correct price on your life to sell. Money cannot buy me emotions for the long run. I might be happy with a new dress for a short period, but it's not something that'll effect my life from then on out. Recently on TV, I flipped to a channel and the name of the show was "90 Day Fiancés", where people would have 90 days to marry someone from another country after bringing them to the United States. I understand that they might have met somewhere else, but to quote The Beatles, "money can't buy me love". There is no price that could ever be set on love to me.
ReplyDeleteAnother example I want to bring up is the idea of a surrogate mother carrying a baby to term to give to a couple wanting a child. There's many reasons why a couple cannot reproduce and I find surrogacy a great opportunity, especially in cases when it's planned out in advance. In today's time, the cost of prenatal vitamins and doctor visits can add up very quickly. If this is planned out in advance, I do see it acceptable to pay for the medical bills if it's guaranteed that the surrogate mother wants to give up the baby and to pay her for the kind action of carrying a baby to full term.
I definitely agree with Emma that while we want to be able to say that exchanging goods and services is a good thing but some of these scenarios do challenge my faith based beliefs. I am very much categorical in my beliefs. Even if it causes more harm than help there are certain things that I believe are wrong and sinful no matter the price. I am able to believe this because i believe that God uses our hard times to make us grow stronger and I do not believe that we have the right to take anything from anyone (especially lives) no matter the cost because I believe that everyone on this planet was created by God for a purpose and if He hasn't taken you off this planet yet, then I believe you have not yet fulfilled your purpose. Money cannot buy you everything especially happiness. If it could, then why are our most wealthy people in the world also the most depressed. That defies logic in and of itself. I believe that there are many things that money cannot buy.
ReplyDeleteI especially think that it was human perversion that led to a lot of services being sold in our modern age, prostitution being just one of these examples. As far as "goods" go, I believe anything can be sold, but that certainly doesn't excuse the labeling of something as a "good" when it clearly is not. I believe people create extreme euphemisms for things that are absolutely awful. I feel as though this is one of the only ways to feel good about selling something that shouldn't be sold. I think the first scenario is alright as long as the substitute gives full consent without coercion. The second scenario seems very odd to me, but I can see that some people would see it necessary since they're infertile or barren. I personally can't see the morality in it, but if I ignore that and look to the end of the scenario where the woman wants to keep the child, I certainly don't think that's right. The woman would have to give up the child, as promised. As I said first of all, the third scenario, I see no good in at all. The fourth and final scenario, I believe is a very poor way of finding a husband or wife in most instances, if not all the time, but if that's what the person really wants to do, who am I to stop them? I would highly advise against it, but in the end they're going to do what they think is right.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are many things that should not have a price, although I have trouble explaining why. I don't think that anything that could hurt someone physically, emotionally, or mentally should be able to be bought. For example, prostitution almost seems like, in theory, it should be completely acceptable. It's a consensual exchange of money for a service. And yet we all (as a general rule) think that it is morally wrong and unacceptable. I believe that we think this because, even though you're giving money to the prostitute, there is an emotional connection created with the release of hormones during sex, and the fact that it is only a one night occurrence hurts both parties' emotional and mental state. So maybe this is why it is morally wrong to put a price tag on sex, and other things like it which cause a disturbance or damage to another person.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that do have a price and most of that is the price of money. But money is not king! Prostitution in my opinion is wrong and not right, but thats someones choice to do that. That person is getting paid to emotionally and physically give themselves to another person. If that is what that person wants then its not our right to tell them what to do. If you were to ask someone on the outside if buying sex was wrong they would say yes but you also dont know why their doing it or what their needing that money for. I'm pretty sure prostitution is illegal which I agree with but at the same person its the person buying and selling sex choice.
ReplyDeleteUnder all these cases, its not morally correct for any of the services offered to be bought, but following libertarianism, all the services have the up most right to do all these things, because they are allowed control over their own body and own actions and have to deal with the consequences of those actions. Almost anything in today's society we are able to put a price tag on, weather its morally corrupt or not. I believe, all those actions above can have a price on them, because will the "good" offered for money, actually ever change? The fact that it can be bought by people all over the world for some price is disappointing, but just because it is to me, doesn't mean that it will change, due to every citizen being granted rights and control for their body and actions as a human being.
ReplyDeleteI believe that money can buy many things that lead to happiness. However, there are some instances where certain events or things have more value than money. For example, no amount of money would be able to make me personally kill another human. The value of their life would be too much, and you can't put a price tag on that. However, it's interesting to think about a similar situation, except this time the person is about to die/is willing to die and is willing to pay you to end it for them. I still don't think it would be morally right to accept this offer, but i believe many humans would do this for a certain price. This goes to show that while money isn't over everything, it still makes the biggest impact on our choices in life, and in some cases can affect our moral standing.
ReplyDeleteI do think that our world revolves around money. People need money in order to support themselves. we humans always want things, and we can't get these things without money. Although some people become desperate for money, i do not think it is morally right for someone to sell themselves. I think that people need to stop caring so much about themselves. If people cared more about others, then there would be no need to care about yourself. Money wise, you should be able to spend money on yourself, but you shouldn't be stingy about spending money on others.
ReplyDeleteMoney can but us many things that bring joy to our lives but I do not believe that you can or should be able to buy everything. Every situation is different to me because you have to think of the many circumstances around what you're doing. I don't believe it is acceptable to kill for any amount of money and that the only time it is acceptable is if you are being threatened with your life or in a time of war. Prostitution brings many thoughts to mind because while we have grown up in a culture where it is morally wrong, when you think about it is it really? I strongly believe that considering that we live in the land of the free that we should be able to do what we would like with our bodies. If that entitles earning a profit thend so be it. You shouldn't have rules and regulations on whatto do with ourselves. It is up to one's own mind and thoughts of how they live their life, I hopefully will never have to kill someone and I'm positive I will not sell my body because I don't believe the money is worth the outcome. Money isn't over everything to me however that can change among different individuals.
ReplyDeleteSo many typos....
DeleteMoney can buy almost anything, I honestly believe, thougn its sad everyone has a price point where they would sell out. I don't personally think that everything should have a price point or should be bought. I know this happens and will probably continue to happen, and though I believe it to be bad, I don't think it is truly immoral unless both parties are not voluntary, or not consenting to the transaction. But if both parties consent and do it willingly it is not my position to judge or stop it, because it is when it comes down to it that persons choice.
ReplyDeleteI agree, money does make the world go round, but I believe that not everything should be able to be bought. Don't get me wrong, there are services out there that have been running (and pretty successfully too) for a long time. A prime example is the "Mail Order Bride". I am not exactly sure on which countries are known for this but the one we hear about the most is Russia. Anyways, I don't think it is morally right to BUY a partner for life. I mean there are some people who feel sooooo lonely that this is practically their only option, but I believe there are other "morally" right options out there in the world. Now when it comes to selling one's organ, if the patient is WILLING to give up their organ or organs to save their loved ones, who gives the government the right to say no to saving that person's life? Now I know there are laws explaining why, but in terms of what is morally right or wrong, in my book, that is morally right, because he or she is giving up their life so their loved ones may live on.
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure what is going on in those last couple of sentences, I apologize for that.
DeleteI believe that there are things that money shouldn’t be able to buy no matter how much money is offered. Some of the things that I don’t think should be able to be bought is children because this just puts them lower in society and degrades them as less than adults. I also think that you shouldn’t be able to buy yourself a husband or wife because this has nothing to do with love or really anything else that defines marriage but rather is just a means to an end which degrades the whole idea of marriage. I also think that money should not be able to buy power because stupid people can just as easily have money as smart people who make it very dangerous for those who are not as rich because they can be controlled and bought by powerful men who are not always very intelligent. I believe that money should never be able to buy sex such as in a prostitute or in a bought and paid for wife because that just seems to go against the natural order of the world.
ReplyDeletePersonally I do not think that it is okay to buy a wife. I think it is wrong & I think it is morally wrong because you don't truly love them. When I get married I want to do it out of love not a $70 exchange made online. The same goes for prostitution. It is biblically wrong to buy sex & its nasty. people should just keep waiting for someone special.
ReplyDeleteMoney shouldn't be able to buy children from ages 2-18. I believe this is the case because laws mandate that anyone below the age of 18 is not capable of giving consent. I also believe that newborns should be able to be adopted with the transaction of money because they have no memory retention, and thus don't remember any family they had before adoption. People shouldn't be treated like market goods by default, only if they willingly sell themselves.
ReplyDeleteRead everything prior... but not in the gradebook yet...
ReplyDeleteMoney can buy anything in this world, but I don't think it's right. The American way has an inherent flaw with that everything is accessible if you have a certain amount of money. Take the prostitution issue for example. Somebody can use and sell their body however they desire, regardless of if people agree with the way they use it. Personally, I think sex should be regarded highly and only done when their is love involved, but I realize that is not everybody's viewpoint. This makes me sad but I know I can't change this fact so I live with it. So yes, everything can be bought with money but I don't believe everything should be able to be bought, especially regarding love, sex, or marriage.
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ReplyDeleteI believe there is a price for everything, but we made it that way. I don't believe everything should be able to be bought, but my input will not affect the fact that people can have ownership over everything if the have enough money. I'm only one to disagree.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Josh, everyone does have a price, even if they say they don't, if the offer is high enough than they will give in and accept the money. This world runs on money, you have to have money for everything unless you want to steal things but then you are on the run and its either be arrested or pay your way out of it. I do believe however that certain things should not have a price such as people, I believe that human trafficking is completely immoral and we should not put a price on another human.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough money is pretty much behind everything that happens in life, it is not and should never be all powerful. There should be no dollar amount anybody can receive to take another human being's life. Because, if one person, who has enough money to kill someone, decides to kill someone, then it is justified and everyone can begin doing it. Life is too valuable to be taken in return for some money of earthly value. Whatever the money can possibly buy is not as valuable as a life.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe money can buy everything, although it can by mostly anything I don't think it can buy love. Love is something that has to do with your soul. Money can't buy a soul. You can buy a body, and you buy parts of a body, but the soul is unreachable to a human with money. You may be able to change a soul with money but to buy it is impossible.
ReplyDeleteMoney is what makes the world round I don't think that money should be able to buy everything, as kevin said your soul is on attachable, you physically can't buy a soul, and love shouldn't be able to be bought because then it wouldn't be real love I see it as a temporary possession
ReplyDeleteI believe that there are somethings that money can not buy. Money may make the world function but, it can not buy what ever it wants. During the Civil War people paid for others to take their place in the war. The body should not be sold so another person can live. This seems to me as murder and murder is against the law and should not be paid for. If any transaction that hinders life or harms life should not be aloud. To me it is immoral to buy a persons life or to give someone pain for money. Another testy scenario is having someone be a surrogate mother. If There is no harm towards the her then there is no foul play. If the mother wants to keep the child and not give the child back to the original mom that would be stealing in my eyes. Also I morally can not see why people sell their bodies for money but, if others want to do that and it does not harm anyone at all then it is not any of my business. So in general money can not buy everything.
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