Instigator / Pro
0
1510
rating
8
debates
68.75%
won
Topic
#4196

When making ethical decisions, who needs should be considered the most important? The individual, others, or a larger society?

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Winner
0
4

After 4 votes and with 4 points ahead, the winner is...

Mall
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
5
Time for argument
Two days
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Winner selection
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
4
1476
rating
336
debates
40.77%
won
Description

DEFINITIONS:
Ethical: adjective
relating to moral principles or branch of knowledge dealing with these; morally good or correct

Ethics: noun
a set of moral principles: a theory or system of moral values

Needs: noun (plural)
a physiological or psychological requirement for the well-being of an organism

Individual: noun
a particular being or thing as distinguished from a class, species, or collection.

Others: noun
a number of people besides oneself

Society: noun
a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.

RULES:
Each side must state their position on the prompt: whether the individual, others or a larger society's needs are the most important when making ethical decisions. This must be done in the first round.

Both sides can draw from experiences and outside sources.

Burden of Proof is shared.

The goal of this debate is to have a discussion about ethics and whether the individual's needs, others' needs, or society's needs have the greatest importance. Whoever walks away with a greater understanding of ethics and what it impacts is the true winner.

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@ProfessorS17Jr

What happens if both declare the same position in the first round? By definition, a debate is between opposing arguments, it's not really a debate if both parties agree is it?

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@Sidewalker

Both sides will state their position in the first round. Also to answer your second question, the term "others" refers to a number of people in general that are not yourself, and "society" is more of a social construct that consists of rules and social norms created for a large group of people. Did the way I explain make it more clear?

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@ProfessorS17Jr

Also, in the context of this debate, it's not clear that "others" and "society" are distinguishable as separate categories, If one takes others and the other takes society, are they both effectively taking the same side?

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@ProfessorS17Jr

Don't we need to know your position, how can we have a debate if we agree?