Moral Choice

Thoughts on Moral Choice : The Place of Factor X in Friedman and Albright 's Conflict Resolution Theories

Three scholars namely Thomas L . Friedman , Madeleine Albright and Francis Fukuyama have offered related thoughts which policy-makers could learn to use in conflict resolution . To all of them , respecting human dignity is apparently the key to conflict resolution . Also , they all try to explain moral choices as the type of choice that must surface in the society to create a harmonious society . However , they have presented different sources for which people reflect on in making

moral judgments like identity , rationality and freedom . The articles they have written which are The Dell Theory of Conflict Resolution , Faith and Diplomacy and The Posthuman Future , respectively have tackled distinct issues but they derive their arguments from human nature . The first article for example discusses about the impacts of economic globalization on state and group collaboration the second deals with how expertise and consideration of religion could facilitate in the understanding of cultural and religious differences to arrive at peace and settlements thus preventing wars the third concerns itself with dissecting human nature to prove that technological and scientific development should be regulated to preserve the innate characteristics of humans and maintain their aspirations for unity . I would like to emphasize however that using the third article , Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama , the two articles are similar in that they refer to some aspects of human nature that Fukuyama referred to in his study as part of Factor X . But at the same time , I would like to present a personal analysis that Friedman and Albright in their discussions of economic-political behaviour and religious beliefs , are able to introduce although implicitly another aspect of human nature that Fukuyama might have not fully underscored- the human interactions that produce , mould , shape and influence beliefs behavior , ideologies that yields to mobilization , organization , even conflict and its resolution . Let me begin by sharing what Fukuyama has to say about human dignity

How is moral choice determined ? Francis Fukuyama in his new book the Posthuman Future ' tries to give a fresh perspective on the nature of humans and human values that eventually leads to a discussion of a kind of moral choice that is rooted in human dignity . Fukuyama says that human values are rooted in human nature which in turn is rooted in our genes . Fukuyama defines human nature as "the sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species , arising from genetic rather than environmental factors " Humans as complex wholes with a range of capacities like rationality , moral choice , sociability sentience , consciousness , language , and so on that exceed those located among non-human animals is what gives humans moral worth . So while non-humans may possess nature as well , only humans possess dignity Dignity is what gives humans the following

superior . moral status that raises us all above the rest of animal creation and yet makes us equals of one another qua human beings

Fukuyama believes that...