Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. There are many criminals that roam the earth for the benefit of themselves and these affect the moral fabric of society because there are also many hedonists (pleasure seekers) who believe that everything done for the greatest pleasure is ultimately the purpose of life. However, I want to make the case today for morality over immortality. For this essay, I will consider morality according to Oxford Dictionaries: "Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior." Though morality is a rather subjective subject, there are some principles that are universal across all cultures found by an Oxford University study: "Help your family, help your group, return favors, be 10 brave, defer to superiors, divide resources fairly, and respect others' property" ("Seven Moral Rules Found All around the World"). The fact that these morals are found across 60 cultures from around the world demonstrates that morality, though subjective, is the cornerstone of keeping our societies together. There are many reasons to be moral, as, without morality, a society may have various problems to face. There is no doubt that without morals, a society cannot function effectively. Chaos would reign. According to the Society of Morality, "We are social animals, and the actions we take — the things we do and the things we don't do — have consequences on our environments and on the others around us. As a result, we 20 need to be able to govern our behavior in the near term so as not to injure ourselves or our community in the long term. This system of controlling our actions and our thoughts in order to operate in a community is what we often refer to as morality" (Society of Morality). Therefore, we need a set of morals in order to operate within a social circle and a social environment. Acting immoral usually results in being excluded from social activities or being shunned by a society based on laws and cultural norms. Besides acting moral having a sociological need, it also has a psychological basis. Most people are concerned to some extent about their reputation. According to PsyPost, "A lot of economic models of human behavior assume that people 30 are only rational when they narrowly pursue their own self-interest, but history shows us that people are also tremendously concerned with being and appearing moral" (Dolan, Eric W). So, the fear of one's reputation being tarnished is often a strong motivator to be moral. And if someone has been immoral, most people go out of their way to make sure no one finds out, or to correct the behavior in order to not be caught. This goes in line with conscience as well. People generally feel in a better psychological state if they feel that their conscience is clean. A dirty conscience can result in a lack of sleep, anxiety, internal stress, and even illness. On the side of philosophy, the study of ethics comes into play. Most philosophers agree that one should rationally choose a set of standards of behavior in order to 40 function. Though there is moral relativism, there are universal anthropological morals, as mentioned in the introduction. By the nature of our societies and cultures, we choose what we believe is right and wrong. But surprisingly, this rational behavior comes to a general consensus on morals. So, there is a fine line between moral relativism and moral absolutism. Morality is neither completely relative, nor neither absolute ("Morality"). But the main thing to take away from this discussion is that philosophers generally believe that each individual has the right to rationally come up with a set of ethics to live by and that it is healthy to do so. Being moral benefits us in many ways. Socially, it allows us to fit into groups 50 better and to be in concord with others. Psychologically, acting morally keeps our reputation solid and maintains a clear conscience. Lastly, being moral is advocated by philosophy, which tells individuals to seek to carve their own sense of ethics to operate in this world and to understand themselves. Besides, it just feels better to be moral, overall. Source: https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/persuasive/better-moral-immoral.html

Answer all the questions

Questions 1. (a) What is the intention of the writer?

(b) Give one (1) example of evidence from the passage to support your view.

2. Who would you say is the writer's intended audience?

3. Give a reason why you believe this to be the intended audience.

4. State whether the passage is artistic or technical/scientific prose. Give two (2) pieces of evidence from the passage to support your response.

5. (a) What is the primary type of writing used by the writer? (1 mark) (b) State two (2) features (and give evidence from the passage) of this type of writing in the passage to support your response.

6. State the thesis statement in the essay and explain its effectiveness.

7. Identify two topic sentences in the passage and in your own words state what the nature of the writer's argument is in the paragraph after his topic sentence.

8. What is the purpose of the extract?

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