9/30(Tue) What Money Can't Buy? (Host: Wen-han)

[wenhan1122]

9/30(Tue) What Money Can't Buy? (Host: Wen-han)

Dear YoYo members,

It's my honor to be the host again for our gathering on Tuesday, 09/30.

For this gathering, I like to bring up a bit controversial topic discussing the moral limit of the market. However, don't be scared off while you are reading so. I don't mean to lecture anything about morality but to explore the boundary of the power of MONEY.

Michael Sandel is a prominent scholar teaching in Harvard University, I believe many of you have either read his books or watched his lectures through YouTube. For those who are not familiar with his works, please view below video for the fundamentality of the challenges he threw out. (If you view it from computer browser, there is an option to switch English caption on)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDpYHyBlgc

I am hoping this to be a short but exciting ride of brain exercising.

SESSION I

Following the examples brought up in the video, let's warm up by starting with the topic "INCENTIVE"
1. In the video, Michael mentioned there are several cities encouraging students to get better grades or read books with rewards of cash. Some people believe it's an effective mean to lead students for a better grade or eventually cultivating the habit of reading. But the opponents argue the wrong incentives will guide to the wrong motivations.
a. From your own perspective, would you stand for pro or against? Have you done this before or have you ever received the rewards via similar incentives? How did it work?
b. Are these incentive programs the same with the scholarships we ever know ? Why are they the same? Or, why are they different?

2. As mentioned in the video, to reduce the babies from drug-addicted mothers, a charity offers $300 each for drug-addicted women to accept sterilization operations. People supporting this action believe that those women who took this offer followed their free will and reduction of babies from drug-addicted mothers shall eventually save a tremendous amount of future social costs. The people against it believe that being a mother is a privilege of a woman, and it shall be equal to every woman, regardless she is drug-addicted, or not. This offer is totally utilitarian.
Which side would you stand for? Why?

3. In the Swiss nuclear waste site example, the Switzerland citizens residing around the nuclear waste site refused the compensation and consider it the bribe tainting the sense of civic responsibility.
If you were one of the Switzerland residents, would you have voted for YES to take the $8000 per year offer? If not, why? Could you tell the difference between incentive and bribe in this example?

4. If you received a NT$50 coin among changes and found out later that it was forgery. Would you just keep it yourself? Or, try to find a way to spend it out? (Assuming you ascertain the merchant won't notice it counterfeited)

What if you received a counterfeited NT$1000 note? Would your answer still be the same as above?


SESSION II

For session II, let's discuss the ownership of our bodies.

We all believe we are the masters of our bodies and we have the autonomy to think and act. Let's discuss below questions to see if there are any moral limits to challenge our free will or consent ,

5. Prostitution: Under the circumstance of free will, do you agree that prostitution could be a job to be legally protected? If you do, could you please share with us the reasons you believe prostitution is no different than the other jobs? If you don't, please share with us the reasons you think it's different from the others?

6. Selling Organs: While it's legal to sell blood and sperms, do you agree for people to legally sell their organs in the market, under the circumstance of free will? If you don't, please share with us the reasons standing for that, for the same person, s/he can legally donate the organ, but not sell it? If you do, please share with us the reasons you support the legal market for organ transactions?

7. Surrogate Mother: Is renting out a womb to others sharing any similarities with above examples? And any differences? Do you agree the surrogate mother should be legalized in Taiwan? Please share with us the reasons you are pro for or against the legitimacy of surrogate mother?



********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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[Kooper]

It may surprise you that we are actually no stranger to the idea of encouraging students, through money, to study harder. It has been here to stay for decades that student who has got the best scores will be granted a scholarship. That no doubt is money. The only difference from the long-lasting scholarship thing to what the cities are doing is that they now award not only students who are the cream of the crop but the less good or the improving ones. It’s like dividing a single jaw-dropping enormous lottery prize into numerous smaller and hierarchical awards. I personally can't see any problem in it.

[Kooper]

Hi Wen-han,

The speech is awesome and inspiring. Thanks for introducing it to us. Your questions are also well-designed. I need to rack my brain to answer every single one.

The second question makes me think of the law that forbids close relatives from getting married. According to Taiwan's law, we are not allowed to marry anyone who is a six-degree relative of ours or closer. Why are, say, cousins being discriminated by law? Shouldn’t every man and woman who love each other deserve the same right to form a family? You may well know that it is the biological reason that outlaws their marriage. The ban is no doubt out of utilitarianism. If we agree with the law that singles out close-relative marriage, there seems to be no reason to take issue with the charity’s offer. These are just my two cents.

[wenhan1122]

Hi Kooper,

This is a very good example. I have my own answer for it but it's not definite. Utilitarian and biological evolution are somtimes coupled with. Some of them could eventually evolve into moral limits. (The example you raised is not rare in European historical stories, especially the ones involving with the dynasties).

[wenhan1122]

Dear All,

Thanks for coming to the gathering tonight.

Attendee: Tina, Steve, Iris, Wenhan, Sandy, Austin, Gloria, Jason, Liwen, Jonnie, Lawrence, Kooper

Speakers
Session I: Austin, Jonnie, Steve, Kooper
Session II: Tina, Iris, Liwen

You may also find a shorter version of this speech on TED
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel ... anguage=en