DRC Children in the cobalt mines - all about the outcome - assignment 3 SUS1501
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Course
SUS1501 - Sustainability And Greed (SUS1501)
Institution
University Of South Africa (Unisa)
Discussion about the DRC Children working under appealing conditions. In this assignment we made use of the Utilitarianism philosophy to analyze the position and circumstance.
I have been struggling to look at this assignment objectively since I am very triggered by child labour and
the morality behind the situation. I have been focusing all my energy on the ethics behind the action of
child labour instead of looking at the global system as a whole.
My heart broke seeing children exploited when I took a look at the YouTube videos and google image
search and my mind immediately wandered to a place where I want to better their circumstances and
finding solutions, but completely forgot that for me to have the opportunity to be a Unisa student and
participate in distance learning, is also thanks to those children who provide the cobalt in order to
manufacture laptops and cellphones – which is an essential form of 'study material.'
Looking from another perspective, I had to take a second look at my assignment.
1.What is the most likely utilitarian option?
After taking a very long walk, doing hours of research, talking to my coworkers, and reading the
discussions, I can finally agree with option C. "This is just a fact of global supply chains and necessary for
global economic growth, which is in everyone's best interest." is the most utilitarian option.
2.Why do you say so?
The maxim for utilitarianism is to provide happiness and pleasure to the majority of the world. It is not
possible to satisfy everyone all the time. In this scenario, my mind was set entirely on bettering the
circumstance for the children in the DRC without considering the bigger picture of the global
satisfaction, pleasure, and happiness that we can experience from using the cobalt, which might be the
product of child labour.
The economy can grow in terms of technology which allows us various advantages. An example of such
benefit includes; Being able to use a computer, which we use to do online shopping for anything, from
anywhere and any time. Another example is the use of batteries, which is a power source for the
majority of items used in your households. I can go on and on about this… The point is, cobalt is an
essential resource for the global economy.
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