Assignment 05
SUS1501 – Sustainability and Greed
Student Number:12255736
Date: 07 April 2026
Teaching Assistant Name:
Declaration:
By submitting this assignment, I implicitly declare that this is my own work.
I am aware that if ANY unacknowledged copying is detected in ANY part of this
assignment, I will get 0 (zero) for the entire assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS:
In this assignment you will submit two answers to each question. The first will be the
answers IN YOUR OWN WORDS. The second will be your answers edited to improve the
writing quality using some AI engine (e.g. Chat GPT, DeepSeek, Claude, etc.). Here are
the specific steps:
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Read the “1. Background Facts” and “2. Introduction” sections below;
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Fill in your assignment contributions under the relevant headings 3 – 5 in your
own words in the space provided;
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Use any AI engine to edit your original submissions and fill these in the space
provided.
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Save the file as a Word document with a short name (myUnisa will reject files
with long names);
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Submit this file into the Assessment 5 assignment space on myUnisa;
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Take a screen grab of the final submission acknowledgement on myUnisa and
save this somewhere safe in case of any disputes:
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Check under the Assignments tool that there is a date in the “Processed” cell for
the SUS1501 Assignment 5.
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DO NOT DELETE THE TEMPLATE CONTENT TO REDUCE YOUR TURNITIN
SCORE
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NB – DO NOT RESUMBIT AN ASSIGNMENT AFTER THE DEADLINE HAS
PASSED EVEN IF THE SYSTEM ALLOWS YOU TO DO SO. THIS WILL CHANGE
YOUR SUBMISSION DATE AND YOUR SUBMISSION WILL REFLECT AS LATE
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BACKGROUND FACTS
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“In January 2026 Patrice Motsepe's net worth was estimated to be US$ 4.2
billion.”
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“Even before COVID, one out of every five South Africans lived below the
food poverty line.”
2. INTRODUCTION (written for me by Prof Eccles)
In assignments 2, 3 and 4 we have, as a group, reflected on the facts above. We debated
whether it was ok for Patrice Motsepe to have a net worth of US$ 4.2 billion. Some of us
thought this was a reflection of his business brilliance. Some of us thought that this
was morally outrageous.
We then debated the fact that one in every five South Africans live below the food
poverty line. Although most of us thought that this was a problem, we saw how other
ethical interpretations were possible.
And in the final analysis we considered the possibility that these two scenarios – great
wealth and great poverty – might in fact be linked. On the basis of this, we debated
whether the whole picture looked ok. I think it is safe to say that most of us were left
feeling a bit uneasy about things.
That is all well and good. But what about me? In this short essay, I’m going to think
about this question. I’ll start out by trying to figure out where I currently fit in in this
picture. Then I’m going to think forward in time. Specifically, I’m going to imagine what I
hope my legacy will have been over the course of the good (eudaimonic) life I have
lived. In formulating this vision of a life well lived, I’m going to make reference to key
virtues or excellences (arête) that I think I will need to develop in order to achieve this
good life. And I’m going to think about the sort of problems that these excellences might
present if taken too far or not far enough.
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3. WHERE DO I FIT IN NOW? (200 words)
In this section you need to reflect on where you fit into the economic landscape painted
by the background facts. This reflection should include:
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An evaluation of where you fit in (the site https://wid.world/simulator/ will help
you to do this a bit more objectively);
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A description of what this means in terms of your day-to-day life – your
challenges and your privileges; and
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An evaluation of what you think about this economic location – how this
location makes you feel.
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I would put myself in a very lower stage of
the economy as I cannot even provide for
myself, I have to rely on parents that also
rely on their parents for certain stuff or
basic needs.The economy is a very broad
system in a country it identifies the
circulation of every transaction or human
behavior made by citizens and
unfortunately not all the citizens are able to
afford basic needs or other expensive
necessities.That is the category where I fall
in as a consumer,I am not able to achieve
many things simply because I don’t have
enough resources or I cannot earn enough
even if I wanted to.The economy’s success
very much depends on the spending of the
citizens such as me and probably you,I
would say I fall in such a lower stage that
my opinion or complaint or any other issue
I have regarding the economy would be
overlooked simply because I don’t have
much to offer as we already know the
corruption of this economy is on another
level ,so high that even if I were to address
my issues against another party that so
happens to be above me financially or has
more influence than me I would be
overlooked even if I were in the
right ,meaning ethics in this economy is
highly overlooked unless you have
something to offer financially.If you do then
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you might as well be the president because
<Answer edited by AI>
you already have influence.
4. AT THE END OF MY LIFE …… (200 words)
Here you need to ‘predict’ the legacy you think you would like to leave. You should tell us
the things that you hope you will have achieved, and the things that people will
remember about you when your time on earth has come to an end. What you say is
entirely up to you, but the aim is for you to imagine what it will look like, at the end of the
day, for you to make the claim: “I have lived a good life!”
In answering this, you must make sensible reference to:
1.
eudaimonia,
1.
key arête that you will need to develop, and
2.
the role that you imagine phronesis will have played in navigating life’s
complexities.
From this we need to be able to see that you have understood these key concepts in this
virtue ethics space.
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The legacy I would like to leave is the power
of honesty, perseverance and great
leadership skills ,I honestly don’t think
people have to like me because that is not
my goal in this lifetime,as a matter of fact I
am heavily focusing on feeding the right
wolf just like the old man told his
grandchildren to do ,as I believe in spiritual
enrichment rather than actual materialistic
value (I would still like to be wealthy though)
.This is a great example of
eudaimonia ,making sure you actually have
flourished and blessed nature or spirit to let
people know the kind of person you were or
the kind of legacy you wish to leave ,but in
all honesty I don’t think people should
heavily rely on what opinions of people
place you in society because after you die
there is no more going back people will
forget you as quick as one minute and all
of that yoh achieved in terms virtue will be
forgotten within the blink of an eye.In terms
of the laws of arête I would highly suggest
that you should focus on the betterment of
your wisdom and discernment,and then
courage and justice will follow suit, also
keeping in mind that if you are truly wise
most people will despise you not because
you are wise but because most are
intimidated by the truth simply because it is
a mirror that reflects their insecurities as
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individuals,so as time goes the more you
<Answer edited by AI>
own these type of virtues the more your
legacy will be despised regardless of
morally upright you are.Wisdom (true
wisdom)breaks the entire norm of societies
because it goes against all that has been
taught or passed down from
generations,this is why a legacy that has
nothing to do with finances is mostly
rejected or overlooked as you have to be a
certain level of wealthy to be considered of
high value in society nowadays.However all
in all it is very much necessary to acquire
these type of ethics because it valuable in
the eyes of less if not one person in
society.Legacy for me depends on what you
spend your life teaching yourself and others
to prepare yourself for the next lifetime
because this legacy that you leave will be
forgotten eventually.
5. CONCLUSION (100 words)
Here you need to tie things together. In particular we would like to see you reflecting on
how your vision of a eudaimonic or good life ties in with the economic landscape we
have contemplated in the Introduction, and your current location in it that you described
in the section 3.
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It is very important to leave some sort of
<Answer edited by AI>
legacy in this world but the real question is
will it live forever? If especially you weren’t
financially favored and looked that way in
society,you should raise a well amount of
objectives to make sure you leave a long
lasting legacy that will be passed down
from the people you achieved with,they are
the ones that will definitely without a doubt
carry that legacy on to the next generations
to come ,as nowadays you’d really have to
meet the projections of many people to
actually leave a legacy that will guarantee
your footprint in society despite the fact
that you are not financially at that level of
actual acceptance in society.
6. ONE LAST QUESTION
As the lecturing team we have been thinking. Of all of the assignments that you guys do
in this module, it is this one where we, as lecturers, learn the most. This is because you
guys bring real lived experiences, which we don’t necessarily have, to the table. But this
is a closed assignment. This means that other students don’t get to hear about your
lived experiences and learn from these as we do, which seems unfair. So, we were
wondering whether we shouldn’t make this a forum based assignment?
We thought we would ask you guys. Do you think you would write the same things, or
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