Chapter 1

Understanding Ethics

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What is Ethics?

• Manner by which we try to live our lives according to a standard of right or wrong behaviors • In both how we think and behave toward others

and how we would like them to think and behave toward us

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What is Ethics?

• Factors that influence the morality of ethics• How one was raised• One’s religion• Traditions and beliefs in one’s society

• Society: Structured community of people bound together by similar traditions and customs

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Understanding Right and Wrong

• Moral standards - Principles by which judgments are made about good and bad behavior that are based on: • Religion• Culture: Particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and

practices that characterize a group of individuals• Philosophical beliefs

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Understanding Right and Wrong

• Sources of beliefs• Family and friends• Ethnic background• Religion• School• Media• Personal role models and mentors

• Morality - Collection of influences built over a person’s lifetime

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How Should I Live?

• Morals and values - Set of personal principles by which you aim to live your life• Value system: Set of personal principles

formalized into a code of behavior

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The Value of a Value

• Intrinsic values: Quality by which a value is a good thing in itself and is pursued for its own sake, whether anything comes from that pursuit or not

• Instrumental values: Quality by which the pursuit of one value is a good way to reach another value

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Value Conflicts

• Impact of a person’s or a group’s value system can be seen in the extent to which their daily lives are influenced by those values

• Conflicts occur when one is presented with a situation that places those values in direct conflict with an action• Personal value system - Specific choices and

responses to a situation by an individual

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Doing the Right Thing

• Categories under which individuals classify ethics • Simple truth • Question of someone’s personal character• Rules of appropriate individual behavior• Rules of appropriate behavior for a community

or society

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The Golden Rule

• Problem with the rule is the assumption that others would follow the same principles as you do

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

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Ethical Theories

• Virtue ethics: Concept of living your life according to a commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal• Criticism - Societies can place different emphasis

on different virtues• Utilitarianism: Ethical choices that offer the

greatest good for the greatest number of people• Criticism - Idea that the ends justify the means

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Ethical Theories

• Universal ethics: Actions that are taken out of duty and obligation to a purely moral ideal rather than based on the needs of the situation• Universal principles are seen to apply to

everyone, everywhere, all the time• Criticism - Reverse of the weakness in ethics for

the greater good

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Ethical Relativism

• Concept that the traditions of your society, your personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment define your ethical principles• Implies some degree of flexibility as opposed to

strict • Offers the comfort of being a part of the ethical

majority in the community or society

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Ethical Dilemmas

• Situation in which there is no obvious right or wrong decision rather a right or right answer

• Dilemmas occur when the decision you must make requires you to make a right choice knowing full well that you are:• Leaving an equally right choice undone

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Ethical Dilemmas

• Likely to suffer something bad as a result of that choice

• Contradicting a personal ethical principle in making that choice

• Abandoning an ethical value of your community or society in making that choice

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• Sleep-test ethics• Ethics of intuition• Should rely on our personal insights, feelings,

and instincts when we face a difficult problem• Process for solving an ethical problem• Analyze the consequences• Analyze the actions • Make a decision

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• Arthur Dobrin’s questions• What are the facts? • What can you guess about the facts you don’t

know? • What do the facts mean? • What does the problem look like through the

eyes of the people involved?

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• What will happen if you choose one thing rather than another?

• What do your feelings tell you? • What will you think of yourself if you decide one

thing or another? • Can you explain and justify your decision to

others?

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Ethical Reasoning

• Looking at the information available in resolving an ethical dilemma drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to our own ethical standards

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Figure 1.1 - Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Ethical Reasoning