For Review
1. Define ethics.
Ethics is the study of how we try to live our lives according
to a standard of “right” or “wrong” behavior—in
both how we think and behave toward others and how
we would like them to think and behave toward us. For
some, it is a conscious choice to follow a set of moral
standards or ethical principles that provide guidance
on how they should conduct themselves in their daily
lives. For others, where the choice is not so clear, they
look to the behavior of others to determine what is an
acceptable standard of right and wrong or good and
bad behavior.
2. Explain the role of values in ethical decision
making.
Values represent a set of personal principles by which
you aim to live your life. Those principles are most often
based on religious, cultural, or philosophical beliefs
that you have developed over time as a collection of
influences from family, friends, school, religion, ethnic
background, the media, and your personal mentors and
role models. When you try to formalize these principles
into a code of behavior, then you are seen to be adopting
a value system which becomes your benchmark in deciding
which choices and behaviors meet the standard
of “doing the right thing.”
3. Understand opposing ethical theories and
their limitations.
Ethical theories can be divided into three categories:
virtue ethics (focusing on individual character and integrity);
ethics for the greater good, also referred to as utilitarianism
(focusing on the choices that offer the greatest
good for the greatest number of people); and universal
ethics (focusing on universal principles that should apply
to all ethical judgments, irrespective of the outcome).
Each category is limited by the absence of a clear
sense of accountability for the choices being made.
As we have seen in this chapter, individual character
and integrity can depend on many influences and are
therefore unlikely to be a consistent standard. Utilitarianism
only focuses on the outcome of the choice without
any real concern for the virtue of the actions themselves,
and human history has produced many atrocities that
have been committed in the name of the “end justifying
the means.” At the other end of the scale, staying true to
morally pure ethical principles without considering the
outcome of that choice is equally problematic.
4. Discuss “ethical relativism.”
In the absence of a truly comprehensive theory of ethics
and a corresponding model or checklist to guide
them, many people choose to approach ethical decisions
by pursuing the comfort of an ethical majority that
reflects a combination of the traditions of their society,
their personal opinions, and the circumstances of the
present moment. This relativist approach offers more
flexibility than the pursuit of definitive black-and-white
rules. However, the pursuit of an ethical majority in a
peer pressure situation can sometimes have negative
consequences.
5. Explain an ethical dilemma, and apply a process
to resolve it.
An ethical dilemma is a situation in which there is no
obviousright or wrong decision, but rather a right or right
answer. In such cases you are required to make a choice
even though you are probably leaving an equally valid
choice unmade and contradicting a personal or societal
ethical value in making that choice. There is no definitive
checklist for ethical dilemmas because the issues
are often institutional in nature. Therefore the best hope
for a “right” choice can often fall to the “lesser of two
evils” and an outcome you can live with. Arthur Dobrin
offers eight questions that should be asked to ensure
that you have as much relevant information available as
possible (in addition to a clear sense of what you don’t
know) as to the available choices, the actions needed for
each choice, and the anticipated consequences of each
choice.