Chapter 1 Notes - Understanding Ethics PDF

Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics CHAPTER 1 Understanding Ethics Chapter Summary This chapter begins by defining ethics and how people decipher between “right” and “wrong” or “good” and “bad” behavior. It ex...

Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics CHAPTER 1 Understanding Ethics Chapter Summary This chapter begins by defining ethics and how people decipher between “right” and “wrong” or “good” and “bad” behavior. It explores how people live their lives according to a standard of “right” or “wrong” behavior and how their personal set of morals are formed. Society plays a role in the traditions and customs that shape the standards or moral set that people adopt. Common standards shared among individuals can be called values or a values system. Some people have different definitions of ethics such as, personal integrity, rules of appropriate individual behavior, rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society, and some define ethics as simply “doing the right thing.” The Golden Rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you—is also a goal of living an ethical life by some. There are also some ethical theories discussed, which are divided into three categories—virtue ethics, ethics for the greater good, and universal ethics. The chapter concludes with a discussion on ethical relativism, applied ethics, ethical dilemmas, and how to resolve these situations. Learning Outcome 1: Define Ethics.  Ethics is the manner by which 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. o How people arrive at the definition of what’s right and wrong is a result of many factors, including how they were raised, their religion, and the traditions and beliefs of their society.  Society is a structured community of people bound together by similar traditions and customs. Learning Outcome 2: Explain the Role of Values in Ethical Decision Making.  Moral standards are principles based on religious, cultural, or philosophical beliefs by which judgments are made about good or bad behavior. o Culture is a particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that characterize a group of individuals.  Beliefs can come from many different sources: o Friends o Family 1-1 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics o Ethnic background o Religion o School o The media—television, radio, newspapers, magazines, or the Internet o Personal role models and mentors  One’s personal set of morals—morality—represents a collection of all these influences as they build up over one’s lifetime.  Standards of ethical behavior are absorbed by osmosis as an individual observes the examples (both positive and negative) set by everyone around the individual—parents, family members, friends, peers, and neighbors. o When individuals share similar standards in a community, the terms values and value system are used. o The terms morals and values are often used to mean the same thing—a set of personal principles by which you aim to live your life.  A value system is a set of personal principles formalized into a code of behavior.  A person’s values can be said to have a specific “worth” for them. That worth can be expressed in two ways: o An intrinsic value—the 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. For example, happiness, health, and self-respect. o An instrumental value—the quality by which the pursuit of one value is a good way to reach another value. For example, money is valued for what it can buy rather than for itself.  The impact of a person’s or a group’s value system can be seen in the extent to which his or her daily lives are influenced by those values. o The greatest test of any personal value system comes when an individual is presented with a situation that places those values in direct conflict with an action. For example:  Lying is wrong—but what if you were lying to protect the life of a loved one?  Stealing is wrong—but what if you were stealing food for a starving child?  Killing is wrong—but what if you had to kill someone in self-defense to protect your own life? o It is this grey area that makes the study of ethics so complex.  If individuals asked their friends and family what ethics means to them, they would probably arrive at a list of four basic categories: o Simple truth—right and wrong or good and bad. o A question of someone’s personal character—his or her integrity. o Rules of appropriate individual behavior. o Rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society 1-2 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics  The first category—a simple truth—also may be be expressed as simply doing the right thing.  The second category—personal integrity, demonstrated by someone’s behavior—looks at ethics from an external rather than an internal viewpoint.  Rules of appropriate individual behavior represent the idea that the moral standards people develop for themselves impact their lives on a daily basis in their behavior and the other types of decisions they make.  Rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society remind people that they must eventually bring their personal value system into a world that is shared with people who will probably have both similar and very different value systems.  Each category represents a different feature of ethics. o On one level, the study of ethics seeks to understand how people make the choices they make—how they develop their own set of moral standards, how they live their lives on the basis of those standards, and how they judge the behavior of others in relation to those standards. o On a second level, people then try to use that understanding to develop a set of ideals or principles by which a group of ethical individuals can combine as a community with a common understanding of how they “ought” to behave.  For some, the goal of living an ethical life is expressed by the Golden Rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you, or treat others as you would like to be treated. o The danger with the Golden Rule is that not everyone thinks like you, acts like you, or believes in the same principles that you do, so to live your life on the assumption that your pursuit of an ethical ideal will match others’ ethical ideals could get you into trouble. Learning Outcome 3: Understand Opposing Ethical Theories and Their Limitations.  Ethical theories can be divided into three categories—virtue ethics, ethics for the greater good, and universal ethics.  Virtue ethics is a concept of living your life according to a commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal—what sort of person would I like to become, and how do I go about becoming that person? o The Greek philosopher Aristotle’s belief in individual character and integrity established this concept. o The problem with virtue ethics is that societies can place different emphasis on different virtues.  Ethics for the greater good is more focused on the outcome of an individual’s actions rather than the apparent virtue of the actions themselves—that is, a focus on the greatest good for the greatest number of people. o Originally proposed by a Scottish philosopher named David Hume, this approach is 1-3 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics also referred to as utilitarianism—ethical choices that offer the greatest good for the greatest number of people. o The problem with this approach to ethics is the idea that the ends justify the means.  If all an individual focuses on is doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, no one is accountable for the actions that are taken to achieve that outcome.  Originally attributed to a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant, universal ethics argues that there are certain and universal principles that should apply to all ethical judgments. o Universal ethics refer to actions that are taken out of duty and obligation to a purely moral ideal rather than based on the needs of the situation, since the universal principles are seen to apply to everyone, everywhere, all the time. o The problem with this approach is the reverse of the weakness in ethics for the greater good.  If all an individual focuses on is abiding by a universal principle, no one is accountable for the consequences of the actions taken to abide by those principles. Learning Outcome 4: Discuss Ethical Relativism.  When faced with the requirement to select a model of how we ought to live our lives, many people choose the idea of ethical relativism.  Ethical relativism is the concept that the traditions of an individual’s society, the individual’s personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment define the individual’s ethical principles.  The idea of relativism implies some degree of flexibility as opposed to strict black-and- white rules. o It also offers the comfort of being a part of the ethical majority in a person’s community or society instead of standing by the person’s individual beliefs as an outsider from the group. Learning Outcome 5: Explain an Ethical Dilemma and Apply a Process to Resolve It.  Applied ethics is the study of how ethical theories are put into practice.  The basic assumption of ethical theory is that a person as an individual or community is in control of all the factors that influence the choices that he or she makes.  Ethical dilemma is a situation in which there is no obvious right or wrong decision, but rather a right or right answer.  Any idealized set of principles or standards inevitably faces some form of challenge. o For ethical theories, that challenge takes the form of a dilemma in which the decision 1-4 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics people must make requires them to make a right choice knowing full well that they are:  Leaving an equally right choice undone  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 their community or society in making that choice  In reality, the “answer” to an ethical dilemma is often the lesser of two evils, it is questionable to assume that there will always be an acceptable answer—it’s more a question of whether or not you can arrive at an outcome you can live with.  Two distinct approaches to handling ethical dilemmas can be identified: o One is to focus on the practical consequences of what people choose to do. o The other is to focus on the actions themselves and the degree to which they were the right actions to take.  The following is a three-step process for solving an ethical problem: o Step 1—analyze the consequences o Step 2—analyze the actions o Step 3—make a decision  Arthur Dobrin identified eight questions people should consider when resolving an ethical dilemma: o What are the facts? o What can you guess about the facts you don’t know? o What do the facts mean? o What does the problem look like through the eyes of the people involved? o What will happen if you choose one thing rather than another? o What do your feelings tell you? o What will you think of yourself if you decide one thing or another? o Can you explain and justify your decision to others?  The application of these steps is based on some key assumptions: o There is sufficient time for the degree of contemplation that such questions require; second o There is enough information available for people to answer the questions o The dilemma presents alternative resolutions for people to select from  When people are attempting to resolve an ethical dilemma, they follow a process of ethical reasoning. o Ethical reasoning is a process of looking at the information available to us in resolving an ethical dilemma, and drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to our own ethical standards.  Lawrence Kohlberg developed a framework that presents the argument that people develop a reasoning process over time, moving through six distinct stages (classified into three 1-5 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 01 - Understanding Ethics levels of moral development) as they are exposed to major influences in our lives: o Level 1: Preconventional—at this lowest level of moral development, a person’s perception of right and wrong is initially directly linked to the expectation of punishment or reward.  Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation—a person is focused on avoidance of punishment and deference to power and authority, i.e., something is right or wrong because a recognized authority figure says it is.  Stage 2: Individualism, instrumentalism, and exchange—as a more organized and advanced form of stage 1, a person is focused on satisfying his or her own needs, i.e., something is right or wrong because it helps the person get what he or she wants or needs. o Level 2: Conventional—a person continues to become aware of broader influences outside the family.  Stage 3: “Good boy/nice girl” orientation—a person is focused on meeting the expectations of family members, i.e., something is right or wrong because it pleases those family members. Stereotypical behavior is recognized, and conformity to that behavior develops.  Stage 4: Law-and-order orientation—a person is increasingly aware of his or her membership in a society and the existence of codes of behavior, i.e., something is right or wrong because codes of legal, religious, or social behavior dictate it. o Level 3: Postconventional—at this highest level of ethical reasoning, a person makes a clear effort to define principles and moral values that reflect an individual value system rather than simply reflecting the group position.  Stage 5: Social contract legalistic orientation—a person is focused on individual rights and the development of standards based on critical examination, i.e., something is right or wrong because it has withstood scrutiny by the society in which the principle is accepted.  Stage 6: Universal ethical principle orientation—a person is focused on self- chosen ethical principles that are found to be comprehensive and consistent, i.e., something is right or wrong because it reflects that person’s individual value system and the conscious choices he or she makes in life.  Kohlberg’s framework offers us a clearer view into the process of ethical reasoning—that is, that someone can arrive at a decision, in this case the resolution of an ethical dilemma— on the basis of a moral rationale that is built on the cumulative experience of his or her life. o Kohlberg also believed that a person could not move or jump beyond the next stage of his or her six stages.  It would be impossible for a person to comprehend the moral issues and dilemmas at a level so far beyond his or her life experience and education. 1-6 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.