Chapter 1 Understanding Ethics Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Learning Outcomes • Define ethics. • Explain the role of values in ethical decision making. • Understand opposing ethical theories and their limitations. • Discuss ethical relativism. • Explain an ethical dilemma and apply a process to resolve it. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethics Manner by which one tries to live one’s life according to a standard of right or wrong behavior. • In both how one thinks and behaves toward others and how one would like others to think and behave toward them. Factors that influence ethics. • One's upbringing. • One’s religion. • One's social traditions and beliefs. Society: Structured community of people bound together by similar traditions and customs. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Understanding Right and Wrong 1 Moral standards: Principles by which judgments are made about good and bad behavior and are based on: • Religious beliefs. • Cultural beliefs. • Culture: Particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that characterize a group of individuals. • Philosophical beliefs. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Understanding Right and Wrong 2 Sources of beliefs. • Family and friends. • Ethnic background. • Religion. • School. • Media. • Personal role models and mentors. Morality: Collection of influences built up over a person’s lifetime. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. REVIEW How do people arrive at the standard of what's right or wrong? Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. How Should One Live? Standards of ethical behavior are absorbed by osmosis as individuals observe the examples set by everyone around them. Ethical behavior can be based on experience of human existence rather than any abstract concepts of right and wrong. Morals and values: Set of personal principles by which one aims to live one’s life. • Value system: Set of personal principles formalized into a code of behavior. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Value of a Value Intrinsic values: Quality by which a value is a good thing in itself. • 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. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Value Conflicts Impact of a value system on individuals can be seen in the extent to which their daily lives are influenced by those values. Occur when one is presented with a situation that places one’s value system in direct conflict with an action. • Personal value system: Specific choices and responses to a situation by an individual. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Doing the Right Thing Categories under which individuals classify ethics. • Simple truth. • Question of someone’s personal integrity as demonstrated by behavior. • Rules of appropriate individual behavior. • Rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. • Problem with the rule is the assumption that others would follow the same principles as one would do. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethical Theories 1 Virtue ethics: Concept of living one’s 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. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethical Theories 2 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. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethical Relativism Concept that the traditions of one’s society, one’s personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment define one’s ethical principles. • Implies some degree of flexibility as opposed to strict black-and-white rule. • Offers the comfort of being a part of the ethical majority in the community or society. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethical Dilemmas Situation in which there is no obvious right or wrong decision, but rather a right or right answer. Occur when the decision one must make requires one to make a right choice knowing full well that one is: • 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 one’s community or society in making that choice. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 1 Sleep-test ethics. • Ethics of intuition. • Individuals should rely on their personal insights, feelings, and instincts when facing a difficult problem. Process for solving an ethical problem. • Analyze the consequences. • Analyze the actions. • Make a decision. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 2 Arthur Dobrin’s questions. • What are the facts? • What can one guess about the facts one doesn’t know? • What do the facts mean? • What does the problem look like through the eyes of the people involved? • What will happen if one chooses one thing rather than another? • What does one’s feelings tell oneself? • What will one think of oneself if one decides one thing or another? • Can one explain and justify one’s decision to others? Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 3 Application of Arthur Dobrin’s model is based on the following key assumptions: • Sufficient time is there for the degree of contemplation that such questions require. • Enough information is available to answer the questions. • Dilemma presents alternative resolutions for one to select from. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Ethical Reasoning • Looking at the information available while resolving an ethical dilemma. • Drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to one’s own ethical standards. Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Figure 1.1: Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Ethical Reasoning Level Stage Social Orientation Level Stage Social Orientation Level Stage Social Orientation Preconventional 1 Obedience and punishment Preconventional 2 Individualism, instrumentalism, and exchange Conventional 3 “Good boy/nice girl” Conventional 4 Law and order Postconventional 5 Social contract Postconventional 6 Principled conscience Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
