Influence on Ethics

In life there are several factors that influence the way people think and make decisions. For me, those factors would mainly be my family, school and religion. Every experience someone has helps shape who they become. Some experiences and lessons are good while others will leave you questioning the world we live in; people do horrible unethical things however to them they believe it to be okay.

When it comes to family I was raised to be respectful of others but still speak my mind if I had an opinion. I was also raised to respect women which is something you do not see often in American culture anymore. I was taught that I am supposed to open a door or give up my seat to a woman. As a kid you do these things because this is the way we are taught; one you grow up you realize that showing people respect is the right thing to do so you continue doing it. The biggest influence my family had on me was teaching me the value of kindness and the power of knowledge. As a kid I was taught to work hard and then have fun later; sort of like the saying people say "work hard and play hard". My parents dropped out of college so that they could give my sisters and I the opportunities they didn't have, this is the reason I have learned the value of hard work and knowledge. I was also taught to be honest as my parents believed that lies don't get people anywhere and if you tell the truth then you never have to remember a lie. All together I think my parents were trying to teach us to act with integrity and not let others think for us. These influences seem to first be deontological, when I was young I followed these rules because that is what I was taught. Now they appear to be virtuous to me, I still do these things because they seem like somethi...

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... open discourse civilly of course; I believe this is why I was taught to think critically so that I can have an opinion in a discussion not an argument. To me civility is the concept of respecting others as human beings and not just objects, this value allows us to live in a society with harmony. Civility is the one thing that truly separates us from animals.

I do feel that the ethos code leaves room for interpretation. Certain things such as integrity, well-being, and respect, have different meanings to different people. I would clarify those meanings if I was Georgetown.

Works Cited

Locke, J. (199). Idea of power. An essay concerning human understanding (p. 358). Raleigh, N.C.: Alex Catalogue.

Kraut, R. (2001, May 1). Aristotle's Ethics. Stanford University. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/#VirDefConInc