Defining “Right”: Using Ethical Framework to Define the Term “Right”

Defining “Right”

The topic of morality and what is right or wrong is a deeply complex and profound subject. There is not a basic rule as there is in physics; there is no Newton’s law of motion and conservation of mass to base all theories upon. The shape of right and wrong must be modeled after the morals and values of the given culture, using the moral compass as a guide. There are frame works such as utilitarianism and deontological that pose questions that help use analyze the find the “right” thing to do. With anything, there is no steadfast rule on what is the correct framework to use. It is a mix between different thought process mixed with your personal values that help create a personal sense of “right” and “just”.

Ethical Relativism

Ethics cannot be discussed without first addressing ethical relativism and pointing out the potential traps of this flawed thinking. Ethical relativism argues that ethics is, “simply a matter of opinion”. (DesJardins, 2011. pp 29) It contends that everybody opinion is equally valid, without taking into account evidence or research to support the opinion. This would negate the whole purpose of the study of ethics, since if everything is valid, there is no use to investigate decisions further. Ethical relativism can be attractive since it requires only a basic level of analyzes of the issues and does not require to dive into the true substance of the issues. It is the easy way to assert everybody’s opinions are on equal ground. Tempting as it is to apply ethical relativism, it will ultimately produce only unsupported and faulty idea of ethics.

In an article, “The Challenge of Ethical Relativism in a Coalition Environment” by David Whetham (2008), explores the ethical quagmire of different et...

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...ture has different needs and expectations of ethics; there is no “one size fits all” definition for the word “right”. The best we can do is to understand the different frameworks available to help guide to a successfully application of the word.

References

DesJardins, J. (2011). An Introduction to Business Ethics (4th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Guyette, R & Piotrowski, C(2010). Preferences for key ethical principles that guide business school students. Education, 131(2), 268-271.

Tanner, C., Medlin, D. L., & Iliev, R. (2008). Influence of deontological versus consequentialist orientations on act choices and framing effects: when principles are more important than consequences. European Journal of Social Psycholog,1(38), 757-769.

Whetham, D. (2008). The challenge of ethical relativism in a coalition environment. Journal of Military Ethics, 7(4), 302-316.