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What ethics means
Ethics in modern society
Importance of ethics in general
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Ethics Ethics can be defined broadly as a set of moral principles or values. Each of us has such a set of values, although we may or may not have clearly expressed them. It is common for people to differ in their moral principles and values and the relative importance they attach to them. These differences reflect life experiences, successes and failures, as well as the influences of parents, teachers, and friends. Ethical behavior is necessary for a society to function in an orderly manner. It can be argued that ethics is the glue that holds a society together. Philosophers, religious organizations, and other groups have defined in various ways ideal sets of moral principles and values. The following are different approaches, from ancient and modern traditions and philosophers, depicting their meaning and understanding of ethics and how it can be applied in ethical decision-making. Utilitarianism was founded by the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham toward the end of the 18th century. He believed that all human actions are motivated by a desire to obtain pleasure and avoid pain. The principle of utility expresses that actions were right if they tended to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. When faced with a moral dilemma, utilitarianism identifies right and wrong and also considers the consequences that may result. This can be regarded as an appropriate action, but offers no realistic way to gather necessary information to make the required decision. Confronting certain situations in life, there is no time to weigh all possible outcomes and decide the one that provides the greatest benefit to all; majority of predicaments allow just enough time for a person to act on impu... ... middle of paper ... ...when it comes to rape or incest, I don't feel a woman should have to go through the pregnancy in this specific situation. So this approach, having to rely on principles all the time and follow them accordingly to every situation does not agree with me. It is helpful to read about these different theories but I do not think it is necessary in decision-making. Reading about these approaches does make you think about how you as person handles certain situations and whether you can improve your process. However, this only happens when you are required to read and study about these theories. If I never took this class, I would never have known the difference between utilitarianism and moral law and which one applies to me and my decision making process. Therefore, it is not required to read and learn about different approaches in order to handle situations.
Ethics is defined as values relating to human conduct with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. It represents the core value system and the moral precepts held, or rules of conduct followed by individuals, institutions, or societies while making choices in the course of everyday problem solving. They create a framework for determining “right” versus “wrong”. (Journal, n.d.)
One of my recent classes was on “Ethics and Social Policy in Human Services”. The second half of this course was focused on ethical decision-making in human services, using case studies to identify the ethical principles and implications revealed in each. In one specific case study presented for discussion, Ann is a licensed social worker at a non-profit human service agency whose primary duties include counselling individuals and small groups. Ann has a client, Jasmine, who attends therapeutic group sessions twice weekly with Ann because her two year old daughter had been placed in foster care due to maltreatment and “failure to thrive”. These sessions are court ordered by the local child protective service agency in order to regain custody of children. Jasmine confided to her case worker (not Ann) that she is positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV positive), and someone informed Mary, the executive director of the agency. Mary becomes angry and asks Ann to speak privately with Jasmine to persuade her to tell the other clients in her therapy group that she is HIV positive. Jasmine is also a Type II diabetic, and uses a glucometer in the bathroom at the agency during breaks. Mary feels Jasmine is putting the staff and clients at risk by pricking her finger to test her glucose level. Mary, who is not a trained counselor or social worker, also thinks it would be therapeutic for Jasmine and the other clients if Jasmine shared her HIV status (Herlihy & Corey, 2006).
Decision-making is one of the hardest tasks individuals have to endure. Deciphering between whether or not the decision you make will benefit you, if it will hurt someone else, what are the pros, the cons, and if the decision you make is eleven moral in itself. When decision-making the study of ethics plays a major role as to which decision you ultimately decide on. Ethics evaluates the morality of actions based on principles set by theories, individuals or in some instances cultures. Morality is an enormous part of decision=making which comes into play every single day in human life. Ethicists create theories based on the morality that exists in our lives in regards to certain situations. In particular, the utilitarian theory is well known
Ethics is a philosophical issue that is controversial today. Ethics recommends, systemizes, and defines the concepts of right and wrong behavior in our society. One’s ethics can raise the question, “What is the correct way to live in our society?” It investigates what is considered good or bad. Ethics resolves questions over human morality that ultimately dictates what is wrong or right. It does it’s best to explain what evil and good actions for human beings may look like. Many people view good moral actions interchangeably with ethics. Many argue that ethics is adherence to religious beliefs, society laws and other society guidelines. In general, ethics is adherence to societal guidelines and order that incorporates most aspects of our lives. Ethical human beings are those who do not intentionally harm other human beings.
Ethics are moral principles that can be used to help guide peoples decisions. We are all different and therefore our beliefs and opinions differ. There are many ethical theories, and according to Panza and Potthast (n.d.) the following are some that are widely used. Virtue ethics is one theory which states that personality is the most important thing. Living an ethical life, acting right, requires that one develops and demonstrates the quality of courage, compassion, wisdom, and temperance. It also requires that greed, jealousy, and selfishness is avoided. Utilitarianism states that the amount of happiness and suffering created by a person’s actions is what matters the most. As a result, acting rightly includes maximizing the amount of happiness and minimizing the amount of suffering around you. At times you may need to break some of the traditional moral rules to achieve such an outcome. Kantianism is another theory which highlights the principles behind actions rather than an actions results. It states that it requires to be motivated by good principles that treats everyone with respect. If you’re motivated by good principles, you overcome your animal instinct and act ethically. Another ethical theory is the Contract theory, which suggest that ethics should be thought of as terms of agreements between people. It suggests that doing the right thing means obeying agreements set by members rather than those of society. For this theory ethics isn’t necessarily about character, consequences, or principles. The last theory I’m going to mention is Care ethics. Care ethics focuses on ethical attention on relationships before other factors. As a result, acting rightly involves building, strengthening, and maintaining strong relationship...
Ethics is the study of what is right or what ought to be, depending upon the action of individuals. The reason why the individual, plays a major part in ethics is because the principles of right and the moral quality of a course of action depends on them. As individuals, we are moved mainly to action and not by moral judgments alone. People in society today use a set of principles that have been written, modified, abused and constantly changes throughout the years. In contrary, we must acknowledge both secular and religious followings, which have codes of ethics that they themselves supposed to follow.
[1] Ethics is defined as “the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
The ethical theory of utilitarianism is associated with the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarianism essentially is the theory that good is what causes a person pleasure and evil is what causes a person pain. Bentham’s utilitarianism is sometimes titled Act Utilitarianism because it focuses on individual actions A “right” action, according to Betham, is one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Where a “wrong” action is one that would cause more pain than pleasure. Before a person commits an action, they should look at the consequences that it can have on the individual and others. Hedonic Calculus is a method in determining how much pleasure or pain an action will elicit. Hedonic Calculus consists of seven criteria including intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent. Each criteria can be given a score between -10 (worst pain) to +10 (highest pleasure). The action becomes ethical and moral if there is an overall net happiness for everyone that is affected. An acti...
Ethics are the set beliefs and values of an individual which they apply to circumstances relating to morality. To act in an ‘ethical’ manner, an individual must display integrity by doing what they believe to be right.
Ethics is concerned with the fundamental principles of 'right' and Wrong'. Sometimes the term 'morals' is used in everyday use to mean ethics, as both of these terms originally meant the same thing”. ( lan E ,et al., 2006). Other defined of ethical as” values,
Ethics are values based on each individual’s environment. They are instilled in your being by parents, grandparents, friends and culture. Ethics are a vital part of society by showing others that we are different and not only by physical appearance. Below are my ratings of each ethical style.
When faced with the issue of alleviating poverty or saving nature, many would agree with the following statement: as a society we ought to use available resources and funds to help the poor. In his article “Feeding people versus Saving Nature” Rolston opposes this position and asserts his view that there are times when we ought to choose to save nature instead of feeding the poor. I will argue in favor of Rolston’s argument and against those such as Singer, who strongly opposes the notion that preserving nature and allowing people to unnecessarily die is morally wrong. In reality there are many ways in which we can address the issue of global poverty without resorting to destroying natural ecosystems that we are dependent on.
Ethical belief is based on morals. So how a person determines their ethics is dependent upon what they were taught as children. As a child I was taught many moral principles that I still value and follow today. It is important however to note that not everyone moral beliefs are the same. As a child I was taught to give respect, to always be honest, and to be accountable for my actions. These are morals that my mom instilled in me and that I still honor to this day. These are also some of the same ethics I impart in my kids today. I feel if we as parents teach our kids the importance of having good morals then it will have a great impact on their success as an adult.
Ethics are moral principles or values that govern the conduct of an individual or a group.It is not a burden to bear, but a prudent and effective guide which furthers life and success. Ethics are important not only in business but in academics and society as well because it is an essential part of the foundation on which a civilized society is built.
Ethics is a system of moral principles and a branch of philosophy which defines what is acceptable for both individuals and society. It is a philosophy that covers a whole range of things that have an importance in everyday situations. Ethics are vital in everyones lives, it includes human values, and how to have a good life, our rights and responsibilities, moral decisions what is right and wrong, good and bad. Moral principles affect how people make decisions and lead their lives (BBC, 2013). There are many different beliefs about were ethics come from. These consist of; God and Religion, human conscience, the example of good human beings and a huge desire for the best for people in each unique situation, and political power (BBC, 2013).