Ethics And Identity: A Reflection On Ethical Identity

Reflection on Ethical Identity

To the extent that they are different, morality is about pursuing goodness and ethics are concerned with acting in accordance with a particular set of standards. They often overlap, and my ethical standards align with a commitment to a consequentialism close to what Freeman, Engels, and Altekruse (2004) describe as “act utilitarianism” (p. 167). This means that my code of ethics is less a list-based, attainable, and largely restrictive (Prilleltensky, Rossiter, and Walsh-Bowers, 1996) understanding of morals and ethics. I need more than a gut feeling or a rule that somebody else put out there in order to make a decision; I need to start from a solid understanding of what “goodness” as a concept is about and work

People care about morality for a variety of reasons; everyone who cares has a reason. Whether they 're motivated internally (e.g. concerns about eternal reward/punishment, personal development) or externally (e.g. making the world a better place), those of us who care about being good have something that we are working towards, even if it is practically unattainable. Even Kant (1785/1994) had his “kingdom of ends” (p. 39). And, for all the disagreements about whether specific things are good or bad, everyone seems to share an understanding about the general contours of goodness. There is something compelling about goodness, and we have a sense of goodness when things work for us. The inverse is true as well; we generally associate badness with things that don 't work for us and are repelled by it, unless we rationalize our discomfort away or exist with cognitive dissonance. Consequentialism takes these ideas and expands them, reminding us that we are social animals and not in this alone. Mixed with an understanding that the divergences in what satisfy people are real and legitimate, and you 're left with a broad commitment to be kind, and help people on their terms to the best of your ability. At the same time, however, it recognizes that the moral actor is embedded in that choice and that their systems of meaning factor into the ethical decision-making process, and encourages a certain level of self-awareness and

Apathy may arise out of awareness of the overwhelming suffering that people seem to be faced with across the globe. If the goal is to tip the goodness/badness scales in favour of goodness, it can feel like a pointless effort, because one person can only do so much. That can be coupled with an understanding that people like us are inextricably implicated in and have benefited from the very machinery of misery that we find so daunting. This is something I still struggle with. I tell myself that I should just focus on my little corner of the world. Humility of that sort is an important feature of my consequentialism; I have to recognize that moral imperfection is an inevitable part of the human condition. As long as I am not turning away or making excuses for my choices, I can strive harder to do