Personal Ethical System

Human beings are confronted with numerous issues throughout his or her lifetime that would require him or her to examine the best action to take to avoid the damaging consequences. In most cases, individuals restrain his or her action to take into consideration the consequences that may lead to the right or wrong behavior. One’s ethical and moral standards are first learned at an early age from his or her culture, how he or she is raised, religious background, and social system. Scientifically, there are various ethical theories, such as the virtue theory, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism (Boylan, 2009). By understanding these theories one can compare, contrast and uncover the reasoning behind his or her ethical and moral standards.

Morals and Ethics When speaking about morals and ethics, every single individual will have their own opinion. Some will agree with your own, and some may not. Yet, when being a social worker it is not what your ethics and morals stand for, but it is our code. Code speaking for the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) code that we follow and stand by helping any client with any kind of circumstance.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2003). The Miniature guide to understanding the foundations of ethical reasoning. Dillon Beach, CA.: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Dr. Richard Paul & Dr. Linda Elder. (2003). The Miniature Guide to Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning. The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Sageman, Marc. "The Journal of International Security Affairs The Normality of Global Jihadi Terrorism 2005th ser. Spring.9 (2005). .

Kash, Douglas A. “An International Legislative Approach to 21st-Century Terrorism.” The Future of Terrorism: Violence in the New Millennium. Ed. Harvey W. Kushner. London: Sage Publications, 1998.

Kurtulus, E. N. (2011). The “New Terrorism” and its Critics. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 476–500.

The word “Ethics” has its root in the Greek word ‘ethos’, which means character, spirit and attitude of a group of people or culture. Ethics is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary as: a system of moral principles, by which human actions may be judged good or bad or right or wrong, and the rules of conduct recognized in respect of a particular class of human actions.

Like utilitarianism, my ethics code focuses a lot on the consequences of an ethical decision. From the BBC website section on consequentialism, act utilitarianism is “ a particular action is morally good only if it produces more overall good than any alternative action.” Therefore, act utilitarianism is very similar to my first ethics principle, “is the decision better for the majority?” However, they are also different because act utilitarianism doesn’t mention the long-term effects. Furthermore, my ethics code is both similar and different from rule utilitarianism, which determines a universal moral rule, then the good and harm of following that rule, and then chooses the one with the best long-term result. They are different because mine doesn’t identify a universal moral rule. Though they are similar because in the end, the decision is made based on the long-term result. Overall, while there are differences, my personal ethics code has many similarities with

However, in more modern times, new reasons for waging wars have emerged. One of this is terrorism. Terrorism has taken the center stage in the international arena popularly known as “the war on terror” .Nations have been drawn into the conflicts from every part of the globe (The Future of International Justice 1).