Running head: PHILOSOPHY OF ETHICS 1

Philosophy of Ethics

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Introduction

Ethics are a fundamental aspect of every society, they involve what is good for society

and people living in a society, it covers areas on how to lead a good life , our rights and

responsibilities, the language of right or wrong as well as moral decisions on what is good or

bad. Our ideas of ethics are derived from disciplines such as religion, philosophies and cultures

out of which we can discuss debates such as abortion human rights and professional conduct.

General View of Ethics Philosophy

Utilitarianism is a model in normative ethics that implies that decisions should be made

in a direction that has more satisfaction than deciding otherwise, for example, when the

government decides to demolish a mall constructed on earth meant for a road, yes the action will

harm some people but looking at the bigger picture, the road will benefit more people. Life is all

about making decisions, people decide whether to wake or not, go to work or not or get married

or not, the common thing about theses decisions is that they are influenced by several underlying

factors, for example being fired from a job, dying without a kid or being late to prepare breakfast

for the family (Moles, 2007, p166).

What Influences Ethics

These decisions are determined by a series of ethical paradigms of care, profession,

justice and critique, justice is concerned with rights, laws and policies and mostly believe in the

legal system. Equality, individual liberty and fairness are the main concepts in this paradigm, it

asks questions such as is there law, or policies that would help resolve a certain ethical dilemma,

why is this law right and how should the right policy be executed.the ethic of critique aims at

easing the tension between the ethic of justice and the concept of democracy,it involves a re

think on important issues such as democracy but also asks us to to redefine concepts such as
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privilege, power, culture, language and more importantly social justice(Moles, 2007,p167).

Dealing with the complex queries of class race and gender and other areas of variations like who

make the laws , who is most likely to benefit, who has the power and which voices are

silenced.ethics of care mainly seek to counter the patriarchal ethic of justice in our society by

turning to ethic of care for moral decision making, this paradigm of ethics require people to ask

themselves questions such as who stands to benefit from what I decide, who may be harmed by

my decisions and what are the consequences of my decisions in the long run and what I should

do to reciprocate good things done for me in the future either by individuals or societies.

Ethics Important or Not

The question of whether acting in an ethical manner is important is discussed under ethics

and limitations of philosophy, it emphasizes on the importance of considering the consequences

of an action before doing it.These considerations on ethics are mainly related to how we live in

our society, with our people which may include for instance considerations of justice and mutual

respect which sometimes are in conflict with some shallow self-interest(Moles, 2007,p169).

According to Aristotle, to act according to ethical considerations has to do with what is

really most important to that person’s self- interest, there are various reasons why people may be

of the opinion that ethical considerations and considerations of self interest in the end collides

any of which they can use to show rationality in working with the former, one can claim for

instance that acting against ethical considerations may bring about a divine retribution,Aristotle

argues that acting in accordance with ethical considerations or acting virtuously is intrinsically

rational as it gives ultimum coherence in everything that a person is exposed to or want or

feeling an urge to do and that in one’s self-interest because human beings well being most

fundamentally is made of rationality which differentiates humans from other creatures.

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Basing my argument on Aristotles text, I believe it is important to act ethically at all

times because it has been proven that human beings are selfish in nature and whatever they do is

meant to benefit them. If people do something good, it is not necessarily meant to benefit the

society but rather themselves, for example when a person helps the poor, there is something he/

she expects back, either recognition from the society or blessings from God, therefore people’s

action should not be limited to only ethical considerations but rather giving them the feedom to

choose their actions after doing a cost-benefit analysis.This removes the question of doing good

because you are being watched rather doing good will be a honest and internal process not

influenced by actual or implied presence.

Ethics in Business

It always prove difficult to adhere to ethics in business, normally managers actions are

determined by the company’s code of conduct or from higher ranks in the management, board of

directors or the chief executive officers entrepreneurial managers are in most cases opportunistic

and their working alone may lead to an overlook or total ignorance of ethical elements in a

business.Under stiff completion and the need for expendiency the entrepreneur may be faced

with a dilemma and to solve this, the manager must always rely on his judgement to do what is

right and because maximizing profit is their biggest priority, they may resolve to ignore ethics

some of which mean reduced profits, for example they may overwork their workers or underpay

them. Human beings have always violated ethics, especially when faced with situations that

favor them.It is a common phenomena having people do selective adherence to rules and

regulations so as to protect their interests, for example, students who would cheat in exams just

because the invigilator cannot see them (Moles, 2007,p170).

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Ethics a Trait or Learned

It has become a common phenomena to find accounting scandals in business

publications, this is only one undoing in the profession but also the most common, accounting

abuses provides a primae facie evidence that something more is needed in terms of accounting

ethics.for a problem is solved by looking into its source, I sought to establish if ethics are

genetic or they can be learned in the socialization process, morals is of relating to either good or

bad or wanting people to do for others like they would like done to them, morality becomes

complex as we progress in life and it is influenced by education, religion and careers that helps

us model our ethical selves, based on the innate perspective, intergrity forms one of the five

characteristics of a person, it has some guiding principles,being responsible of your actions being

honesty and someone who can be trusted, studies conducted by neurosurgeons show that

hormone oxytocin increase empathy which is believed to promote more moral behavior thus

confirming a biological marker to morality(Moles, 2007,p174).

The learning approach is based on certain behaviors being learned to produce a good

person, ethically, this theory is based on assumptions of the person being able to settle problems,

a good social judgement and knowledge skills. These skills can be passed on through the

environment we are in and therefore, according to this theory our moral judgement is gotten

through experiences we face in life, therefore our moral standings is innate but fully constructed

by our life experiences. No matter how we acquire our morals, they are desirable qualities which

are fundamental in the society, the elders influence the young and the leaders their followers all

in a positive manner.

Ethical Dilemma
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An ethical dilemma is a situation where one is faced with two choices to make, these two

choices are determined by the conflict between considering ethics or ignoring them, it is either

one compromises with the prevailing situation or better still do what is ethically right.This is

when the moral stature of a person is tested and he can conclude how good or bad they are after

responding to this situation.

Conclusion

Ethics plays a big role in bringing harmony on the society, it makes people do things at

the right place at the right time to the right people, it is the mirror that society looks at itself in.

There are challenges that face ethics consideration, which is faced with ignorance at some

situations.The good thing with ethic is that they can never be compromised without a person

feeling guilty, in some cases people are met with tempting situations, whereby they may be

forced to do what seem to favor them, even if it is not right, the actual or implied presence of

people has also helped people to tow the line, I can’t say ethics are inherited from parents or

learned through experiences and socialization, rather it is a combination of both possibilities.

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References

Moles, J. (2007). Philosophy and ethics. The Cambridge Companion to Horace, 165-80.