Ethics and Professional Skills Module (EPSM)

Unit 1- Ethics and Professionalism

Justice vs. care activity

Some researchers have questioned whether some people approach ethics with a justice-
focused approach whereas others employ a care-focused approach . There is considerable
debate over such an idea and there are no right or wrong answers. See what you think by
taking this quiz.

Question 1

Which is worse?

A. Telling a lie and protecting their feelings.

B. Hurting someone’s feelings by telling the truth.

Question 2

Which is the worst mistake?

A. To make exceptions to freely

B. To apply rules too rigidly.

Question 3

Which is it worse to be?

A. Unfair
B. Unmerciful

Question 4

Which is worse?

A. Stealing something valuable from someone for no good reason.

B. Breaking a promise to a friend for no good reason.
Question 5

Which is it better to be?

A. Just and fair

B. Sympathetic and feeling

Question 6

Which is worse?

A. Being unfair to someone by playing favourites

B. Not helping someone in trouble

Question 7

In making a decision you rely more on:

A. Hard facts
B. Personal feelings and intuition

Question 8

Your boss orders you to do something that will hurt someone. If you carry out the order, have
you done anything wrong?

A. No
B. Yes

Question 9

Which is more important in determining whether an action is right or wrong?

A. Whether a rule, law, commandant, or moral principle is broken

B. Whether anyone actually gets hurt
Your results
Instructions: Add up the number of ‘A’ and ‘B’ answers you have selected to identify
whether you lean towards a justice and rules-based approach or whether you lean towards a
care-based approach.

A - Justice B - Care

The justice and rules-based approach says The care-based approach says that care,
that the rules should be applied equally to rather than justice, is most important and
everyone, and that justice and fairness are that we should act responsibly toward
most important. people in need.

Those who favour this approach adopt a
more individualistic ethical standpoint,
basing their decisions on the relevant rules,
policies and authorities which apply to a
given situation.
Those who favour this approach primarily
define themselves by their responsibility to
other people. They are more likely to
consider the impact of decisions on
individuals and consider consensus-
building to be an important factor in
decision making.

More information

Your scores may indicate that you have a strong preference for one of the approaches, or it
may be that your scores are similar for both. As mentioned at the start of this exercise, there
are no right or wrong answers, and neither approach should be considered as better than the
other. It is unlikely that many people would choose all justice or all care options, with most
people choosing a combination of the two, and there are benefits of both approaches.

Although, the two approaches may seem contradictory, in reality this is usually not the case,
and most people will rely on both approaches in different situations. It is important to
understand how you approach an ethical question, and to recognise that other people may
approach it a different way.

The more you can appreciate different ethical standpoints, the better you will be able to
resolve ethical quandaries you encounter and appreciate the views of others whose ethical
style preferences may be different to yours.