9/1/2022

Chapter 1

Understanding
Ethics

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What is Ethics?
• Manner by which we try to live our lives
according to a standard of right or wrong
behaviors
• In both how we think and behave toward others
and how we would like them to think and
behave toward us

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What is Ethics?
• Factors that influence the morality of ethics
• How one was raised
• One’s religion
• Traditions and beliefs in one’s society
• Society: Structured community of people
bound together by similar traditions and
customs

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Understanding Right and Wrong

• Moral standards - Principles by which
judgments are made about good and bad
behavior that are based on:
• Religion
• Culture: Particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and
practices that characterize a group of individuals
• Philosophical beliefs

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Understanding Right and Wrong

• Sources of beliefs
• Family and friends
• Ethnic background
• Religion
• School
• Media
• Personal role models and mentors
• Morality - Collection of influences built over a
person’s lifetime

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How Should I Live?

• Morals and values - Set of personal principles
by which you aim to live your life
• Value system: Set of personal principles
formalized into a code of behavior

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The Value of a Value

• Intrinsic values: Quality by which a value is a
good thing in itself and is pursued for its own
sake, whether anything comes from that pursuit
or not
• Instrumental values: Quality by which the
pursuit of one value is a good way to reach
another value

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Value Conflicts
• Impact of a person’s or a group’s value system
can be seen in the extent to which their daily
lives are influenced by those values
• Conflicts occur when one is presented with a
situation that places those values in direct
conflict with an action
• Personal value system - Specific choices and
responses to a situation by an individual

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Doing the Right Thing

• Categories under which individuals classify
ethics
• Simple truth
• Question of someone’s personal character
• Rules of appropriate individual behavior
• Rules of appropriate behavior for a community
or society

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The Golden Rule

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

• Problem with the rule is the assumption that others would

follow the same principles as you do

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Ethical Theories
• Virtue ethics: Concept of living your life
according to a commitment to the achievement
of a clear ideal
• Criticism - Societies can place different
emphasis on different virtues
• Utilitarianism: Ethical choices that offer the
greatest good for the greatest number of
people
• Criticism - Idea that the ends justify the means
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Ethical Theories
• Universal ethics: Actions that are taken out of
duty and obligation to a purely moral ideal
rather than based on the needs of the situation
• Universal principles are seen to apply to
everyone, everywhere, all the time
• Criticism - Reverse of the weakness in ethics for
the greater good

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Ethical Relativism
• Concept that the traditions of your society, your
personal opinions, and the circumstances of the
present moment define your ethical principles
• Implies some degree of flexibility as opposed to
strict
• Offers the comfort of being a part of the ethical
majority in the community or society

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Ethical Dilemmas
• Situation in which there is no obvious right or
wrong decision rather a right or right answer
• Dilemmas occur when the decision you must
make requires you to make a right choice
knowing full well that you are:
• Leaving an equally right choice undone

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Ethical Dilemmas
• Likely to suffer something bad as a result of that
choice
• Contradicting a personal ethical principle in
making that choice
• Abandoning an ethical value of your community
or society in making that choice

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• Sleep-test ethics
• Ethics of intuition
• Should rely on our personal insights, feelings,
and instincts when we face a difficult problem
• Process for solving an ethical problem
• Analyze the consequences
• Analyze the actions
• Make a decision

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• Arthur Dobrin’s questions

• What are the facts?
• What can you guess about the facts you don’t
know?
• What do the facts mean?
• What does the problem look like through the
eyes of the people involved?

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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

• What will happen if you choose one thing rather
than another?
• What do your feelings tell you?
• What will you think of yourself if you decide one
thing or another?
• Can you explain and justify your decision to
others?

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Ethical Reasoning
• Looking at the information available in resolving
an ethical dilemma drawing conclusions based
on that information in relation to our own
ethical standards

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Figure 1.1 - Lawrence Kohlberg’s

Stages of Ethical Reasoning

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