Influences On Ethics

Influences on Ethics: Experience, Media and the History of Ideas

Micah Gaither

University of Phoenix

GEN/480

January 16, 2006

Influences on Ethics: Experience, Media and the History of Ideas:

It can be difficult to come up with a method of evaluating decisions and forming unbiased opinions. To understand how ethics are influenced it is important to understand (1) how ethics are formed, (2) which forces are shaping them, and (3) what is a popular method of transmission. Chapters eight and nine of Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of your Professional and Personal Life by Paul and Elder, covers the (1) history of ideas, (2) media, and (3) experience. These topics are applied to their influence on ethics and decision making. This case study will define the three aspects written of by Paul and Elder. Finally, specific examples will be provided to demonstrate the topics covered by Paul and Elder.

Experience

Fixing problems in the process of making life decisions comes from careful review. Experience in decision making is split into three parts by Paul and Elder (Paul and Elder xxxx): (1) early decisions, (2) adolescent decisions, and (3) early adult decisions.

Paul and Elder describe the early decisions occurring from the age of two to eleven. Children should be modified from negative actions so they are not cemented in the later years. An urge for children to be accepted by peers can create situations that involve poor judgment. This does not mean removing all decision making from a child. Children can not be expected to learn responsibility if they are not making decisions. The decisions a child makes shape the personality and character of the adult to follow.

The adolescent decisions are important according to Paul and Elder (Paul and Elder xxxx) because as an adolescent there is a move for more independence than there was in the early years. Young adults sometimes want the independence of decision making without the responsibility that is also included. Adolescents want the freedom of an adult with the available escape from negative consequences that a child has in the early years. Like a child in the early years, a long view of decisions is passed for the short term result. Dangerously this is when new influences like sexuality complicate the process and the media has an increased influence.

Early adult is the last phase in the forming of decision making skills. Paul and Elder (Paul and Elder xxxx) describe the early adult years as a time of even more independence even though some are still unwilling to take responsibility for actions.

Media

Paul and Elder (Paul and Elder xxxx) state that social forces act through the media and influence how the public interprets things. Everything imaginable is influenced and because of this there are billions of dollars spent to partake in the process. A critical thinker does not accept the influence of the mass media at face value. Alternate views are one way of seeking out independent opinions. It is not enough to know of the influence and not think in broad terms. Confirmation of the propaganda is what is needed to correct media sway. Education throughout life is a path to success, but general acceptance of the mass media predisposes the public. Paul and Elder (Paul and Elder xxxx) list The Nation and Counterpoint as two sources outside the mainstream media that are worthy of counteracting influence.

From February to July in 1996 the media was full of stories about arsonists targeting black churches in the Southern United States. Headlines read of racist whites and a return to the times of the American South circa 1960. The facts regarding the incidents did not point to a white conspiracy. The patterns of the church burnings did not warrant the conclusion