Introduction To Ethic

Introduction to Ethics

Ethics are many things, but they are also not many things. It is easier to first say what ethics are not: a religion; a political stance; or a fad. Ethics are also not something that can only be understood by extremely intelligent people.

Ethics are personal and, at the same time, a very public display of your attitudes and beliefs. It is because of ethical beliefs that we humans may act differently in different in situations. Ethics can and do shift, whether we are with family, at work, at a sports event, at a religious gathering, in a professional organization, with friends, or alone. The list is endless.

The key to understanding our ethics is to understand our own belief systems. What do you believe and why? What people, readings, or events have led you to believe what is right and wrong? As you progress through your undergraduate major course of study, you will be expected to understand and apply appropriate ethics in any given scenario. Ethical standards do differ, which is why we so often hear the phrase 'situational ethics' to describe how people justify their own shifts in ethical stances. Why ethical standards differ depends on a number of factors, including personal background, field of study (e.g., a scientist may have different ethics from an English professor), and the attitudes of other, respected people. A person's ethics may also shift because he or she may or may not want to take responsibility for an issue or action. Usually, whether they realize it or not, an individual's personal and professional ethics are built on a foundation of basic ethical theory.

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle used ethics first as a standard of behavior (e.g., a code of ethics) and, secondly, as an area of study exploring the nature of morality:

* What is good?

* What is not good?

* Why do we think of it as good?

* Why do we think of it as not good?

This is the philosophical or theoretical use of the word ethics. It is this use of ethics that forms a major area of concern in many areas of society today. It is important that we root our ethics in an ethical theory so that we are as consistent as possible in our decision making.

We also need to realize that our personal and professional ethics may clash with the ethics of others, depending on their view of the world and their own background or understanding of a situation. There are always ethical reasons to help us explain what we do and why. These ethical reasons can and often do help us in our decision-making process and in our actions. At the same time, we should recognize and honor the ethical decision-making processes of others that may be different from our own system.

There are a couple of items about ethics that may seem a little confusing. First, some people believe that ethics are legal and binding; however, ethics are not the same as laws. Things that are legal may not be ethical, and things that are ethical may not be legal. Examples: Capital punishment may be legal, but many people debate the ethics of deliberately putting a person to death; it may be illegal to assist a felon, but many people could not stand by and not provide assistance if the person was critically injured and dying.

Second, you should also know that in ethics there are no absolutes of right and wrong, no black and white answers. Ethical values have a tremendous range, which many people describe as varying shades of gray. That is why it is so important for you to discover your ethical stances. What do you believe and why? Can you justify your answers to yourself? Many people use a Code of Ethics to help with difficult issues, but a code can generally only be used as a guidepost, not as an absolute answer to a specific issue.

Ethics is a large field of study, and it is not the intention of this class to cover the vast and often abstract philosophical area in depth at this time. The intent of this section is to provide you with a foundational understanding of the major ethical positions that underlie the decision-making process. In the field of ethics, there are four major classifications of ethics: Deontological, Teleological, Rights-Based and Human-Nature.

Most people do not fall into one of these categories and stay in it forever throughout their lives. We actually ebb and flow between many of these theories as we live our personal and professional lives. The real key to understanding ethics is to understand: what we believe, why we believe it, and how we act out those beliefs in all our lives.

1. Deontological

a. The word comes from the ancient Greek word Deon, which means "duty." Many ethicists call this type of ethical approach "duty-based" because people who practice this type of ethics approach often feel they have a moral obligation or commitment to act in a certain manner.

b. One of the most famous theories under