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Introduction to Ethics for University of Phoenix Students

Ethics are the underlying basic principles upon which choices are made throughout life. These are bedrock reference points for right or wrong. Ethical principles are developed early in life, generally by the time a child is 4 or 5 years old. After that point, the person learns how to apply these principles with increasing ability and success. Ethics are both a personal and public display of your principles and beliefs. It is because of ethical beliefs that humans may act differently in different situations. These actions based on ethical principles are called morals.

Ethics can support clearly defined right and wrong, as in duty-driven or deontological ethics. In this case, what is right and wrong is determined by an external authority, in most cases a deity or the law (right-based ethics).

In systems such as relativism, ethics may shift, depending on if you are with family, at work, at a sporting event, at a religious gathering, in a professional organization, with friends, or alone. The list is endless. In relativistic ethics, underlying principles, unlike those in duty-driven ethics, are variable and determined by an internal source: the individual. In relativistic ethics, each person makes up their own right and wrong based on personal feelings. Experience, the situation, culture, or any other factor the individual thinks is important may assist in determining right and wrong. One can never tell exactly how a relativist will act in a particular situation. His or her moral actions depend on the feelings of the moment. One must ask what ethical variability does to management in a business. Does it add more or less stability to the organization?

The key to understanding your ethics is to understand your own ethical belief systems. What do you believe is right and wrong, and why do you believe that way? What early childhood influences formed your ethical system? Have people, readings, or events led you to change your moral actions and your expression of what you believe 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 you so often see the phrase situational or relative 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—a scientist, for instance, 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, an individual’s personal and professional ethics are built upon a foundation of basic ethical theory acquired as a child.

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle used ethics first as a standard of behavior—a code of ethics—and second as an area of study exploring the nature of morality. Aristotle considered good to be the constant goal of humankind. A problem develops in trying to decide the following:

• 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 people root their ethics in an ethical theory so they are as consistent as possible in their decision making. Relativistic ethical systems used by the majority of Americans make consistency difficult, because what is right depends on the feelings of the moment.

You also must realize that your 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 explain what people do and why they do it. These ethical reasons may—and often do—help in the decision-making process and in one’s actions. At the same time, you must recognize and honor the ethical decision-making processes of others that may be different from your own system.

This does not mean, however, that you must abandon your own system of ethics in support of someone else’s freedom of choice. If another person performs an action that is clearly in violation of your own ethical code or of one clearly established by an organization, it is your duty and responsibility to hold to your own ethical system. Sometimes this may be costly both professionally and personally, but it is the only way to achieve peace about yourself and your moral actions.

There are a few items about ethics that may seem confusing. Some people believe that ethics are legal and binding; ethics, however, are not the same as laws. Things that are legal may not be ethical, and things that are ethical may not be legal. Consider the following 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.

You should also know that in some ethical systems, there are absolutes of right and wrong. In other systems, there are no absolutes. Ethical principles have a tremendous range. He or she is a wise and courageous person who learns to navigate the different systems while holding the true course of his or her own system.

That is why it is so important for you to discover your ethical stances. What do you believe, and why do you believe it? Can you justify your answers to yourself, your family, your employer, and your community? Many people use a code of ethics to help with difficult issues. Have you ever tried writing your own code of ethics to guide your moral actions?

Ethics is a large field of study, and it is not the intention of this course to cover the vast and often abstract philosophical area in depth. 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 several major classifications of ethics: deontological or duty-based, teleological or ends-driven, rights-based, human nature, relativism, and entitlement.

Most people have a predominant ethical system but at times may use an alternate system for a specific situation. There is some ebb and flow between many of these systems as people live their personal and professional lives. A duty-driven person, however, will never become relativistic, or vice versa. The real key to understanding ethics is to understand what you believe, why you believe it, and how you act out those beliefs in your life.

1. Deontological

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

b. One of the most famous theories under this category is the categorical imperative by Immanuel Kant, or the idea that if you believe in something, you will always behave in that manner no matter what. Thus, if you believe it is wrong to tell a lie, you will not lie even if it is to save someone’s life.

c. The following are also included in duty-based ethics:

1) Pluralism is the idea that reality is composed of many ultimate substances, so many things, rather than one thing, are correct.

2) Moral rights are set standards of right and wrong.

1. Teleological or consequentialism

a. The word telos also comes from Greek, this time meaning end or purpose. Many ethicists call this type of ethical approach goal-based, because the people who practice this type of ethics approach believe there is an intricate design to the universe, and their goal is to achieve the most perfect society possible.

b. Included in goal-based ethical theories are the following:

1) Utilitarianism, which seeks the greatest good for the greatest number of people

2) Consequentialism, which states that a person’s actions are right if the results are more favorable than unfavorable

2. Rights-based

a. Rights-based ethics stem from the idea that norms in society receive their force from the idea of mutual agreement. In other words, certain things are acceptable in a community because the majority of people in the community agree the behavior is acceptable.

b. Many people who are advocates of human rights follow rights-based ethical theories, such as the following:

1) Justice, or moral rights and honor for people

2) Equality, or the idea that all people should enjoy equal rights

3. Human nature

a. People who believe in human nature ethics are those who see the passions and flaws of humans as a real issue. Human nature ethics tend to deal with the extremes of human behavior, both good and bad, and practitioners find little room for middle ground.

b. Many of the people who follow human rights ethical theories include the following:

1) Egoists, who think and act only for themselves

2) Hedonists, who believe that pleasure is the chief goal of life

3) Virtue, system in which people believe in moral excellence, rightness, and responsibility

4. Relativistic

a. People who base their ethical systems entirely on their feelings in a particular situation are considered relativistic. This is a personalized system with no absolute rights and wrongs. A person may include his or her experience, social status, economic status, cultural background, nationality, ethnicity, or any other factor one desires to use to formulate a moral action. Moral actions are subjective rather than objective.

b. A person can be more just to one person because of a particular set of circumstances and less just to another based on arbitrary personal circumstances.

c. This system has profound effects on future generations of political, legal, and courtroom applications of current law.

d. Relativistic ethics may be applied in the cultural sense or according to social convention.

e. Relativists do consider relationships and the needs of others in determining their moral action.

f. Relativism dates from the Eastern religious tradition of Jainism (599–527 BCE). Moral relativist proponents include Jean-Paul Sartre and Benedict Spinoza.

1. Entitlement-based

g. People base their ethical systems entirely on their feelings in a particular situation. This is a personalized system with no absolute rights and wrongs. Moral decisions are based entirely on what is in the best interest of the individual, regardless of relationships or the needs of other people or businesses.

h. This includes the transfer or redistribution of what others have, whether money, possessions, or social position to the individual, because the individual thinks it is his or her right to have what the other person has. A person believes, for example, that he or she is entitled to receive an A on a team paper, even if he or she did not contribute to the document, or that a person is entitled to steal a TV during a riot because he or she does not own one.

5. Virtue

a. Virtue is determined by community standards or religious training. It is the highest standard available.

b. The integrity, character, intentions, and motivation of the person are more important than the act itself.

c. Other forms of virtue ethics include the disclosure rule, human nature ethics, and community standards.

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