Ethics Today
LeAnne Roberson
Antelope Valley College
Ethics Today
When asked about ethics, some people may say, they are personal feelings that tell me what is right from wrong. One might also say, my ethics are in line with my moral values. The statements seem to contradict each other. This leaves us wondering, what are morals, and what are ethics. Which statement is correct? Are either of the statement correct? Are your ethics in line with moral values, or does it have to do with your feelings of right and wrong? There seems to be a bit of confusion about the two, so we must now look into what exactly, morals and ethics are.
Morals are defined by Merriam-Webster as; relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior. When we
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One issue lies in the fact that not everyone is in agreement on what is right and wrong, and can be as different, as people are individual. I do not want to minimize the fact that not all ethics are in the best interest for society. In some cases, the ethics may align with a person or groups moral values or beliefs, which may be harmful to others.
There is general confusion when everyday people are asked about ethics and morals. This is mostly because the terms are often used interchangeably, but they are in fact different. As we see from above ethics refer to rules provided externally, and morals refer to an individual’s principles of wrong and right.
Here are two scenarios where strong ethic and moral values are involved. The first is an example where ethical and moral values are used in the decision making process. The second ethical and moral values are not used in the decision making process.
There was a time when my mother was out of town and we needed to do grocery shopping. My father didn’t like to grocery shop, so he drove my older sister and I to the store, gave us the cash and we went in to pick up the items, while he sat in the car and read the newspaper. At the time my sister was about 20 or so, she was a college student home for the summer. At this point in her education my parents were no longer paying her tuition. She had a couple of odd jobs in the town she went to
We’ve had a lot of discussion about ethics, values and morals this week and have drawn some lines between the meaning of each that applies to our personal and professional lives. Our values help guide us in our understanding of right and wrong, basically what we believe to be acceptable action in any situation we’re presented with. Morals are types of values that deal more with good and bad, the foundation for our behavior and decisions (The Definition of Morality, 2014). Ethics use shared morals and values in a system of accepted rules that a specific group of people agree to abide by. For example, most physicians agree to abide by the Code of Medical Ethics established by the American Medical Association since it is considered to be the most comprehensive code available (AMA's Code of Ethics, 2015).
First, it is important to define ethics and how its components play an extensive role in our society. The term ethics is defined as “Moral principles that govern a person 's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” (Oxford); ethical decisions are the ones that per se determine whether or not murder is wrong. Likewise, ethics consists of different ramifications and perspectives from many philosophers. Moreover,
Ethics are statements written that mirrors the principles of society it reflects society’s views of what is right or humanitarian. However, morals are not written and are codes setting out what is thought to be good enough or offensive behaviour.
In Normative Ethics there are three distinct schools of thought, and each differentiate through moral intentions. Consequentialism relies on the consequences of an action in order to distinguish whether or not something is morally acceptable. Deontology considers the morality of an action by one’s reason for doing a certain deed. Lastly, virtue ethics bases morality off of virtuous character, and how a virtuous person would act given a certain predicament. Ultimately, consequentialism provides the most practical explanation for morality due to the notion of providing the best possible result. Contrarily, deontology and virtue ethics do not always provide an individual with the most sensible course of action, and therefore prove to be
Ethics are defined as “a set of moral principles and perceptions about right versus wrong and the resulting philosophy of conduct that is practiced by an individual, group, profession, or culture” (Barker, 2001, p. 159). In the field
According to Merriam-Webster, ethics is defined as an area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad behavior. Some would argue that definition is rather vague. A more complete understanding of ethics would suggest that it is more than just an area of study but rather a way of life; moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. If one is ethical and has good moral standards, it is usually seen in that person. Simply put, ethics could be considered the standards of behavior as to which society accepts.
Since my journey here at Bryant began in September, I have changed so much. Coming here, I expected certain things such as my study habits, daily routine and friend group to be altered. One change I was not anticipating making was my approach to ethics. Over the course of the past fifteen weeks, my knowledge of ethics as well as my approach to ethics has changed. I have become more knowledgeable about the different approaches to ethics and have gained insight as to where I stand in my approach to ethics.
A few problems arise when one tries to make an ethical decision, especially as a leader. First, ethics may mean different things to different people. For example, my religious and spiritual beliefs are the foundation for what I deem ethical. However, for someone else, ethics might be based on laws or their own personal understanding of what is
Ethics refer to the values that guide a person, organization or society - - the difference between right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, honesty and dishonesty.
“Great individuals have great ethics and great values.” Ethics and morality can be used interchangeably as they sound as if they mean the same although there is a wide distinction between them. “Strictly speaking, morality is used to refer to what we would call moral standards and moral conduct while ethics is used to refer to the formal study of those standards and conduct. For this reason, the study of ethics is also often called moral philosophy." (Gordana D 2007)
Making consistently ethical decisions is difficult. Most decisions have to be made in the context of economic, professional and social pressures, which can sometimes challenge our ethical goals and conceal or confuse the moral issues. In addition, making ethical choices is complex because in many situations there are a multitude of competing interests and values. Other times, crucial facts are unknown or ambiguous. Since many actions are likely to benefit some people at the expense of others, the decision maker must prioritize competing moral claims and must be proficient at predicting the likely consequences of various choices. An ethical person often chooses to do more than the law requires and less than the law allows.
Morals are the intrinsic beliefs developed from the value systems of how we 'should' behave in any given situation. Ethics, on the other hand, are how we behave in the face of difficult situations (Bottorff, 2005).
In today’s continuous changing world, the one thing that remains constant for most of us is our personal value system of beliefs, known as ethics. Ethics can also be referred to as morals. Therefore, ethics are those morals that reflect and indicate issues that concern behaviors that are right or wrong and the good and bad habits of individual character. This important standard of beliefs can in most cases create the difference in attitudes from others both
To answer this question, we must first understand what both ethics and morality are. As ethics is defined as the philosophical study of morality, those who study religion get their moral precepts from what they believe God says should be done. This perspective is not at all unexpected, because all religions apply a perspective on morality. Morality is defined as beliefs concerning right and wrong, good and bad- beliefs that can include judgements, values, rules, principles, and theories. Morals are what help us guide our actions, define our values, and give us reason for being the person that we are.
Ethics is defined as moral principles of conduct, which people usually agree with. Unlike in law there is no punishment involved in ethical values, if you don't follow according with the standards. There are many things that influence ethical behaviour. These can be personal reflection, religious beliefs, culture, experiences and family influences. If broadly speaking, ethics is the science or study of the morality of how humans act through the medium of natural reason.