Ethical Theory
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Ethical Theory
Introduction
Although humanity has always strived to understand the meaning of right and wrong, it is not any closer to getting any definite answers. However, people need beliefs and values to live their lives. They require a system of moral principles to make decisions. In other words, people consciously or unconsciously apply ethics in their daily lives, whether they believe in it or not. Whether people consider ethics to originate from religions, philosophies and/or cultures, nevertheless it provides a moral map for resolving ethical dilemmas (BBC, 2014). Thus, it is important to identify and differentiate the various ethical theories and their implications
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Thus, metaethics is not about discovering the right action or doing good, it is about how humans determine if something is good or not and whether we are obligated to take the right action or not (Sullivan & Pecorino, 2002).
Implications of Ethical Thinking
An ethical person is aware of the basic principles governing moral conduct and acts in consistency with those principles. Thus, ethical thinking provides people with a moral framework to work through their ethical dilemmas (Pecorino, 2000). For example, given a patient who has been in an irreversible coma for a long time and has no immediate family, is it morally justifiable to end his suffering by taking him off life support? Ethical frameworks guide the doctors to make a decision in a seemingly impossible situation where a person’s life is balanced with his suffering and the hospital’s resources.
From a moral non-realistic perspective, the decision depends upon the culture and beliefs of the people involved. Thus, the doctors might support mercy killing, in order to allow the patient to die with dignity, rather than force him to live and let him experience the deterioration of his organs. Therefore, in this case euthanasia is permitted, according to moral non-realists because it is best for the
The basis of ethical philosophy is built upon the concept of metaethics. This form of philosophical thought exists in order to discover answers to vague questions such as: What are the origins of ethics and what does ethical behavior entail? By exploring such basic ethical questions, generating clearer ideas of the more specific ethical topics will prove easier.
One’s ethical belief system of what is right or wrong, is based on the lens in which one views life, or the worldview that one subscribes to. These beliefs can be adopted from a host of circumstances, consciously from a thoughtful introspective place, it can be shaped by one’s familial upbringing, a spiritual experience with God, or from an unreflective place derived unconsciously from one’s value system based on external resources. When shaping a conscious worldview in which our ethical belief system is a derivative, the framework of ontology, epistemology and axiology gives us the ability to ask who are we, what is truth, and how did we arrive at our values (Porter, 2013).
Moral theory provides multiple schools of thought, all attempting to solve moral problems in a manner in which the ethicist in question sees best. These conflicting schools of thought have led to multiple types of ethical theories that can be used to solve a variety of ethical issues, from those that are severe, to those, which are seamlessly day-to-day dilemmas. Chappell proposes a proposes a new way of ethical decision making in way that allows people to have a procedure rather than base their actions solely from the rightness of the action. Chappell criticizes those moral theories that focus too heavily on a master factor, which is essentially of no help when it comes to ethics. Chappell’s proposal to fix the manner in which ethics is conducted by replacing moral theory with an ethical outlook is beneficial for the average individual.
Mercy killing can be one of the most relevant and talked about subject when dealing with the ethics of patient treatment. I am sure I would not feel comfortable ending the life of someone as it in my views it is not morally correct. However, there are many people who believe preventing suffering for others justifies the act of euthanasia. Also, patients can refuse treatment and die of natural causes although these are cases where they cannot decide for themselves. There are many factors to take in to consideration when looking at this issue. When it comes to ethics in many situations I feel as if I’m torn between what’s right and what’s wrong.
Metaethics can be thought of as how we determine ethics, not the application of ethics itself. As Fisher (2011) explains, “it taking a birds-eye view of ethics” (p. 2). Metaethics is looks above the ethical system to see what is happening. Metaethics explains ethics itself. Metaethics analyzes moral language, asking what someone means by “wrong”; moral psychology, are people expressing beliefs or desires; and moral ontology (what exists), which could ask what moral properties are real? (Fisher, 2011). All of these questions help metaethicists study ethics in order to understand why people make the decisions they do. It is important to understand why people make moral judgements, because it can explain why conflicts may occur and gives insight how different people function. Understanding the ethics behind a person’s actions can help others identify motives.
Many ethicists see the rightness and wrongness differently. These different views on morality give birth to various theories of morality that we have largely explored this week in the reading assignment. Each theory leader and their disciple s attempt to explain the core concept known as morality. Each attempt to explain the concept of ethic is resulted in different views of what is wrong and what is bad. Some think that there are some universal principles that lead our actions, and our likeliness to practice goodness will depend on our obedience to these principles. Others say that the thought of some universal principles is out of the norm, but instead actions are good or bad regarding of the culture in which one is evolving. Some of very
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conclusions that I reached for each of the three scenarios listed in Appendix B. I will explain how I reached each conclusion and why I believe each conclusion to be ethical.
Euthanasia is not immoral and that is one of the biggest arguments used by people who are anti -euthanasia.For something to be unethical, it would need to damage moral laws or standards. The protection of life is, notwithstanding, subject to the self-decided decision of the individual and not the decision of the doctor or anyone else for that matter.
After analysis of the ethical philosophies of the aforementioned, I now have come to the point where I further explain my personal view. To me, choosing to torture the child is not an ameliorative measure if war, poverty, and illness were substituted with the torture of a child; it is nothing but the cliché selection between the lesser of two evils, which is reminiscent of the adage that choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. In this, my philosophy mirrors that of Kant, in that I find it highly immoral that the child would be used as a means to Omelas’ ends. If the aim was to create a world free of all societal evils, being one child away is still inexcusable, noting the moral chasm that would separate Omelas from a utopia
Ethical theories are needed for a society to function morally. Issues that are related to moral dilemmas that do not have some type of ethical theory are tough or may be even impossible for an individual or even a group to follow. Applying ethical theories in situations can manipulate moral issues. Having a standard way to follow rules and regulation does not guarantee perfect moral system, but it will help a lot rather than not having those standards. There are four main standards for ethical theories including; Consequence-based, duty-based, contract-based, and character-based. Consequence-based is a choice between one and another. The most moral choice has the most prize or reward that will come. Duty-based is a morally correct responsibility, and missions that involves duty requires to be followed. Contract-based is a task to be performed with no objections. It is limited, specified, timed and defined. Character-based is a judgment of an individual 's character rather than a group. Judging one person rather than a group can determine the function on an individual 's moral characters.
Throughout Christianity there have been many ethical theories that have contributed in the development of the current ethical theories. Ethical theory is used to help us ¨do good¨ and benefit us by creating a solution that is morally correct. Every ethical theory stresses its own distinct ideas which are: anticipating the consequences, and following his or her specific tasks on how to benefit to one another in spite of trying to achieve a decision that is ethically right. In such a case, for an ethical theory to be beneficial to others, it essentially needs to be set to a group of goals. In modern day, many laws impose that through ethical theories we should try to attain an immense amount of good, because many people may benefit from it. Many ethical theories also offer important components to assist with the process of making righteous decisions. There are four different ethical theories that have contributed such relevance in today 's current ethical theory. These theories are Utilitarianism, New Testament Exegesis, Saint Thomas Aquinas´ ethical views, and Immanuel Kant 's ethical philosophy.
Ethics is the conception about the “right” and “wrong”. It is related to the man and the society. It supports the concept of doing good things and disgraces the thinking of behaving in the wrong way with others. It is the well-known fact that the ethics don’t implement on the logics in doing right or wrong. Along with sometimes it can stand against the morality. For example the death sentence is ethically wrong, because it takes the life of a man, which can become the better part of society in future. So, ethically the death sentence should be stopped. But, the morally death sentence creates fear among the people and they get the lesson for the future that who will be done wrong with others will face the death at the end.
The use of the words ethics and morality are often confused with each other especially these are commonly used in Philosophy and other related fields. This paper will discuss the distinction between these two concepts. According to Gammel (2007), the difference between the terms morality and ethics has a very thin line particularly in the daily language. Adding to this confusion is that other philosophical resources and materials use the terms interchangeably but some provide a definite distinction in between them. The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’ that refers to the habits, mores, and customs of the people. On the other hand, morality comes from the Latin word ‘moralis’ that signifies nearly the same definition like ethics which was introduced by the philosopher Cicero as the counterpart to the Greek word ethos. To put clarity on this matter, the author Gammel assumed that the uniform definition of morality points out to customs wherein these are the rules of do’s and don’ts that are accepted and shared as the governing standard and regulations in their community or society. These are often the accepted basis of life lessons which are not needed to be questioned on a rational way. On the contrary, ethics is the reflection philosophically towards these rules derived from morality and the manners of living together including the habits, customs, culture, and tradition of the people. This is very similar to the
Being a part of medical field and dealing with medical authorities gives a wider percept of Euthanasia. There are many critical situations in life where even doctors become helpless. Life threatening incidences cause people to lose major parts of body that they could not do anything other than just looking at others. My brother’s friend was riding in a local train in India and he met with a train accident. He lost his both feet and one arm and had multiple fracture all over the body. He was hospitalized for months but, there were number of internal injuries that were so severe that even drugs couldn’t do anything. When he came to his senses after a while and looked over his condition, he was broken down, and all he wanted was to get over the pain. The only thing that was
The concepts of right and wrong actions are, as we know, those that ethics is usually meant to be most involved. This view is adopted by the use of the single word good, both for the type of behavior which is right, and for the type of things that should occur on explanation of their intrinsic value. The function of the word good is extremely confusing, and often tends to confuse the difference between ends and means. The single word “right” is extremely ambiguous, and it is in no way easy to conclude the numerous meanings that it has in common diction. Due to the diversity of these meanings, devotion to any one essentially involves us in apparent contradictions when we use it in a phrase which proposes another meaning. This is usually the result of accuracy of language; but as long as the contradictions are simply verbal, they do not allow for more verbal objections. However, it is somewhat obvious that there are many different meanings