In everyday life, we are always faced with the task of determining whether certain actions are right or wrong. In the article, Right and Wrong in the Real World, Joshua Halberstam discuses how people process and deal with the ethical dilemmas they are faced with on an everyday basis. Halberstam takes a look at “the complex relationship between communal and personal ethics, between moral theory and our everyday ethical decisions” (Halberstam 2006), while looking at where moral questions arise in these situations. He asks readers to consider certain situations that they come across daily to question whether or not the decisions the make are ethical; for example “The ATM spits out an extra $100 in your favor. Keep the money and your mouth shut?”
Every day we are faced with certain situations that challenge us with how to act in an ethical manner. It can be human nature to feel unsure or conflicted with the correct moral choice. Some can say that one should know how to handle such dilemmas and others may say that there should be a reference of some sort to help guide through such conflicts. Sometimes we know the answers and sometimes we are unsure of how to handle certain situations. Most times we go through life wondering what we should do. As I become further educated on the different theories of ethics, I believe there are answers that are available in guiding one through an ethical dilemma and or judgment. I will discuss Vincent Ruggiero’s three basic criteria, Robert Kegan’s order of consciousness, the three schools of ethics and the correlation between all three.
Erdrich and Enger address the matter of vigilante justice in many places within their individual novels, nevertheless Erdrich suggests that Joe had no other option but to take down Linden Lark on his own, whereas Enger proposes Davy Land could have used other resources to get justice for his family from Israel Finch and Tommy Basca. In Both Peace Like a River and The Round House the authors suggest law enforcement, family bond and protection, intolerance, and freedom all explain why Davy Land and Joe Coutts along with Cappy would feel compelled to kill the antagonists in these stories. Although what Davy and Joe did was illegal, they did it for the wellbeing of their families, was it justified for both characters, or was there different avenues they could have taken and still gotten their justice?
When humans hear the term “blind spots,” they often have a flashback to an event in life where they were driving and attempted to merge into another lane. Typically there are two outcomes from this event: the neighboring driver honks to alert that there is an impending car accident or that accident actually occurs. The same can be said for ethical decisions where humans often do not know they are making a decision with ethical implications. Unfortunately, there is usually not another person to honk at us alerting of the impending danger. The book Blind Spots, by Max H. Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel, explores these blind spots which pervade ethical decision making for individuals, organizations and society. Throughout the book, the authors offer various areas of day-to-day life where unethical gaps thrive and they offer mechanisms to understand and manage these gaps.
Critical Thinking and Ethics Jessamee Hundley Gen 201 04/24/2017 April Brown Critical Thinking and Ethics So often do we as students have a hard time to understand and comprehend critical thinking and ethics. This can easily be contributed by not knowing what critical thinking and ethics are. A lot of times people make impulse decisions and don’t think before making a decision on an issue. By the end of this essay you will be able to understand critical thinking and ethics to help you in everyday life.
Ethical relativism is not just simply one concept. It can be divided into two categories cultural relativism and ethical subjectivism. Cultural relativism states that what a culture finds correct is what is correct, within its own realm. Ethical subjectivism are what people as individuals find correct, or the values a person stands for and what they support whereas culture relativism is has a certain standard of morality held within a culture or society. These both view people as being in charge of their own morality. However, there are some problems with the view ethical relativism itself. For instance marital rape, machismo in Hispanics culture and premarital sex. In this dissertation I will be discussing problems with ethical relativism, while using the examples above.
In The Moral Instinct, Steven Pinker cites Haidt’s “primary colors” of the moral sense (329). Pinker believes that all moral decisions can be categorized with these primary colors and, though everyone can see these colors, they are prioritized differently by different people. Haidt identifies five primaries—harm, fairness, community, authority, and purity—all of which make up the moral spectrum. These recurring moral themes can be found everywhere from cultural norms to the decisions and beliefs of individuals. Though the themes can be identified in works regarding ethics and morality, they—if applied correctly—can also give insight into the way the author prioritizes the moral colors.
In chapter 19 of the philosopher, Russ Shafer-Landau’s book, The Fundamentals of Ethics, he presents an overview of the moral theory of ethical relativism. Ethical relativism is the view that there is some moral truth and that truth is relative to each person or culture. The overarching moral principle can be broken down into ethical subjectivism and cultural relativism. The difference being ethical subjectivism says an act is morally acceptable or forbidden if an individual approves or disapproves of the action. And cultural relativism relies on the judgment of morally acceptable or forbidden if a culture or society approves or disapproves of the action (Shafer-Landau, p. 295).
Every day people make decisions that may have profound effect on their personal and/or professional lives as well as the lives of others. The decision people make have a foundation on their personal, cultural, and perhaps organizational values. When these values are in disagreement, an ethical dilemma occurs.
The most stressful time is when you are in a court room. When people are in a court room they are very tense because there is a case they have to talk about. The foreman in this book is a very just man, and he doesn’t want people to get into fights. I think Reginald Rose wrote this book because he wants us to stay calm even when we are in stressful times to not make things worse. He wanted people to have justice when others are wronged. Also, he wanted people to think of their wrongdoings, and make a change about it.
Recognizing that not all decisions are ethical, one’s moral principles acts as a guide for their behavior and decision making. Therefore, ethics do (and should) play a major role in decision making.
“ethical dilemmas are commonplace, complex, and require critical thinking skills that are honed through practice, and practice, and more practice. Airth-Kindree, N. M., & Kirk horn, L. C. (2016).
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.
An ethical dilemma is an incident that causes us to question how we should react based on our beliefs. A decision needs to be made between right and wrong. I have experienced many ethical dilemmas in my lifetime, so I know that there is no such thing as an ethical dilemma that only affects one person. I also know that some ethical dilemmas are easier to resolve than others are. The easy ones are the ones in which we can make decisions on the spot. For example, if a cashier gives me too much change, I can immediately make a decision to either return the money or keep it. Based on Kant’s, categorical imperative there are two criteria for determining moral right and wrong. First, there is universalizability, which states, “the person’s
From the reading, I understand that people think and act differently when faced with ethical issues. For one to make a rational decision, an extensive process of judgment is required (Bandura, Caprara, & Zsolnai, 2000). For an individual to be responsible, he or she should put into consideration the magnitude of the consequences of the actions, social
In today's world, individuals can make a single decision that can have a profoundly positive or negative effect on their family, their employer, coworkers, a nation, and even on the entire world. The life we lead reflects the strength of a single trait: our personal character. Personal ethics are different for each person but for the most part, people want to be known as a good person, someone who can be trusted, and he or she are concerned about his or her relationships and personal reputations. As we go through this paper, we will focus on answering what are ethics, what are your ethics, where do your ethics come from, and how do you manifest your ethics?