What Is The Right Thing?

People from all walks of life face many ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas have consequences. Our worldview determines how we deal with these dilemmas, and guides us to the right decisions. In this essay, I will examine an ethical issues through my Christian worldview. I will also present other viewpoints, and compare them to mine.

It is important to look at ethical dilemmas in a systematic way, thus increasing the chance of achieving a solution that gives the best possible outcome. An ethical problem solving model taken from American sources (Paradise and Siegelwaks, 1982; Austin et al., 1990) was used to develop a six-step process to follow, in order to achieve this (Bond 2010, pg. 227). This process informs this paper, and I am in the role of counsellor.

Sissela Bok’s Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life focuses around the ethical implications around lying and examines situations when it is appropriate or inappropriate to lie. Bok’s philosophy is unique among many philosophers in that she takes an approach that recognizes that people will lie and that there are certain situations in which lying may be warranted or acceptable depending on the situation at hand and who is responsible for lying. I believe that this is a more realistic expectation of human society. In this paper, I will examine Bok’s reasoning and apply it to possible situations in my professional career that will require me to examine my ethical responsibility around lying. In addition to Bok’s book, I

Although all of the ethical systems determine ones behavior and reasoning. They also have different ways in how they determine

On the hottest day of the year, director Spike Lee's, Do the Right Thing, paints a compelling picture of racial tensions in one of the most diverse cities in the country. Lee’s style of cinematography is shaped specifically to emphasize the racial tensions between the characters, and he accomplishes this by using first-person and direct-address narration, camera angles, camera movements and distance.

The first review that I found was in the New York Times and was written by Vincent Canby. Canby starts his review by quoting Mr. Senor Love Daddy who is “doing the nasty to your ears, playing the platters that matter” and explains that this movie takes place on the hottest day of the summer. “Do the Right Thing” stars Spike Lee, who is able to direct and star in this movie “without compromising his position as an aggressively outspoken advocate of black rights.” The whole story of this movie takes place within a 24-hour period, on the hottest day of the year. During this time “tempers fray, kidding turns mean, long-hidden bigotry becomes manifested and violence explodes in and around Sal’s Famous Pizzeria.” Canby makes sure to make Lee’s opinion heard when he talks about how this explosion of emotions was in no way a jab at a group of whites attacking a group of blacks who had “invaded their territory.” Lee is described as having a big screen presence even though he is so small and thin. The move as a whole is described as being full of “character, color, incident and music.” Canby spends a large part of this review talking about how Lee present controversial topics in both his movie and in real life. Lee showed up to the screening of this moving in a Malcolm X t-shirt and made it clear that the day this movie was shown, was the day that would have been Malcolm’s 64th birthday. Lee was also quoted saying that it is not the job of moviemakers these

On March 13, 1964, Twenty-eight year old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside her New York apartment. Immediately following her death The New York Times reported that nearly 40 witnesses saw the attack and did nothing. However, in April 2016 the same newspaper published a report stating that none of the supposed witnesses had seen the entire act, and that two people had even called the police afterwards. If The New York Times and the other papers had done the right thing by reporting accurately, than many damaging psychological experiments might not have been performed. Doing the right thing is important because it inspires other people, it makes society less unjust, and it makes the future better.

George: Am I doing the right thing? Lennie was with me since we were young. Since the time that his Aunt Clara died, I was the one who took care and look after him. We traveled together, we worked together and we dreamed together. I might throw a scare on Lennie when I see him. He might think that I'm mad at him. I might ruin Curley's plan because I'm too scared to kill him. How'd we get to this point? If Lennie listened to me, this wouldn't happen.

The example of the sinking ship and Holmes’ decision to throw people off of the lifeboat represents an Act Utilitarian belief. Holmes’ decision making process can be seen as morally right when one assesses the amount of pleasure and pain that can be expected from his actions. The lifeboat is the only method of getting to shore, and the less people that are in it the better the chance they all have of surviving since it will be less likely that the lifeboat will capsize. The boat holds fourteen people, so it is best to take exactly

I must admit that while reading chapters 35 – 38 of the Same Kind of Different as Me, stomach in knots, bells going on off in my mind, fingers clinched above the keyboard of my laptop, sitting on the proverbial edge of my seat, I needed a happy ending. I needed Denver to make it. I placed the dignity of all African Americans on Denver’s shoulders - the very act that irritates me when others are so bold to make unsuspecting individuals the savior of our race, e.g. Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama to name a few. I am not minimalizing the hard truth that people of color have been mistreated to the point of hardly having a sense of self-worth. However, there comes a time when one must take responsibility for one’s own life and

As you are taking a stroll in your local park, you notice two men, one black and one white, forcefully trying to remove the locks off of two bikes. Both men are the same height, age, and are wearing similar clothing. You watch as people walk up to the white man asking if the bike belongs to him. He admits that it does not. The park goers do not take action against the white man. Conversely, when park goers approach the black man, they threaten to call the police, ask further questions, and characterize this man as a likely criminal. If you were watching the two men, one white and one black, breaking the locks of different bikes, whom would you label as a thief? What would you think? ABC News conducted this experiment to test the differences in our attitudes towards each race. Although Caucasians and African Americans were in the park together seemingly integrated, which was illegal a century ago, attitudes toward one another make integration appear unresolved. Despite government intervention to resolve racial inequality, racism, as a mentality, continues to exist in many segments of American society and preventing complete integration.

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

Ever since humans stepped foot on this Earth we have been wired into believing what is right and what is wrong. Right and wrong originated with an opinion, therefore making the world we live in completely flawed. Everything we perceive to be the right thing to do, could have possibly been the opposite if someone had said so. Today, right and wrong is based off of the majority of society and what we believe affects what we chose to do. There is no right or wrong, not even morals, just actions. Humans act on impulse and doubt by conscience. The world we live in is corrupted, therefore corrupting us. Now, I am not trying to justify the actions people commit, yet get a better understanding. For instance, the actions committed by Japan during the interminable World War II. Japan had become the hand in Germany’s back pocket and soon became consumed by Germany’s iniquitous power. Japan was ruled by a man desiring power, yet withheld intelligence unlikely found in others, Michinomiya Hirohito. Too many lives were lost due to the ignorant and arrogant decisions made by oblivious leaders. Unfortunately, a plunging economy, rising militarism and a series of political assassinations soon caused a crisis for the pro-democracy movement in Japan.

Imagine a life boat that safely holds 7 currently holds 30 following the sinking of a ship. A storm is approaching that threatens to kill everyone. Whoever is chosen to stay aboard must help row to safety. Is it ethical for the captain to throw the weakest of the survivors overboard so that those remaining have a greater change of rescue?

In the ethics game I did learn that there are more than one solution to a problem and some times no solution is exactly the wrong one but the best one. We make decision something on what we feel are our duties and sometimes for the good. But no decision we make will everyone be