John Locke Ethical Dilemma Paper

Ethics and Locke

The three ethical scenarios that are being evaluated for this paper involve the social contract and how John Locke would have approached the situations himself as well as discussing my own personal views and how they relate to Locke’s. The first scenario that I will be evaluating is regarding the mayor of a city and how he chose to receive gifts from city contractors; I feel that in this situation John Locke would have approached the problem with the hope that the mayor would make the best choice and returned the gifts, when he accepts the gifts from the contractor he will end up struggling with his own conscience when it comes down to picking a person for that job, there will be a lack of impartialness that will lead to an unfair advantage. I think that many of my own ethics fall into line with John Locke; I would rely on the idea that the mayor would make the correct decision regarding his station of power and what that represents not only for the legal fairness but also ethical balance.

The second scenario that is discussed is a doctoral student who keeps the same lectures, tests without change throughout the semesters.

In this case I feel that John Locke would have approached the situation with the understanding that although it may not be the perfect situation people are self-serving; and in this case I think he would hope that she would resolve to change her own way of conducting her class but would not be surprised if she did not. When I evaluate the situation in comparison to how John Locke would have approached the situation I might differ slightly in the aspect that even though people are self-serving the doctoral student would have to understand that teaching is not a place for that; teaching in itself is a selfless act that reflects a persons want to engage and enhance the lives of

students.
The final scenario is one of a couple who is having marriage difficulties as well as their own financial and personal struggles and decide to try to solve their problems by having a child. In this situation I feel that John Locke would have taken the stand in the situation that the couple are people who are free to make their choices as the wish although this is a difficult dilemma I feel he would have felt that given the situation the couple was not causing anyone harm and had the potential to change their behaviors if given the opportunity. I would have been in agreement with John Locke in this situation; I feel that the couple may not be having a child for all of the right reasons but it is important to remember that everyone has to be given the chance for change. The couple may have ended up having the child and realizing what needed to be change in order for them to become stable themselves; everyone has the ability to alter and refine their own ethics and often times it takes having a child for this to happen.