Ethics permeates all aspects of society, both on an individual and societal level for it involves human interaction. The ethical decision-making models, like humans – are complex and do not exist in isolation, thus finding a set of uniform ethical values and standards in a multicultural society is highly challenging. This essay will briefly overview four Normative theories which help guide ethical decision making, regarding the hypothetical scenario case given from the teacher’s perspective.
Main Ethical Issue
This scenario offers a plethora of complex situations; however the main ethical issue appears to surround the lack of safety, understanding and respect due to different cultural views, perspectives, values and needs of others.
Consequentialism
In Consequentialism, the moral worth of an action is chosen (to be right or wrong) based primarily on the consequences or outcomes that will arise from performing an act (Preston, 2001). Right acts produce good consequences and eliminate possible negative outcomes. This perspective is most commonly utilised by teachers (Dr A. Sammel, personal communication, July 7, 2010) and society generally. Although there are several consequentialism perspectives, this paper focuses on the following key areas: (a) Egoism; (b) Altruism, and (c) Utilitarianism.
Egoism involves considering one’s wellbeing, welfare or self interest (Burgh, Field & Freakley, 2006), placing focus primarily on the individual, negating considerations for others. Three main forms of Egoism exist: (1) Physiological - teacher considers their own welfare and nobody else; (2) Ethical - an action taken by the teacher that is morally right to maximise one’s self wellbeing, and (3) Rational- the action by the tea...
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Sometimes in life there are instances in which and individual must make a decision that will question their moral fiber. These instances could vary from whether or not to help others in need, decide whether an action is right or wrong or even when deciding who should live and who must die. How does one logically reason to an ethnical conclusion to these situations?
The view of an Ethical Egoist, henceforth to be referred as the egoist, is quite simple in a way. The way to determine WWTED (What would the egoist do?), can be easily done if one refers back to the principles of an egoist. The view of an egoist depends on the following: 1. We ought always to do what is in our long term best interest, 2. The right act, or duty, is the act that maximizes our long term intrinsic good, and 3. Our duty is to do that which benefits us the most in the long term. In other words, an egoist’s actions and decisions depend on whether the act will benefit himself in the long run.
Everyday individuals are faced with difficult situations, and in some cases these situations bring into question a person’s moral code. These dilemmas make people think about what the right thing to do is and what the wrong thing to do is. Any person can follow the four basic frameworks of ethics to figure out what needs to be done. Those frameworks being ethical egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. But first I will put you in a tricky situation and shed some light on the different routes an individual could take according to those four ethical frameworks. Then I will give my opinion on what I would do in the situation and I will state some objections a critic might have on my opinion.
Psychological Egoism is a claim that one’s own welfare is the governing aim that guides us in every action. This would mean that every action and decisions humans make come with an intention for self-benefit, and personal gain. The fundamental idea behind psychological egoism is that our self-interest is the one motive that governs human beings. This idea may be so deep within our morals and thought process that although one may not think selfishly, the intention of their action is representing to a degree of personal gains.
• Once more, the ordinary science’ proves itself as the master of classification, inventing and defining the various categories of Egoism. Per example, psychological egoism, which defines doctrine that an individual is always motivated by self-interest, then rational egoism which unquestionably advocates acting in self-interest. Ethical egoism as diametrically opposite of ethical altruism which obliges a moral agent to assist the other first, even if sacrifices own interest. Also, ethical egoism differs from both rational and psychological egoism in ‘defending’ doctrine which considers all actions with contributive beneficial effects for an acting individual
Workplace ethics engages in judgements and collective agreements regarding a suitable guide of behaviour. The ethical decision making framework (EDM) presents, business decision is ethical or unethical.EDM provides an indication of traditional decision making process and issues that manipulate ethical decisions. Employees tend to fraud because they can experience the unfair treatments or situation that they face. Manages may ask employee to work long hours, and then they can take additional time off. Good performance leads to remunerations and appreciation managers than workers.
Consequentialism is an ethical perspective that primarily focuses upon the consequences resulting from an action and aims to eliminate the negative consequences. Within this framework there are three sub-categories: Egoism, Altruism and Utilitarianism.
Let us discuss consequentialism first. Consequentialism focuses on consequences as the most important factor in the decision making process (Donaldson 3). For consequentialists the motives of an act are not as important as what comes out of it. Utilitarianism is one of the branches of consequentialism. Utilitarianism believes in the greatest good for the number (Donaldson 3). This method along with egoist consequentialism was probably the one that w...
This paper will examine this ethical dilemma further, including why it is an important issue...
In this assignment we will be identifying an ethical dilemma an individual has experienced. We will begin with a short introduction of what an ethical dilemma is, moving on to providing brief details of the dilemma an individual has experienced. We will then go on to selecting one ethical theory, to show how it can help an individual understand and deal with the situation when placed within, followed by a conclusion.
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which means an ethical person is one who has a character. Ethics is a norm that translates ideals and values into everyday practice. Ethics is not a manual with answers on how to act. It is only a search for the right kind of morality. It is also the standards that define what right conduct is and what is wrong conduct. Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions and between virtuous and non-virtuous characteristics of people. Ethics is also a branch of philosophy that involves questions about morality. Thus, ethics is about making choices which signifies how people act in order to make the right choice and predict good
Philosophy has been a field of study for centuries. Some philosophers have developed ways to determine what is ethical and what is not. This has led to several normative ethical theories describing how people are ought to live a moral life. Some of the most prominent of these theories have set the criteria for morality in very unique and peculiar ways. Two of which are the ethical egoistic theory and the utilitarian theory, each seeing morality in its own distinctive way. By comparing and contrasting the view these theories pose on morality and by analyze how each stands in some of the world’s most modern day issues, one can understand why utilitarianism is a
Ethical egoism states that an act is good if and only if it serves self-interest. It is a normative theory holding that people ought to do what is in their self- interest
And frequently people will feel uncomfortable when they are mandated to decide on difficult decisions. For instance, the ethical options the police officer patrolling a remote area near the coast line during a fast approaching storm and tidal surge, who receives an urgent radio message to help evacuate a mother with her children from tidal havoc, and unfortunately has his narrow way blocked by another individual who can only be rescued by the fire department and EMS (Fleming, 2010).
People find pleasure in others pain, people can wrongfully but sincerely decide that a two-minute pleasure outweighs the stable happiness they could’ve had for the next several years, and is the satisfaction of desire what brings about true happiness? These questions and variances are real and without definite answer, yet the consequentialist assumes more than is there and ignores the ever important value of the individual’s preference towards specific pleasures and pains. However, even among the consequential community there is a heavy disagreement about just what and what not a consequentialist is to base judgments from, excluding the obvious that is it should be action-based. Act consequentialism looks at every single moral choice anew. In a situation where an extremely serious moral choice is bound to be made, individuals may well think long about the consequences of particular moral choices in this way. Such deliberate thought is hugely useful for such occurrences, but when applied to the much more trivial choices that make up the large majority or our days and weeks actually serves as a deterrent from being a decisive human and, thus leads to a less valuable life: If these act consequentialists were everywhere, individuals would feel morally obligated to research the consequences of their actions before they take them to make an