Week 1 - Lecture
Week 1 - Lecture
Understanding
Ethics
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Outcomes
• Define ethics.
• Explain the role of values in ethical decision making.
• Understand opposing ethical theories and their limitations.
• Discuss ethical relativism.
• Explain an ethical dilemma and apply a process to resolve it.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethics
Manner by which one tries to live one’s life according to a
standard of right or wrong behavior.
• In both how one thinks and behaves toward others and how one would
like others to think and behave toward them.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Understanding Right and Wrong 1
• Religious beliefs.
• Cultural beliefs.
• Culture: Particular set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that characterize a
group of individuals.
• Philosophical beliefs.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Understanding Right and Wrong 2
Sources of beliefs.
• Family and friends.
• Ethnic background.
• Religion.
• School.
• Media.
• Personal role models and mentors.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
How Should One Live?
Standards of ethical behavior are absorbed by osmosis as
individuals observe the examples set by everyone around them.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Value of a Value
Intrinsic values: Quality by which a value is a good thing in itself.
• Pursued for its own sake, whether anything comes from that pursuit or
not.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Value Conflicts
Impact of a value system on individuals can be seen in the extent
to which their daily lives are influenced by those values.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Doing the Right Thing
Categories under which individuals classify ethics.
• Simple truth.
• Question of someone’s personal integrity as demonstrated by behavior.
• Rules of appropriate individual behavior.
• Rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
The Golden Rule
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• Problem with the rule is the assumption that others would follow the
same principles as one would do.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethical Theories 1
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethical Theories 2
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethical Relativism
Concept that the traditions of one’s society, one’s personal
opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment define
one’s ethical principles.
• Implies some degree of flexibility as opposed to strict black-and-white
rule.
• Offers the comfort of being a part of the ethical majority in the community
or society.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethical Dilemmas
Situation in which there is no obvious right or wrong decision,
but rather a right or right answer.
Occur when the decision one must make requires one to make a
right choice knowing full well that one is:
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 1
Sleep-test ethics.
• Ethics of intuition.
• Individuals should rely on their personal insights, feelings, and instincts
when facing a difficult problem.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 2
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas 3
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ethical Reasoning
• Looking at the information available while resolving an ethical
dilemma.
• Drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to
one’s own ethical standards.
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Figure 1.1: Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of
Ethical Reasoning
Copyright © 2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.