After reading the articles about how we
make ethical choices, it’s harder for me to think about my preference than it
was for free will versus determinism. I
definitely understand how the three major classic category positions overlap,
especially when I think about what my default reasoning is behind my own ethical
decisions.
I think the most sensible may be consequentialist
ethics. Like the common saying
“hindsight is twenty-twenty,” this theory focuses on the end results of our
actions. The idea that “an act is
morally right if the end results are beneficial” makes sense to me. I believe the reasoning behind an action and
the actual outcome may differ, such as when one does the right things for the
wrong reasons, or vice versa. However,
despite this, the consequentialist stance seems most logical, and more
black-and-white than shades of gray.
Although shades of gray when it comes to morals must be taken into
consideration, this is why I believe consequentialist ethics is the most
“sensible” category. It’s a happy medium
between the strictly rule-based or virtues-based ethics. It believes that looking at an action’s end results
assumes the best final product. By
anticipating the consequences of our actions, we are forced to think first and
not be impulsive, and try to make sure that the good outweighs the bad.
The different forms of consequentialist
ethics make this debate more in-depth.
Utilitarianism is broad and makes sense to me. The “greatest good to the greatest number of
people” is a general and well agreed-upon notion for deciding whether a
decision is morally right or wrong.
Ethical altruism makes sense as well, but seems almost unnecessarily
selfless. While its altruism is
admirable, I don’t think that a negative outcome for the agent of the act is
what makes the act good. Finally,
ethical egoism, or the social contract theory, is my least favorite of the
three. Regardless of the explanations in
the reading, I can’t help but see it as selfish. We should take others into consideration when
acting. If others are hurt in the
process of doing what’s best for oneself, I can’t necessarily agree that what
they did was morally right.
The strategy I think I use most
frequently is probably virtue ethics, by looking at my personal habits of
character. Most of my morals come from
what I was taught by my parents and from my beliefs based on my Christian
faith. Because of this, I like the idea
of the golden mean, living life in balance.
I agree that too much or too little of any virtue can be a bad thing,
but try to abide to the virtues in the examples in the reading. The Christian virtues of faith, hope, and
love, which we’re told partially came from the Greek virtues of wisdom,
temperance, courage, and justice, are what I build my life and actions around. My default, automatic response to
decision-making seems to come from who I want to be as a person and what my
personal virtues are, what standards I hold myself to.
Finally, duty-based ethics would be the
classic category I relate to the least.
Although I tend to follow rules and laws pretty strictly, I don’t think
that authorities are necessarily always right, especially if they condone
something that conflicts with my values.
The first thing that this category made me think of was the character
Javer from Les Mis. His death was caused
by the confliction he felt after the realization that the rules he’d spent his
life enforcing didn’t match up with what he believed was right. I particularly agree with deontology. The idea that I shouldn’t analyze the reasons
behind what is right and wrong, because it has already been deemed as such,
makes me feel like a mindless citizen who is made to follow rules, not think
for themselves. I do, however, like John
Locke’s Rights Theory. Like in the
example, I believe no one should be able to harm another person’s right to
life, freedom, etc.
All in all, each category has points
that I agree and disagree with, and I definitely use overlapping versions of
each to make my own decisions. However,
consequentialist ethics seems to make the most logical sense, while I believe I
base my own choices on virtue ethics.
I look forward to reading your next few blogs to see how you blend your consequentialist ethics with virtue ethics.
ReplyDelete