What is ethics?
"Right" or "Wrong", what are they exactly, and how do we determine what they mean to us as individuals? The simple answer to this question is ETHICS. Ethics and/or morals involves a set of principals that dictate of individuals and societies think, behave, and interact in everyday life. At times the choice of right or wrong will be an obvious decision while at other times it will be far more difficult to determine how one should act in a certain situation and more factors must be considered. These factors may be but are not limited to, "...how they were raised, their religion, and the traditions and beliefs of their society." (Ghillyer, 2012, p. 4)
Building the moral standards that a person lives his or her life according to isn't something that is achieved overnight, it is actually something that a person gathers through an entire life time of experiences. These experiences are sure to come form a variety of different sources, such as; " friends, family, ethnic background, religion, school, the media, (and/or) personal role models and mentors" (Ghillyer, 2012, p. 4)
Personal morality/values are gained through experiences and life lessons every individual goes through during his of her life. Unfortunately it is sometimes possible for a person's individual set of values to conflict with themselves due to certain situations. During these situations a person may be forced to infringe upon one of his or her values in order to fulfill another. This is known as a value conflict, and how a person chooses to deal with them is the basis for determining what that person's personal value system really is.
Right or wrong is the basic question your must ask yourself to determine is something is indeed ethical or not. When identifying the right or wrong choice four areas of considerations are;
The "Golden Rule" is a term given to a universal concept of treating others as you would have them treat you. This rule transcends across many different religious beliefs and cultural value systems. The obvious downside to this rule is the simple fact the not everybody thinks the same and therefore can have very different views on how they should treat and be treated by other people.
Building the moral standards that a person lives his or her life according to isn't something that is achieved overnight, it is actually something that a person gathers through an entire life time of experiences. These experiences are sure to come form a variety of different sources, such as; " friends, family, ethnic background, religion, school, the media, (and/or) personal role models and mentors" (Ghillyer, 2012, p. 4)
Personal morality/values are gained through experiences and life lessons every individual goes through during his of her life. Unfortunately it is sometimes possible for a person's individual set of values to conflict with themselves due to certain situations. During these situations a person may be forced to infringe upon one of his or her values in order to fulfill another. This is known as a value conflict, and how a person chooses to deal with them is the basis for determining what that person's personal value system really is.
Right or wrong is the basic question your must ask yourself to determine is something is indeed ethical or not. When identifying the right or wrong choice four areas of considerations are;
- Simple truth-right wrong or good and bad.
- A question of someone's personal character-his or her integrity.
- Rules of appropriate individual behavior.
- Rules of appropriate behavior for a community of society.
The "Golden Rule" is a term given to a universal concept of treating others as you would have them treat you. This rule transcends across many different religious beliefs and cultural value systems. The obvious downside to this rule is the simple fact the not everybody thinks the same and therefore can have very different views on how they should treat and be treated by other people.