Ethics

Last week’s topic was ethics. The word “ethics” seems to be used interchangeably with the words “values,” “morals” and “character.” However, all of these terms have different definitions. Values are a person’s freely chosen personal beliefs. According to dictionary.com, the definition of morals is “pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong.” Character is just who you are. It’s who you are when no one is looking at you. Ethics are the social rules that dictate how we conduct ourselves and perceive right and wrong. We then had to come up with a “Universal Code of Ethics.” It had to be able to be applied to all cultures. Codes such as “Do not kill” and “Do not rape” were created. In some cultures, people are killed for religious and many other reasons, so my group refined it to “Do not kill someone for no reason.” This was a springboard into the next topic. What shapes our ethics? Things such as school, family, media, religion and culture mold our ethics into what they are. These have such a strong effect on us because of social learning. This theory suggests that people can learn by observing the behavior of others. Their behavior can be reinforced by modeling the behavior of others. Cognition plays a role in learning. I have experienced this in my own life. My dad was driving me somewhere one time, and he made an illegal move. He turned into a lane that he wasn’t supposed to turn into. I asked him if that was allowed, knowing fully well that it isn’t, and he responded “It’s fine. Everyone does it. Even cops do it.” I’ll admit, since then, I have done what he did a few times. It molded my perception of driving laws slightly. After discussing this topic, I decided to myself that I won’t do it anymore. My dad also influenced my perception of right and wrong in positive ways. My dad is “brutally honest.” I’ve seen him tell someone the truth, much to the person’s displeasure many times. This has rubbed off on me. I find myself being completely honest with everyone, whether my honesty is received favorably or not. I have also seen my dad give money to homeless people many times. Now, whenever I walk by a homeless man or woman, I feel a strong compulsion to find something to give to him or her. Right now, I’m reading Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill right now. In assessing the consequences of actions, Utilitarianism relies upon some theory of intrinsic value: something is held to be good in itself, apart from further consequences, and all other values are believed to derive their worth from their relation to this intrinsic good as a means to an end. Mill was a hedonist. He analyzed happiness as a balance of pleasure over pain and believed that these feelings alone are of intrinsic value and disvalue. I agree with his notion that one should aim to produce the most good for the most people.