Ethics
Chapter-1 (Nature of Ethics)
Ethical Dilemmas
The quandary people find themselves in when they have to decide if they should act in a way that might help another person or group, and is the “right” thing to do, even though doing so might not be in their own self-interest. A dilemma may also arise when a person has to decide between two different courses of action, knowing that whichever course he or she chooses will result in harm to one person or group even though it may benefit another. The ethical dilemma here is to decide which course of action is the “lesser of two evils.”
Suppose we see a person being mugged in the street. How will we behave?
Will we act in some way to help even though you risk being hurt? Will we walk away?
Perhaps we might adopt a “middle-of-the-road approach” and not intervene but call the police instead?
Does the way we act depend on whether the person being mugged is a fit male, an elderly person, or even a street person?
Does it depend on whether there are other people around, so we can tell ourselves, “Oh well, someone else will help or call the police. I don’t need to”?
People often know they are confronting an ethical dilemma when their moral scruples come into play and cause them to hesitate, debate, and reflect upon the “rightness” or “goodness” of a course of action. Moral scruples are thoughts and feelings that tell a person what is right or wrong; they are a part of a person’s ethics.
Ethics
Ethics are the inner-guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs people use to analyze a situation and decide what is “right.” At the same time, ethics also indicate what inappropriate behavior is and how a person should behave to avoid doing harm to another person.
Ethics is that study or discipline which concerns itself with judgments of approval and disapproval, judgments as to the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, virtue or vice, desirability or wisdom of actions, dispositions, ends, objects, or
Ethical Dilemmas
The quandary people find themselves in when they have to decide if they should act in a way that might help another person or group, and is the “right” thing to do, even though doing so might not be in their own self-interest. A dilemma may also arise when a person has to decide between two different courses of action, knowing that whichever course he or she chooses will result in harm to one person or group even though it may benefit another. The ethical dilemma here is to decide which course of action is the “lesser of two evils.”
Suppose we see a person being mugged in the street. How will we behave?
Will we act in some way to help even though you risk being hurt? Will we walk away?
Perhaps we might adopt a “middle-of-the-road approach” and not intervene but call the police instead?
Does the way we act depend on whether the person being mugged is a fit male, an elderly person, or even a street person?
Does it depend on whether there are other people around, so we can tell ourselves, “Oh well, someone else will help or call the police. I don’t need to”?
People often know they are confronting an ethical dilemma when their moral scruples come into play and cause them to hesitate, debate, and reflect upon the “rightness” or “goodness” of a course of action. Moral scruples are thoughts and feelings that tell a person what is right or wrong; they are a part of a person’s ethics.
Ethics
Ethics are the inner-guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs people use to analyze a situation and decide what is “right.” At the same time, ethics also indicate what inappropriate behavior is and how a person should behave to avoid doing harm to another person.
Ethics is that study or discipline which concerns itself with judgments of approval and disapproval, judgments as to the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, virtue or vice, desirability or wisdom of actions, dispositions, ends, objects, or