Ethical Dilemmas
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Are you an ethical person? How is your perception of the world, and your position in it, affected by ethical considerations?
I believe that there are certain universal values that govern the actions of this world. These moral principles are worldly truths that have existed, without being questioned. For example, we can agree that murder is an unethical act. Similarly, we can agree that being honest is ethical. But for both these situations, we often question their morality based on the context they are presented in. Although I still believe that taking the life of another human being, regardless of the context, is a morally wrong act, I feel like telling a lie when absolutely required, in context is not as unethical as the former. On the other hand, moral principals do in fact have its disagreements. Even if I strongly feel that any kind of “killing” is wrong, people from other cultures may beg to differ because they may have been practicing rituals that involves the involuntary death of individuals sacredly. An example would be honour killings where often a member of the family is killed as a sacrifice because they have been thought to bring great shame and dishonour on the family. For them, their culture allows this ritual. From what I have been taught, this is an unjust sacrificial process and is not justified in any way at all. This provokes the question, who am I to say that their culture is unethical? But how have I come to these conclusions? How have I been able to differentiate between what is supposedly ethical and unethical.
I can assume that my ethical beliefs come from moral relativism, or the “belief that our values are determined by the society and culture we live in.” ( Lagemaat, “Moral Relativism”) My sense of morality comes from what I have been told is right and wrong growing up by the people who surround me. For the most part, the values and morals have been shared among the vast majority of these people with little objection and have therefore left me with no reason to doubt them. Some of these values include being honest and being good to others. On a larger scale, my intuition has been the source of reason, but at the same time, its accuracy is questionable. This innate feeling is the primary cause for most decisions and has often guided me between what is right and wrong. Are humans born with this innate knowledge? It is possible, but we are also affected by what we see when we are still in the early months of development. I grew up in a household where being kind to one another was practiced regularly and since I grew up witnessing these acts, I was conditioned to act similarly. But in contrast, if someone grows up watching treachery, lies and death with a lack of guilt that accompanies it, they may begin to believe that that is the ultimate way to live.
Furthermore, deciding whether or not I am an ethical person also stems from the motives for my actions. Do I do what I do in order to achieve the hidden benefits it probably supplies? The Self interest theory is one that claims that all our actions regardless of how altruistic they may be are done in order to be able to receive the benefits they provide, whether we are aware of it or not. (Lagemaat, “Self Interest Theory”) If I decide to give a beggar on the street some money, I may feel like doing it because I have been taught to give. But it also gives me an underlying feeling of satisfaction and makes me feel good about myself, meaning I still want something for myself and I am not able to plainly just give. I seek to reap the benefits. Now, when we look at Kant’s approach to ethics it is stated that if an action can be consistently generalised, one can decide if it is their duty or not. I strongly believe that cheating on tests in unethical. By cheating, it puts those who worked hard at a disadvantage and hence is morally discouraged. But what if everyone in a classroom began to cheat on the test? If everyone is doing it, does it make it okay for me to do it as well? If a large number of people are doing the similar action, is it ethical for me to follow? In alignment with Kant’s approach, it is not my duty to follow their lead because it will ultimately cause chaos and disruption. But in this case, if I were to decide that I do not wish to cheat, but my egoism tells me to report this behaviour to the teacher, it goes against the theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that ultimately ethics should be thought to be a tool to maximise happiness. (Lagemaat, “Utilitarianism”) Therefore since I report this case to the teacher, my actions may be seen as unethical because I have caused a large group of people to be upset, which goes against the goal of utilitarianism. But their actions have also gone against instinctive moral obligations.
To conclude, what may be ethical to one person, may not be to another. It is dependent on the perception of ones surroundings and the shared knowledge that they are the recipients of. I think that I am an ethical person given the surroundings I have been brought up in because I adhere to what is universally considered to be a set of moral values that humans are advised to follow. Experiences have taught me right from wrong and my set of ethical beliefs will most probably differ from person to person.
Works Cited
Lagemaat, Richard van de. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014. Print.
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