What is Ethics?

The human response to these questions…

Ethics is

Definitions:• Ethics – A branch of philosophy concerned

with ways of thinking philosophically about morality, and moral judgment. Can be personal or social.

It is the summary of values,

principles, judgments

and standards by which to measure right or wrong.

= Standards

• Morality – Human conduct and character referring to “those acts which it makes sense to describe as right or wrong, good or bad.” = Behavior

• Moral Judgment – Judgments based on considerations of how other people are to be treated, and how others interests are to weigh against our own. = Decisions

Simply Ethics = rules of the game

Morality= performance within the game (personal & group)

Moral Judgment= individual & collective decision-making (affects self & group)

• Absolute Morality – a fundamentalist understanding of right and wrong, determined

solely by religious dogma or doctrine; there’s an absolute right/wrong in every situation;

“Divine Command Ethics”

• Relative Morality– The is the other extreme based on the belief that anything can be right or wrong depending on the situation;

“Situation Ethics”

Absolute Morality -

Leviticus 20:9

“For anyone who curses one’s father or mother shall be surely put to death.”

Leviticus 24:17"Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.”

Exodus 34:26”Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

Relative Morality (Moral Relativism) - The position that ethical propositions do not reflect objective/ universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to personal or cultural circumstances.

Moral relativists hold that there is no universal standard (e.g., Divine) by which to assess truth. This is moral subjectivism;

it is the opposite of moral absolutism.

Relative Morality -- sees moral values as applicable in the

context of individual or cultural preferences (= “Situation Ethics” or moral subjectivism) ---

e.g., terminating an “inconvenient pregnancy”; honor killing.

Catholic Morality – is based on the belief in “Natural Law” --- i.e., an objective, eternal, divine order in the universe.

It is neither absolute nor purely relative.

Rather, it is accessible by Reason. Since humans are rational, they “get it.”

But right and wrong have to be determined by weighing out various circumstances and principles within any situation.

Understanding requires REASON

to discern

right from wrong, good from evil,

truth from falsehood.

Reason employs CRITICAL THINKING.

Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Taught that real

faith seeks understanding ("fides quaerens intellectum”)

So what’s the problem?

Isn’t it easy to make good ethical decisions?

PROBLEM:

(called moral dilemmas)…

Often ethics involve tough decisions

in which significant values come into

conflict…

in whichWRONG may look RIGHT

and BAD may look GOOD!

That is,sometimes primaryvalues we havecome into conflict.

This conflict of moral values is called a moral dilemma

DILEMMA:

DI = two

LEMMA = assumption

Moral dilemmas

are tough choices

in which there are at least 2 assumptions

regarding what is GOOD, RIGHT, TRUE…

both of which look

GOOD…

In other words, moral dilemmas typically are

good vs. GOOD

Moral Dilemmascan be very confusingat times!

GOOD GOOD

Because GOOD may feel BAD & BAD may feel GOOD…

It’s never this obvious…

If easy, it wouldn’t be a dilemma

So how does one know what’s

GOOD, RIGHT, TRUE??

Discernment is

needed!

DISCERN:

DIS = apartCERNERE = to sift

DISCERNMENT is so important.

With moral dilemmasit’s obviousthat

In spite of “popular opinion,”

DISCERNMENT is not the job of…

* The Church * Your parents

* Nerinx* Your friends

then WHOSE JOB

IS IT ???

YOURS!

YOURS! --

but HOW?

Conscience

(literally “to know”)

simply means…

moral judgment based on our awareness

of right & wrong;

CONSCIENCE =moral judgment using

reason

To be ethical is not simplyto resort to “a little voice” inside.

Rather it requires using your conscience--critical thinking (reason) with sound moral judgement (discernment).

According to the Churchconscience takes precedenceover every kind of humanauthority.

Conscience is God’s voice within us.

In fact, the Church tells usthat we must obey ourConscience -

“a law inscribed by Godin our hearts.”

A person “has the right to act in conscience….That person “must not beforced to act contrary toto his/her conscience.”

- Catechism #1782, Article 6

The Church, acknowledgingconscience as a “moral compass,”calls us to inform it--

For without an ethical framework, Conscience is a compass on the open sea, without a mapas a reference.

Informing your conscience withan ethical framework provides you with a map.Though you have never been there before, someone else has -- why not use their experience & knowledge?!

Of course you need to use discernment andtest the moral advice of others to see if it ‘ringstrue’ with your own conscience!

Indeed, you must form your conscience in order for it to be the most effective.

“Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened.A well-formed conscience isupright and truthful. It formulatesits judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of theCreator.” - Catechism, #1783

Conscience using DISCERNMENT requires

• Patience

• Practice

• Perspective

(an objective one!)

-Personal: your job is to establish an “Individual Moral Code”

-Social: our collective standards that are drawn up in accordance with particular moral principles

(such as the “common good”); these include civil law.

Can you think of any examples of personal or socialmoral dilemmas?

Personal Moral Dilemmas -

• Whether or not to lie to parents • Whether or not to cheat• Whether or not to gossip• Whether or not to steal• Whether or not to be

sexually active

• Embryonic stem cell research

Social Dilemmas -

• Capital punishment

whether or not to allow

• Concealed weapons• Immigrant labor

Can you think of any situations today (or in the past)

when something wrong looks right?

• Slavery

• Women, Native Americans, African Americans denied the right to vote• the atom bomb was dropped to end World War II, killing many innocents

- Medicine- Business- Politics- Journalism- Law- Human Rights and more…

Two roads diverged in a wood and I---

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

By Robert Frost

PioneersPioneers need to be Trail need to be Trail Blazers Blazers

the path of least resistancethe path of least resistance

oror

the “road less traveled” the “road less traveled”

Which will you take?Which will you take?

Don’t follow the herd !Don’t follow the herd !

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I…

I took the one less traveled by, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made And that has made all the all the difference.difference.

By Robert FrostBy Robert Frost

SERENITY PRAYER: “God, grant me the

serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know

the difference.”

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/oakesm/