Making Ethical Decisions

There are two major components in identifying the difference between what is ethical and what is not:

1) What do we use to base our ethical standards?
2) How are those standards applied to specific situations faced in daily life?

For centuries, philosophers have sought a clear definition of what is right and wrong. Many have developed their own theories on how to determine whether an action is ethical or not. Below are some of the most popular ethical theories:

1) Moral Absolutists. Moral Absolutists cover most of the common religious fundamentalists regardless of their religious convictions. They believe that their deity has established a moral code of ethics for them to follow and these rules are absolute. The actual guidelines of the theory vary depending on which religion is practiced.

2) Utilitarianism. This theory embraces the idea that the ends always justify the means. The rightness, or wrongness, of an action is solely dependent on the level of happiness that will be obtained in the end. An action can be defined as being most right as long as it creates the “greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.” One example would be if there were a mass murderer on the loose and you were to meet him in a dark ally holding a gun, it would be ethical for you to shoot him since his death would save many other lives. In this theory, the ends always justify the means, even if it takes killing someone to reach those ends.

3) Deontological Ethics. A deontological theory of ethics is almost the complete opposite of utilitarianism. This theory focuses on the means rather than the ends. For example, in the same situation listed in number 2, it would be ethically wrong to kill the murderer because murder is ALWAYS wrong, even if the result is death to many others. One who follows this theory of ethics would always look at their actions and never the consequences of their actions. The consequences hold no bearing on the rightness or wrongness of actions, only the actions themselves.

4) Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics. Since these theories are pretty much the same thing, I decided to count them as one. Aristotle is the first one to ever write a theory of ethics. Aristotle first created a list of things that humans would consider good, for example health, happiness, friendship, etc. All of these are steps taken to reach the “highest good” in their own lives. Aristotle’s ethics were written for those who are already just and generous to others. This is something that he believes is learned as a child so he does not define how people should treat others, only how to reach the greatest happiness. Knowledge is an important factor in reaching happiness. He also believes that to be virtuous, you have to establish a mean for everything. Too much is bad and too little is bad. An example of the “mean” would be exactly like mathematics and finding the average. For example, too much masturbation is bad as well as not enough. There is a happy medium for everything and this is, ethically, where you should be.

5) Philosophical Relativism. Philosophical Relativism implies that ethics are relative rather than anything absolute. Ethics according to this theory are dependent on each individual and their feelings and emotions. Making an ethical choice can be done by doing what you want to do based on your own, personal values rather than what you ought to do based on societal values. Since nothing is absolute, everyone would simply follow their own personal code of ethics and never worry about what anyone else would say or think.

6) Ethical Realism. Ethical realism is the art of choosing the lesser of two evils. It is an extension moral absolutists since they believe that all ethics are absolute and set by a deity. They do, however, take into consideration that at some point, one’s ethics will be called into question and they will have to make a choice between two unethical decisions. When this happens, the “ethical” decision would be to choose the lesser of the two evils.

For discussion, how would you define right and wrong? Would you agree with one of the philosophers or do you have your own ethical theory? Can you think of a situation where there is no possible way to choose ethically? If you follow someone else's theory of ethics, what is the theory?