...Running header: ETHICS 1 Is Ethics Natural or Learned Behavior? N. Rodriguez PHI 200 Philosophy Mind and Machine Instructor Yelena Gidenko June 3, 2013 ETHICS 2 Is Ethics Natural or Learned Behavior? Ethics is the philosophical study of good and bad, right and wrong. It is commonly used interchangeably with the word morality. It differs from other aspects of philosophy in being more concerned with what should be than with what actually is. What my understanding is about Ethics? Is that some say ethics has to do with what a person’s feelings are telling them what is right and wrong. Some say it has to do with their religious belief. Others believe that ethics coexist with the requirements of the law or what are societies deems expectable. All very good answers to what ethics is. At least what it means to some individuals. Is a person born with ethics? Just as soon as you’re able to form thoughts, are you also determining what good morals are and what are bad? Or are they thought through love and compassion from your families and elders. Actually ethics is a fairly new concept in human development. Because you cannot call a slave keeping society “ethical”. Is ethics taught? I think so. In times of war mass amount of people...
Words: 1504 - Pages: 7
...Personal Ethical Belief System and Professional Ethics Cherissa Boyd BSHS - 332 University of Phoenix August 15, 2011 David Elkins Personal Ethical Belief System and Professional Ethics In the profession of human services, every professional will at some point, include his or her personal ethical standards into his or her work with clients. My personal ethics are a huge part of who I am today, and these beliefs affect every decision I make whether it is personal or professional. I believe a person’s life experiences are what shape his or her personal ethical belief system and professional ethics. A person’s morals determine what is right and what is wrong in his or her life. Everyone is responsible for his or her actions whether it is right with rewards, or wrong with consequences. Combined with these factors, worldviews also plays a huge role in the decision-making process. The framework for decisions is created from a person’s values, beliefs, morals, and personal experiences. According to Freeman, (2000, p. ix) Ethics is “the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment; moral philosophy.” Ethics is a part of philosophy and an application of what we believe is true about our reality. Every person has a right to his or her own beliefs about what is true or not. These “Codes of ethics are designed to guide practitioners, protect the welfare of clients, safeguard the autonomy of professional workers, and enhance the status of the profession” (Freeman, 2000, p. x)...
Words: 3466 - Pages: 14
...A Summary of the Terms and Types of Ethical Theories Ethics is a branch of philosophy addressing questions about morality. Ethics is divided into two different ways of looking at the morality of humanity. They are Consequential and Non-Consequential. CONSEQUENTIAL ETHICS In Consequential Ethics, the outcomes determine the morality of the act. What make the act wrong are the consequences. It says, it will be legitimate to lie in order to get out of a serious problem, such as to save a persons life. In other words a white lie is fine. So the essence of morality is determined by the result or outcome of the act. NON – CONSEQUENTIAL ETHICS In non-Consequential Ethics, the source of morality comes from something else: law, God’s law, moral law, sense of duty, and your definition of what is the virtuous thing to do. All those considerations are built into the act itself before you could think of consequences, before it makes it right or wrong. One classic example is this system is lying. Lying could be wrong because in one system, it’s a violation of the nature of speech. It’s wrong to use a lie to achieve a good end. Simply put, a lie is a lie, is a lie. Egoism – Utilitarianism – Pragmatism Egoism - Means, act in your own self-interest. Utilitarianism - Do that which is moral only if the act produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. There are two brands of Utilitarianism: 1. Act Utilitarianism- Do the act. No consideration of before or after...
Words: 2474 - Pages: 10
...Ethics Tracy Booker Ethics and Moral Reasoning Instructor: Galen Johnson August 12, 2013 l If the majority of our society conducted themselves in a way they saw fit and did not abide by rules we would be living in complete chaos. My topic for this assignment is ethics. Ethics is a part of everyday life. I will demonstrate in my assignment the most convincing ethical system. I will attempt to explain why it is necessary to have universal principles. I will give the fundamental principles of ethics. I will explain what is considered the good life and how to achieve it. I will elaborate on what it ethically bad life. I will attempt to discuss if ethics is natural or learned. I will discuss the role of ethical actions. I will discuss how humans differentiate on between what is good and bad. My final point will be to explain if humans are free or determined and how this perspective relates to human responsibility. The systematic study of rules for behavior and conduct, for ourselves and for others is called ethics. Ethics are a requirement for a normal life. It is a study of right or wrong in human actions. Ethics helps us understand who we are. Without out ethics a human life would be full of destructive patterns. A good foundation of ethics requires a standard. This standard has to have proper goals and actions to be considered ethically correct. The most convincing ethical system is utilitarianism. This ethical system dates back to the seventeenth century to...
Words: 1689 - Pages: 7
...Kisa Jones Eth/316 Ethics and Social Responsibility March 5, 2012 Chuck Thompson In 1985, Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, Inc merged together to sell natural gas to most gas companies as well as businesses. This merge renamed the companies to Enron which was quickly grew as the largest natural gas company in the US. “Enron’s vision is to become the world’s leading energy company-creating innovative and efficient energy solutions for growing economies and better environment worldwide.” (www.thesmokinggun.com) Enron became a multibillion dollar company out of Omaha, Nebraska founded by Kenneth Lay, Andrew Fastow, and Jeffrey Skilling which relocated in Houston, Tx. In the late 90’s, the gas market changed from government regulations to competitions deciding on the price of energy. With the new change, Enron began selling its product to businesses as the intermediary instead of the primary supplier. Enron began trading contracts from suppliers and issued long term contracts to pipeline companies instead of buying and selling natural gas. The company began to see large increase in revenue and began investing in other businesses. This mass change within the company began the rise and fall of Enron. The rise and fall of the company was because of failure by unethical management decisions and business choice. Enron began borrowing money from to invest in new business projects to maintain its constant growth. To keep the earnings from the eyes of investors...
Words: 835 - Pages: 4
...REL123 August 18, 2013 Before I start anything about how what is conscience and how natural law work to inform our conscience, I will first give a little emphasis on what conscience is. According to Mueller in Theological Foundation on p.222, define conscience as something that involves several aspects of human reaction. He further explains that Conscience is a huge part of the human character that makes him or her to know and do good. He also explained further that Conscience is also a way to for us human being to determine what is good and what is evil. The second Vatican Council explained that “Conscience is the voice of God written in our hearts”. In dictionary.com, Conscience is said to be the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct, motives or action. According to Richard Gula cited from “Conscience” in Christian Ethics: An Introduction, Bernard Hoose, ed. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998), p. (110-122) Defines “Conscience as the whole person’s commitment to value and the judgment one makes in relation to that commitment of who one ought to be and what one ought to do or not do.” (p. 114) Also seen as a capacity of a fundamental ability to know good and evil; every person, regardless of past experience, or their culture or religion, has the ability to know the values and standards that guide human life. Can also be seen as a process for finding out what is involved in becoming a good person, and in how one discovers right and wrong in a particular...
Words: 995 - Pages: 4
...Nature Vs Nurture Of My Life The natural characteristics of a person can either be quite similar or quite different to the unnatural characteristics of a person. The natural characteristics of a person are the traits that come from their parents; the ones that people are born with which are genetically. These traits are developed biologically. The unnatural characteristics of a person, or the nurtured characteristics, are the traits that people develop themselves after they are born. The environment of a person’s life greatly determines their personality. The traits a person has that they weren’t born with are the traits that the environment has influenced on them. There are many traits that I have inherited naturally through genetics from my mom and dad. I can tell that my work ethic has been inherited from my dad because he is a very hard worker and I also strive to achieve my personal best. My mom tends to be very sensitive at times and concerned for other people’s feelings, which I know, I have inherited. I have also inherited my dad’s super mathematical skills and my mom’s loving abilities. I can also tell that I have inherited a good sense of well being from my mom. There are also many behaviors that I have developed from the environment I grew up in. I have learned to respect all people from being influenced at school and by my parents. I’ve also been trained to be responsible of things such as doing my work. I learned that if I am not responsible and don’t do my work...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...Business Ethics Not an Oxymoron Business, in a very simplified definition, describes an exchange of something for another. In this context, it can be implied that there is an understanding that the parties involved receive goods or services that are of equal value according to the appraisal system that they have agreed upon, whether it is based on units of measurement, or just mere goodwill. Business ethics can be a tricky area because the point of business is to produce a profit, often conflicts with what might reasonably be considered ethical behavior. The understanding of this basic equation has been very evident to a vast majority of well known business people, among which are those that have learned the lesson of the consequences that may result from ignoring it. The claim that business ethics is an oxymoron negates this equation because if business is structured in a way that contradicts acceptable ethical standards, then society, the other side of the equation, would react, bringing an imbalance to this natural equation, detrimental to the very survival of the business. Ethics is the style that one takes towards fullness of one’s being. We build our character in line with ethics to flourish as a person. One of the things that separate humans from other animals is the ability to reason. When you strip someone of their ability to reason or to act on what they have determined to be the best choice, you have denied them their dignity and have acted unethically. Whether...
Words: 689 - Pages: 3
...Example essay on Nature vs Nurture: The natural characteristics of a person can either be quite similar or quite different to the unnatural characteristics of a person. The natural characteristics of a person are the traits that come from their parents; the ones that people are born with which are genetical. These traits are developed biologically. The unnatural characteristics of a person, or the nurtured characteristics, are the traits that people develop themselves after they are born. The environment of a person’s life greatly determines their personality. The traits a person has that they weren’t born with are the traits that the environment has influenced on them. There are many traits that I have inherited naturally through genetics from my mom and dad. I can tell that my work ethic has been inherited from my dad because he is a very hard worker and I also strive to achieve my personal best. My mom tends to be very sensitive at times and concerned for other people’s feelings, which I know, I have inherited. I have also inherited my dad’s super mathematical skills and my mom’s artistic abilities. I can also tell that I have inherited a good sense of well being from my mom. There are also many behaviors that I have developed from the environment I grew up in. I have learned to respect all people from being influenced at school and by my parents. I’ve also been trained to be responsible of things such as doing my work. I learned that if I am not responsible and don’t do...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...intellectual and moral. We are governed by moral principles, right or wrong, individual or society. It’s one’s natural ability to lead a virtuous life (Tony Fahey, 2010). Most natural ability comes from learned behavior from childhood. It’s a behavior that identifies what is right or wrong according to how one feel’s about themselves. Living well is a concept applied to our daily well-being. Utilitarianism addresses morality as an approach to morality, implies that no moral act (e.g., an act of stealing) or rule (e.g., keeping your promise) is intrinsically right or wrong (J.P. Moreland, 2009). The rightness and wrongness of an act or rule is consequences of following the rules or performing an act. This basically says that we choose the consequences for our actions by breaking rules and acting on our decisions. Utilitarianism morality is a matter of the non-moral good produced that results from moral actions and rules (J.P. Moreland, 2009). Those who lack moral sense are not connected to or remorseful of wrongful actions. Moral actions and rules are used as a guide to how one should action, but is not always the case. Deontological ethics comes from the Greek work deon which means “binding duty” (J.P. Moreland, 2009). Making and keeping promises are a binding duty. When we feel we are not able to committee to this duty we find ways of escape. Deontological ethics are consequences that help us find our duty, not what makes something our duty...
Words: 451 - Pages: 2
...others, are empathic, and ethical, and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, organizations, and the community. 2. In what ways is servant leadership a paradox? Is servant leadership more of a trait or a behavior? Being a servant leader implies following, and following is viewed as the opposite of leading. Although servant leadership incorporates influence, the mechanism of how influence functions as a part of servant leadership is not fully explicated in the approach. Researchers cannot come to an agreement on the characteristics of servant leadership. There are far too many different opinions. Servant leadership is more of a trait because it comes from the leader, the leader wants to help, the leader wants to improve moral, it is natural and not something learned. 3. Have you known people who, by nature, are servants? In a way we are all servants, we all want to please someone and help each other to be better. I am a servant of my family; I help them and try my best for them to have everything they need to succeed. 4. How does a person become altruistic? Is this an inborn trait or a learned behavior? One becomes altruistic on an everyday basis, it is learned throughout life. I believe that it is a learned behavior as we age we learn to treat situations a different way...
Words: 1012 - Pages: 5
...Material Introduction to Psychology Worksheet Part I: Origins of Psychology Within the discipline of psychology, there are several perspectives used to describe, predict, and explain human behavior. The major perspectives in modern psychology identified in the text are neuroscience, cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, and psychodynamic. Describe these major psychological perspectives using two to three sentences each. Type your response in the space below. Neuroscience: This perspective looks for the causes of abnormal behavior primarily inside the individual. This perspective concentrates on the functioning of the brain and it affects behavior. Cognitive: Cognitive psychology focuses on the way humans process information, looking at how we treat information that comes into the brain and how this treatment leads to responses. Behavioral: Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a perspective. The basis of behavioral psychology suggests that all behaviors are learned. Humanistic: Humanistic psychology focuses on human potential and stresses the importance of growth and self-actualization. It is the fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are good by nature and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency. Psychodynamic: Psychodynamic psychology focuses on trying to get inside the head of individuals in order to make sense of their relationships, experiences and how they see the world. This...
Words: 418 - Pages: 2
...Business Research Ethics When most people think of the word ethics or morals, some think of rules for know the difference between right and wrong. Another way of defining ‘ethics’ focuses on the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology. (Resnik, 2011) The Enron scandal would be a perfect fit for Business Research Ethics. Enron had unethical behavior problems and injured parties that suffered from their mistakes. In many ways the Enron scandal opened up quite of a few doors for future issues. The company was once a really big company estimated at about $29 billion at the time of the scandal. In the early 2000’s, Enron, was a natural gas pipeline company turned into an online marvel. (Lashinsky, 2001) But in 2001 they came down hard and their entire consumers and staff were in shock. Enron was hypothetical; a company that would help their consumers collects more money. There was some unethical behavior involved in what Enron did, for example; the company was running a Ponzi scheme designed to enrich the top executives and defraud stockholders. ("Decoding Enron," 2002) That, at least, was the impression left by a scalding examination of the company's operations prepared by a special committee of Enron's board of directors. ("Decoding Enron," 2002) There was a report that was made in February 2002 that states that the partnership transactions ''served no apparent business purpose for Enron ("Decoding Enron," 2002)...
Words: 769 - Pages: 4
...Ethics Vivian Legarde PHI208: Ethics and Moral Reasoning Michele Clearman-Warner 6/6/13 Ethics The most convincing ethical system is religion. While ethics and religion are sometimes distinct fields, they are also brought together by the ways in which both determine what is right and what is wrong. For example, there are laws in society that state that rape, murder, assault and so forth are ethically wrong. A person's religion can give them deeper meaning behind these types of laws. Furthermore, they can cause a person to question if certain laws, abortion laws for example, should really fall under the category of ethics. It is necessary to have universal ethical principles. There are several ethical standards that seem to apply across cultures. The idea of a parent's duty to his/her child, a prohibition against killing useful members of society, and prohibition against incest are all examples of these universal morals. Most cultures also have some version of the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. A practicable Code of Universal Ethics was proposed by Enno Winkler. Many organizations and professions have come up with their own "universal code of ethics." For example, the scientists' professional code of ethics includes the following moral standards * Act with skill and care in all scientific work. Maintain up to date skills and assist their development in others. * Take steps to prevent corrupt practices and professional misconduct...
Words: 864 - Pages: 4
...This thought process is successful in theory under both philosophers as they each bring something of value to the table. Firmly, Hobbes provided protection and order in his theory and Locke enhanced that theory by allowing additional liberties, rights and freedoms. Out of necessity, Locke created governments to protect our liberties and to protect our natural rights, in contrast, according to Hobbes, humans have this right to life and that is why people created government was to protect human’s right to...
Words: 1470 - Pages: 6
