What is Ethics?
Ethics is:
How do people try to resolve ethical issues/dilemmas?
From Penn State:
Ethics is:
- systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior (wikipedia)
- critical thinking about right and wrong action
- involves careful, thoughtful study of values, not just reliance on intuition or what our friends think
- branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions
- feelings
- religion
- following the law
- violation of a general principle
- something that breaks the moral principles or rules set in place by our culture
- an issue where there is strong disagreement
- baby buying/selling
- reproductive technologies
- transracial adoption
- international adoption
- open adoption
- open adoption records
- private vs. public adoption organizations
How do people try to resolve ethical issues/dilemmas?
From Penn State:
| Step 1: | Determine the facts in the situation - obtain all of the unbiased facts possible |
| Step 2: | Define the Stakeholders - those with a vested interest in the outcome |
| Step 3: | Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders - using effective communication techniques and personality assessment |
| Step 4: | Formulate alternative solutions - based on most complete information available, using basic ethical core values as guide |
| Step 5: | Evaluate proposed alternatives - short-list ethical solutions only; may be a potential choice between/among two or more totally ethical solutions |
| Step 6: | Seek additional assistance, as appropriate - engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, and reliance on personal experience, prayer |
| Step 7: | Select the best course of action - that which satisfies the highest core ethical values |
| Step 8: | Implement the selected solution - take action as warranted |
| Step 9: | Monitor and assess the outcome - note how to improve the next time |
- Increase awareness on the current ethical issues/dilemmas
- Get everyone's perspective (adoptees, adoptive parents/families, and birth parents)
- Providing a set of regulations for adoption organizations
- A Framework for Thinking Ethically
- Five Sources of Ethical Standards
- The Utilitarian Approach
- The Rights Approach
- The Fairness or Justice Approach
- The Common Good Approach
- The Virtue Approach
Your post is very informative! I like that you not only explained what ethics is, but also what it is not. I especially liked the steps you listed to resolve ethical dilemmas. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteI really think you guys highlighted and clearly defined all that Ethics entails. Our group discussed that it is the balance of morals (intuition) but you guys really touched on the component that it involves the study of values. When we really take a step back and look at “Ethics”, its power is displayed in that it “shapes attitudes and constrains behaviors. Ethics provides a basic social need by defining the behaviors we expect and will accept from one another.”In the big picture of life ethics allows us to live together.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that you guys also posted how to resolve ethical issues/dilemmas and not just listed them but gave a reference to a “how-to” approach. Another ethical dilemma with adoption that our group discussed was lesbian/gay couples and their rights to and for adoption.
Can’t wait to keep reading!
Much like what has been said I like your group's ethics piece. It came through in a powerful message that not only addressed what is/are ethics but also what they aren't, which is needed, I think, in the explanation because this subject is often pondered upon wrongly. I was, although, hoping to get a different definition of ethics from something other than wikipedia, such as websters. I also enjoyed the fact that you brought in information on ethics from Penn State. Great Work.
ReplyDeleteMichael from Group Awesome
I think that your post about ethics is extremely informative. The way you laid all of the information out was organized and logical. For instance, asking the questions that other's might be wondering on the topic of ethics and subsequently answering them in a list-like format. Giving ways of practicing 'thinking ethically' and showing ways that some issues are resolved is a helpful way to let your readers know that although these issues are extremely touchy, they can be solved in more than one way with compromises and it's the perfect way to end your post. Way to go guys!
ReplyDelete-Judy