Oh, ethics how you make me think. Should morality, virtues, or utility define you? If I use morals, then I get trapped in a constructivist’s debate. Defining morals is contextual and intersubjective. If I liberate country X, I justify my action through my duty to help the citizens of country X. But, the rulers in country X, whom I just overthrew, will probably view my actions of invasion of a sovereign nation as immoral (and therefore unethical).
If I use virtues to define ethnics, then I trap myself into a dogma that may not be shared worldwide. My idea of justice, a component of virtues, may differ from that of Country X. It also falls prey to evolution of just want justice is. Is the death penalty justice for a murder? The argument becomes skewed if we base ethnics on virtues. (Other virtues include generosity and charity.)
If I use utilitarianism to define ethics, I get stuck into a statistical nightmare. Just as a student mentioned in class, how does one define, empirically, how many people Mother Teresa helped? An act that helps many people may be deemed ethical, but using this standard to critique other acts is problematic: again, context matters.
Ethics, to me, does not come to the table when making decisions. (Beliefs and values might, but ethics do not.) No individual actor is an ethicist while being a “decider.” Actors make decisions based on the knowledge available. Ethical judgments are left up to, well, everyone after the decision has already been made—people like us. I don’t believe George Bush thought about ethical questions while coming to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He had interests, maybe justified by morals, but did not consider ethics.
In this sense, I feel ethics is quite troubling. Other people define my ethicalness by evaluating my actions through individual, unique standards. You define my ethics. Therefore, nihilism is my new approach. I do not subscribe to any set dogma; rather, I will judge ethics a case-to-case, person-to-person basis.
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1 comment:
Not to lock you into another intellectual debate with yourself, but how do you distinguish ethics from values and beliefs? Is it more than just semantics?
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