Yesterday I engaged in an interesting conversation with a friend regarding ethics, ethical codes, and ethical dilemmas. It prompted me to do a bit of research and some deep thinking about ethics in general and my own personal ideas concerning morality. The dictionary defines ethics as 1. the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment; moral philosophy 2. a system or code of morals for a particular person, group, religion, or profession. Philosophers have devoted entire lifetimes across the ages to the study of morals and the constitution of ethical behavior. Therefore, tremendous differences exist in what people believe to be right or wrong, and good or evil. Ethics also refers to the moral standards by which one lives his or her life. That begs the question then, "What does a person consider to be a good way in which to live?" I discovered a few things when researching this topic, primarily that most people follow a broad spectrum of morality, in which there are certain universal absolutes, but that they also engage in situation ethics that allows them to be flexible, pragmatic, or even indulgent.
Most people get their moral standards from the culture or environment in which they live. Parental influence and guidance primarily instill moral values, as does religion, education, and community. Some people break from the norm and create their own ethical codes. They search themselves for what they believe to be true and then act upon it. In other cases, some people (and we have all met at least one or two in our lives) seem to live by no moral code whatsoever.
In my opinion, I believe that most people, including myself, know what constitutes ethical behavior. We are aware of what is morally acceptable and what is morally repugnant, even though we don't necessarily agree on the fine details. Yet we struggle every day to fit our ideas, our actions, and our thoughts into our moral frameworks and often fail at meeting the standards that we have either set for ourselves or have been determined for us by the culture in which we grew up. To me, that struggle determines how humanity operates. It is this constant friction between knowing what is right and doing what is right that moves people either to action or inaction, tolerance or intolerance, happiness or misery.
Personally, I find ethics to be a fascinating subject, and I often think about and critique whether or not my behaviors live up to the ideals I have set for myself. My moral standards have been influenced by Judeo-Christian tradition, by what my parents knew to be true, and by my own internalized, yet possibly not fully articulated beliefs, and currently I am comfortable with what I believe to be right thinking and right behavior. I know, though, that I often fall short of what I should be thinking and doing, and I use situational ethics to justify when I have failed. Just acknowledging that, however, makes me realize that I am on the right track because of my awareness of these slips ups and because of the cognitive dissonance I experience when I engage in bad behavior. My conscience is a doozy. I feel every bit of what I do, when I know it violates my moral code.
As in everything in life, ethics can be finely nuanced. Certain situations require a determination of what constitutes the greater good, or the best benefit when determining between right and wrong actions. I usually settle these ethical dilemmas by my one overarching standard: Do not do anything to hurt another person unnecessarily. By following this, pretty much everything else falls into place. It is just a variation on the Golden Rule, and almost all cultures I know hold this to be one of their most fundamental moral standards. For me it is the primary one in my life and I don't compromise on it. I hate hurting people and avoid it whenever I can. Not to say that I never disappoint someone or inadvertently hurt someone through thoughtless action or statements, but I never intentionally or blatantly try to injure another person.
At the very core of me, I am a lover of humanity and a believer in morality. While my ideas of what constitute right and wrong or good and evil might not always agree with other views, I am a good person. I try every day to live by what those beliefs that I know are true, and right, and good. And when I fail, as I am wont to do, I will get up and try again. If I am lucky enough, aware enough, and try hard enough I may just leave this world a bit better than when I entered it.
No comments:
Post a Comment