My Ethical System
Each of us has an ethical system which we put into use in everyday situations. Many of us probably use this ethical system without even realizing we are applying it to our daily lives. As a Christian, my system “will tend to be more deontologically oriented because of the emphasis in Christian ethics on the command of God as moral absolutes and guiding principles” (Rae, 2009, p. 17). As circumstances arise in my life, I want to follow and emulate the character traits of Christ when resolving issues, especially ones which involve ethics. My paper will discuss which of the seven ethical systems of Rae’s is closest to mine, which ethical system is furthest from mine and how I approached an ethical dilemma when clashing ethical systems were in play.
In my life, I have generally moved along and approached situations based on right or wrong, and a sense of fairness and duty. According to Rae, the ethical system, which is closest to mine, would be defined as a Deontological system. A Deontological system of ethics are, “principle based systems, in which actions are intrinsically right or wrong…has a principle of fairness, and moral obligations or duties don’t change merely by changing the desire” (Rae, 2009, pp. 77-78). As a child, I was afraid to not follow the rules. I followed the rules at home, school, friend’s houses and when I went t places with my parents. Even as I have grown older, I have followed the rules at work, college and social situations. Along with following the rules, I felt it was unfair when others were not required to follow the rules. I believed there should be fairness across the board. When I interact with my family, friends and co-workers I want to be fair to each person and I am uncomfortable when I feel like others are not treated fairly. There are times when I do something out of duty, even when I don’t feel like doing it because I want to be fair or follow the rules. Since I see myself as Deontologist, it can be quite frustrating when I am around a person who is an Ethical Egoist, which I see as the furthest ethical system from mine. I want to follow the rules, be fair to others and follow my moral obligations by thinking of others before myself. An Ethical Egoist is more focused on his or her self-interest. This type of person “uses self-interest to make moral decisions” (Rae, 2009, p. 68). I, on the other hand, use my moral compass to make my decisions. When making decisions, I try to follow the rules, think of others while appealing to …show more content…
He was an ethical egoist, which of course, clashed with my deontological ethics system. He made me quite uncomfortable by trying to pressure me into having a medical procedure, which was not medically necessary or needed in my particular situation. It appeared that my autonomy was conflicting with his personal bias towards what would be easiest, convenient and most profitable for him. The medical procedure should have been based on what was in my best interest, not his. He was motivated by ethical egoism, serving his own interests, such as profitability and throughput, rather than my concerns and wishes. After leaving my appointment with this particular doctor, I made appointment with another doctor and my concerns were immediately validated by the second opinion, I sought, proving the first physician clearly had a
Each of us has an ethical system which we put into use in everyday situations. Many of us probably use this ethical system without even realizing we are applying it to our daily lives. As a Christian, my system “will tend to be more deontologically oriented because of the emphasis in Christian ethics on the command of God as moral absolutes and guiding principles” (Rae, 2009, p. 17). As circumstances arise in my life, I want to follow and emulate the character traits of Christ when resolving issues, especially ones which involve ethics. My paper will discuss which of the seven ethical systems of Rae’s is closest to mine, which ethical system is furthest from mine and how I approached an ethical dilemma when clashing ethical systems were in play.
In my life, I have generally moved along and approached situations based on right or wrong, and a sense of fairness and duty. According to Rae, the ethical system, which is closest to mine, would be defined as a Deontological system. A Deontological system of ethics are, “principle based systems, in which actions are intrinsically right or wrong…has a principle of fairness, and moral obligations or duties don’t change merely by changing the desire” (Rae, 2009, pp. 77-78). As a child, I was afraid to not follow the rules. I followed the rules at home, school, friend’s houses and when I went t places with my parents. Even as I have grown older, I have followed the rules at work, college and social situations. Along with following the rules, I felt it was unfair when others were not required to follow the rules. I believed there should be fairness across the board. When I interact with my family, friends and co-workers I want to be fair to each person and I am uncomfortable when I feel like others are not treated fairly. There are times when I do something out of duty, even when I don’t feel like doing it because I want to be fair or follow the rules. Since I see myself as Deontologist, it can be quite frustrating when I am around a person who is an Ethical Egoist, which I see as the furthest ethical system from mine. I want to follow the rules, be fair to others and follow my moral obligations by thinking of others before myself. An Ethical Egoist is more focused on his or her self-interest. This type of person “uses self-interest to make moral decisions” (Rae, 2009, p. 68). I, on the other hand, use my moral compass to make my decisions. When making decisions, I try to follow the rules, think of others while appealing to …show more content…
He was an ethical egoist, which of course, clashed with my deontological ethics system. He made me quite uncomfortable by trying to pressure me into having a medical procedure, which was not medically necessary or needed in my particular situation. It appeared that my autonomy was conflicting with his personal bias towards what would be easiest, convenient and most profitable for him. The medical procedure should have been based on what was in my best interest, not his. He was motivated by ethical egoism, serving his own interests, such as profitability and throughput, rather than my concerns and wishes. After leaving my appointment with this particular doctor, I made appointment with another doctor and my concerns were immediately validated by the second opinion, I sought, proving the first physician clearly had a