Intro to Ethical Decision

Making: Ethics and Moral Values

Philosophical approaches to ethical choice and

reflection…

S.K. Joshi
sk.joshi@gov.in
What is “Ethics?”

Principles of ethics should provide

us guidance as we make choices in
a complicated world. Ideally, an
account of ethics should help us to
identify moral principles and
morally relevant features of the
choices we face.
 Ethics vs. Morals… It’s blurry.
The meanings of morals and ethics do overlap.
Ways to differentiate:
 Morals are about personal behavior while ethics more
grandly philosophical.
 A moral is a lesson to be learned about a single principle of
right and wrong
 An ethic is a guiding principle that affects your
criteria for
determining what is right and wrong.
 We tend to think of morals as beliefs and values that are
given to us– taught to us by our parents, culture, religion,
etc. A system of ethics (or moral philosophy) is determined
by examining morals and choosing based on reason.
Ethics assumes that the [moral] standards exist and seeks to
describe them, evaluate them, or evaluate the premises
upon which those standards exist.
Example:
 If you say that it is wrong to steal because
God says it is or because your parents
taught you that it was, that is a moral
standard.

 On the other hand, if you ask why your

parents believe that stealing is wrong, or
why God says that this is wrong, you are
examining the philosophy and, thus,
determining ethics.
 Identifying Ethics:
 There is no simple “recipe” for ethical decision making.
 Philosophical and religious theories about ethics do not remove our
need (obligation?) to exercise deliberative judgment and to evaluate
alternative values.

Culture, Family, Education, Religion, Peers, Experience

Values and Beliefs

Asking why and
Moral Standards and Codes examining, reasons,
evidence, and
consequences

Ethical
Standards
 Role of Religious Belief in Ethics:
 For those of us who have religious beliefs, often
these beliefs are intimately tied to our values and to
the ethical principles we accept.
 But it would be a mistake to suppose that ethical values are
simply religious values—at least, the relationship is more
complex than people sometimes realize.
 Many religions teach moral standards while also upholding
high ethical standards.

 Any time says that we should do X because it is what

God wants us to do, it is appropriate to consider
the reasons we have for thinking that this is what
God wants.
Misconceptions about Ethics
Question: Are Ethical Judgments Relative, Subjective, and
Incomparable?
 Relative: Different people make different judgments,
and the evaluative judgments people make are wholly
relative to the values that they hold.
 Subjective: “Different people just have different
values, and there is no way to argue or reason about the
evaluative assumptions that lie behind different ethical
judgments or choices. There are no evaluative facts in
the way that there are facts about the physical
universe.”
 Incomparable: There is no way to compare the
judgments of different people, and no one's evaluative
judgments are any better than the evaluative
judgments of anyone else.
Misconceptions about Ethics
Claim: If it were true that ethical values are all relative,
subjective, and incomparable, then talking about ethics
would be useless.
 Why might one believe this? Is it true?

Claim: Because we have many values in common,

discussions in ethics often involve appeals to commonly
shared values.

Claim: Often discussions in ethics involve appeals to values

one believes that others accept, or values one believes
that others have reason to accept.
Discussions of Ethical Issues

Ethical argument and discussion requires:

1. Critical Thinking, Analysis and Examination
2. An Informed Understanding of the Situation
3. A sympathetic understanding of other people’s values
and other people’s point of view

We get no where if we simply preach our own values

without making an effort to understand others.
 Making an Ethical Decision
Clarify.
1. Determine precisely what must be decided.
2. Formulate and devise the full range of alternatives.
3. Eliminate patently impractical, illegal and improper alternatives.
4. Force yourself to develop at least three ethically justifiable options.
5. Examine each option to determine which ethical principles and values
are involved.
Evaluate.
6. Do any of the options requires the sacrifice of any ethical principle?
7. Which are the solid facts and which are beliefs, desires, theories,
suppositions, unsupported conclusions, opinions, and rationalizations?
8. How credible are the sources of information being used, especially
when they are self-interested, ideological or biased.
9. What are the benefits, burdens and risks to each stakeholder. Can I
live with this decision? (Will you feel guilt or regret? Will you be
comfortable with others knowing you made this decision?)