Making a Decision Based on What an Individual Perceives as Acceptable - Essay Example

Ethics "An individual has the freedom to hire anyone he chooses to work in his business without justifying that choice to anyone."Now consider this statement: "A individual has the freedom to invite only those people she wants in her home." Would the results of applying Thirouxs three principles to this second statement differ from the application to the first statement? Why or why not? The issue of making a decision based on what an individual perceives as acceptable falls under the principle of individual freedom (Thiroux, 1998). The principle of individual freedom allows individuals to choose what they consider as morally right. According to Thiroux and Krassermann, the principle of individual freedom also known as the principle of autonomy, this demonstrates personal freedom and the right to self-determinism (1980). If we consider the statement that, “an individual has the freedom to hire whoever he chooses to work for in his business without justifying that choice to anyone” and the statement, “an individual has the freedom invite those people she wants in her home”. The application of Thiroux’s principle to these statements will differ. This is because though both statements represent the concept of individual freedom. The second statement falls under a moral issue. It does represents and individuals’ personal standard. It has more to do with a person’s attitude of what he likes or dislikes. On the other, hand the second statements although it represents the concept of individuals’ freedom but it still has to consider the ethical standards that the society has set. Therefore, in as much as the individual has the right to hire anyone. He still has to consider other factors like professional ethics, the company ethics. Therefore, we can see that the second statement has more to do with an individual’s moral code and most of the time it is unchanging. However, for the first person the ethics of the practices depends on other factors. The first statement will also be affected by the principle of truth telling and honesty where by the person hiring should hire an individual based on the individuals qualification. Failure to do that a conflict between him and the society may be the result. We, therefore, treat the second statement as a moral decision-making and the first one as an ethical decision-making. Discuss the following statement: "Non-moral goods are relative to culture and even to individuals. Some moral goods are not relative." In your discussion, you must define "Good" and distinguish between moral and non-moral goods first. Then give the pros and cons of the statement. Give examples to illustrate your point. Ethics entails the study of morality; this study involves examining the ethical, bad, right or wrong. The human morals are those things that define a person’s character. Morals have to do with the good, right, and wrong all these put together define morality. If we consider what people, consider as morally acceptable it has so much to do with characteristics such as decency, kindness, honesty, integrity and righteousness. For one to be morally right it has to do with being correct, true, accurate, exact and precise. A non-moral deed is one that incorrect, mistaken, not right dishonest and unethical (Waltz, 2007). Thiroux argues that it is difficult to argue that there are natural, moral laws; however, he believes that values are relative to time, place, person and situation. He, therefore, strongly believes that no values are independent cultures and people (1998). Thiroux looks at the variation in customs and practices; he concludes that morality is an adaptation from culture. Thiroux states that different cultures believe that their morality is the one true morality. However, it is evident that there are some similar moral principles that exist in all societies, for example, the prohibition on murder, truth telling. Some values may also be similar among individuals, for example, similarity in sentiment, jealousy, emotion, love, need for respect. If we consider the statement, non-moral goods are relative to culture and even individuals the statement holds some truth Thiroux illustrates this by giving the example of clitoridectomy. This is a cultural practice unique to some societies; the practice does fall under a non-moral good. This is because it harms the female who undergoes the procedure. However, the society that fosters this procedure believes that this upholds the dignity of the female in the society. The whole idea of clitoridectomy also depends on an individual’s decision to accept whether the procedure is what the society says it is, or to consider what professionals say that the procedure is harmful to the female. Thiroux observes that cultures do disagree, but that does not mean that a belief cannot be right or wrong. For instance, the disagreement on the issue of clitoridectomy across cultures does not make the act wrong for those cultures that practice it. Thiroux further observes that the similarity in societies does not suggest the existence of absolutes. The idea non-moral goods are relative to culture also to individuals does determine how a society relates to one another also defines how that society live, the bad part of such morals being relative to a society does affect how these individuals relate to society outside his cultural setting. Walt summarises that the moral values determine how humans relate among themselves, how human treats other beings this is vital in the promotion of mutual welfare growth creativity and meaning as they strive for good over bad and right over wrong (2007). Truth telling is both a virtue and a moral principle. It is at the heart of human interaction. Discuss the importance of truth telling in health care, business, and the environment. Be specific about the benefits and harms involved in truth telling and its absence in each of these fields. What other moral principles might truth-telling conflict with? Is there always only one "truth" in each situation? Truth telling is indeed a virtue and a moral principle. According to Thiroux, the principle of truth telling and honesty is necessary for meaningful communication (1998). In the healthcare department, the principle of truth telling also known as veracity. The veracity principle sees to it that patient know the truth without any form of misleading by the medical practitioners. Some dilemmas that the medical practitioners face are the challenges that they speak the truth when they clearly know that the truth will harm the patient. Suborn states that truth telling is vital in the health field because it forms the basis of interaction between the physician and patient. Suborn further states that truth telling in the medical fields requires individual and cultural sensitivity, empathy compassion and respect for the patient. Patients prefer to know the truth of their medical situations, so they involve themselves in the decision making process concerning their medication. The aspect of truth telling in the health care system may conflict with other principles such as confidentiality (Suborn, 2006). Hayes examines the value of truth telling in the business research has shown that truth telling does increase the value of a business, Hayes states that a business can reconstruct themselves profitably by fostering the principle of integrity and honouring ones word (2011). Although businesspersons believe that honesty does not pay the business, does benefit from increasing their opportunities. The researchers state that lying does affect the business performance. The virtue of truth telling to the customers enables a business to cultivate, loyal customers. Research indicates that people alter their judgement based on perceived quality of information. The customers need to be provided with the right information that will enable them trust n their service providers. This trust will transform the customers to loyal customers. Usually what the customer needs is the credibility of the information they receive concerning their product of interest. The concept of truth fullness in the fields may contradict with other moral principles such as justice and fairness. For instance, if a company decides to spread rumours about a competitive company it destroys the image of the company and; therefore, it has acted unjustly and selfishly for its own good. This act does promote enmity among competing companies. Lastly, let us consider truth telling and the environment. The environmentalists’ have a fundamental ethical and professional obligation to tell the truth about issues that impact the environment. Exposing the truth about matters affecting the environment does alert people on the consequences of the action towards the environment. This in a way helps to solve part of the environmental problems. Many people may take the initiative to develop programmes that raise awareness of the harm of human activities on the environment. The harm that may be involved with telling the truth is the exposure of the ugly situations that come up in an effort to save and enlighten people about the environment. The main aim of telling the truth is to enable scientists find a solution to the environmental crisis that affects the world. It is also a strategy to mobilize individuals from around the world to assist in coming up with effective methods that will help in saving the environment. The code of ethics that govern the body of environmentalist may be conflicting with the principle of truth telling. The body of environmentalist has the obligation of protecting the health, security and interests of the public. At times to achieve this they may have to lie to prevent situations such as panic attacks. However, this lying may result to a conflicting idea with the principles of truth, which aims at also protecting the interests of the public. Lets us conclude the essay by saying many ethical issues are not easy to solve. It does take the expertise of more than one person to come up with a solution for the ethical dilemmas. In the principles presented by Thiroux, the principle of individual freedom s considered as being the subordinate to all the other principles. An individual’s freedom can affect the lives of the society. Therefore, we conclude that and individuals freedom is secondary to the needs of the public (Williams, 1996). The principle of telling the truth forms the basis for all moral and ethical actions; however, we know that truth telling can cause panic and, therefore, greater harm. In considering, the principle of goodness or rightness Williams observes that the society changes and so does the values and its perception of what they perceive to be good. He supports the idea of Kant that we should promote goodness over badness, and we cause no harm and prevent harm at all cost. References Hayes-Roth. (2011). the Value of Truth telling. Hoboken: IEEE Press. Hayes-Roth. (2011). Truthiness fever:How lies and Propaganda are Poisoning Us and aTen step progranm for Recovery. Retrieved December 2011, from Bockerlock.com: http://faculty.nps.edu/fahayesr/docs/The%20Value%20of%20Truth%20Telling.pdf Kem, D. J. (2006). The Use of Ethical Triangle in Military Ethical Decision Making. Public Adminstration and Management , 22-43. Kendrick. K. (1993). Understanding Ethics In Nursing Practice. Br J Nurse , 920-925. Lee. F. G., Lee. A. J., Practical Environmental Ethics: Is There an Obligation to tell the Whole Truth. Carlifornia. Surborn, A. (2006). trueth telling and ethcal issues: an overview. Milano, Italy: European school of Oncology. Thiroux. P.J., (1980). Absolutism Versus Relativism. In Thiroux, Ethics Theory and Practice. Encino,CA: Glencoe. Thiroux. P.J. and Krassermann K.W., (1998). Ethics Theory and Practice. Encino, CA: Glencoe. Waltz, K. (2007). What is Morality. North Central Technical college. Williams. (1996). To Kill Or Not To Kill:A Question of Wartime Ethics. Nursng Ethics , 1-8. Read More