Analysis of Ethics in the 21st Century - Literature review Example

Ethics in the 21st Century Number: Introduction There is no issue that is as pervasive and dynamics as ethics. Ethics permeates a people’s total way of life and gives socio-cultural groups their distinct identities. However, the fact that globalization and technological developments have rendered the earth a global village has made ethics very dynamic. As a matter of fact, because of globalization, the world is currently witnessing the amalgamation of different ethical values into one. At the same time, with the technological developments and globalization, there are emerging trends that are heralding new ethical issues and challenges. It is against this backdrop that Mary Alice Trent, a professor of English with Oral Roberts University, wrote Ethics in the 21st Century which was published by the Longman Publishing Company in 2004. In this book, Trent discusses a wide range of issues that underpin ethics in different settings such as the classroom, medicine, law, humanities and cognitive sciences, journalism and the media, the corporate and business world and the field of scientific research. That Trent carries out a comprehensive analysis on the concept of ethics is well underscored by the wide range of topics she integrates in the introductory portion of the book. Similarly, the input of different authorities she incorporates in the study continues to underscore this comprehensive approach that Trent adopts. Particularly, Trent factors the work by William Byron who in his treatise, The Streets of Life, discusses how ethics govern day-to-day life and choices. Byron for instance discusses the relationship between trust and neglect among adolescents and their parents as being underpinned by ethics. Byron argues that religious studies and philosophy bring up moral and ethical issues that form a facet of the humanizing conversation. He divulges that without the consideration of these ethical and moral issues that philosophy and religious studies raise, it is likely that the present and subsequent generations of students will sleepwalk into an uncertain and unknown future. Thus, Trent’s ingenuity is seen in her reference to Byron’s work to underscore her standpoint concerning the importance of ethics. In a closely related wavelength, Trent uses Jeanne Moe’s input from the article, Archaeology, Ethics and Character. Herein, the relationship between ethics and archaeological investigations emerges clearly. To Moe, ethical issues stem from the inability of the archaeological investigator to tamper his archaeological school of thoughts with objectivity, during an archaeological investigation. The issue of positive social change is also brought to the fore, through the consideration of Sarah Hutchins’ work, Changing the World, One Child at a Time. In this case, the issue of the genesis and relaying of ethics is brought into consideration. The role that parents, mentors, teachers and guardians play is underscored as being very instrumental for the inculcation of ethical values. Through examples and comprehensive explanations, Hutchins shows that an individual’s formative years are the most crucial as far as the inculcation of ethical values are concerned. Hutchins makes it logical that should there be attempts to resuscitate the inculcation of ethical values, societies in the 21st century must deal with children at the individual level, in lieu of aiming at lump sum changes. Jonathan Moore and Martin Marty’s Religion and Education is also considered greatly to underscore the relevance of religion in education. Herein, Moore and Marty ask critical questions about the essence of ethics and how ethics and religion are related. Moore and Marty explain that almost all societies including America, traced and preserved their ethical values in religion. The import of Moore and Marty’s input is that excising religion from education may not auger well with the need to uphold ethical issues. In the second chapter, Trent places her focus on the relation between ethics and journalism. Trent refers to Howard Myrick’s work, The Search for Objectivity in Journalism to explain how ethics is relevant to journalism. In the discussion, ethics is not merely seen as the originator of work standards and regulation in journalism, but also as the fundamental(s) that uphold the integrity and standards of journalism. For instance, herein, objectivity is touted as one of the most primal ethical values in journalism. This is to the effect that no media house or journalist should present or broadcast information in a lopsided manner, or in a manner that is subject to personal whims and intent. At the same time, other ethical values such as concealment of the identity of the source of information and other issues relating to the liberalization of the media are also brought into consideration. The gravity of this discussion is that in the absence of ethics, journalism will begin to forfeit the quintessential role that it plays (Lako, Trounson and Daher, 2010). The issue of liberalization of the media to the effect that the government desists from controlling information or the dissemination of information also follows cue in the discussion, as an issue of ethics. Brendan Smith’s The Unyielding Juggernauts of Capitalism shows clearly that both alternatives (the government controlling the media or the media being liberalized) raise serious ethical concerns. Particularly, with the government controlling the media or information, chances for corruption in public offices and poor administration being reported are likely to be abated. Conversely, that dissemination of information should be left in the hands of media moguls and empires is a matter that readily brings serious ethical concerns. Among many concerns, there are cases where certain media outlets side with a section of the government due to common interests. For instance, Fox News is known to lean towards Republicans and many a time, has aired contents that are lopsided. This takes away the ethical value which is objectivity. Trent also does not sidestep the issue of transparency in polls. Trent feature’s Matthew Robinson’s Politicians and Polls to underscore how dissemination of opinion poll results almost always reach the public after undergoing a complex interplay in the hands of a biased opinion pollster and media house. In the third chapter Ethics and Law, Trent discusses the manner in which ethics underpin the dispensation and teaching of the law. For instance, Trent, by considering Cynthia A. Stark’s Fundamental Rights and the Right to Bear Firearms shows that ethics overrules, inspires and generates the law. In Stark’s discussion, while it is ethical that an individual is accorded the means to exact the right to personal defense, it becomes unethical if the same individual should abuse that right to harm or shortchange others. Because of this, the issue of ethics governing the dispensation of the law is seen in the right to defense being legal, and using the same provision to harm others being proscribed. In the same vein, Trent brings the issue of freedom of free speech to mention, by considering Karen Judson’s Laws and Civil Liberties in Cyberspace. It is the same ethics that gives human beings as free moral agents, free speech and association. However, it is the same ethics that inspire the outlawing of the use of cyberspace to carry out fraud, spread terrorist propaganda, recruit people into a terrorist outfit, leak classified information, hack into people’s, private or public organization’s profiles. The import of this is that ethics or ethical values exist to safeguard order in a gregarious assemblage of competitive human beings, while the law exists as the formal codification of these values, to sanction the use of instruments of coercion on the contraveners of these values. In the fourth chapter, Trent discusses the interaction between ethics and business. Trent discusses the place of ethics in the law of contract, by considering Matthew Grimm’s, Is Marketing to Kids Ethical? This is because, apart from the exchange of values between the parties entering a contract and giving the contract a proper form (by putting it in writing), a contract requires consent (meaning that both parties entering the contract should have attained the age of consent and be compos mentis) to be legit or binding (Choi and Berger, 2010). The discussion on ethics is also extended to the fifth chapter where Trent divulges on the relation between ethics and medicine. Trent shows that ethics seriously underpin medical decisions, to the point of bringing about legal implications. For instance, complexity in determining the most ethical decision is seen in a situation where a patient’s brain death status has not yet been determined, in the face of scarcity of healthcare facilities. The ethical dilemma may be further compounded by radical parents’ insistence that their child must be treated, since they have faith in God. Trent uses Peter Singer’s Changing Ethics in Life and Death Decision Making, to underscore the complex interplay that ethics and medicine bring. Ethics also come into play in determining the legitimacy of new medical technologies such as stem cell research and cloning (Coffey, 2010). According to Waness (2011), the issue of ethics can also not be taken lightly in the face of organ transplant. Trent also dedicates her time and energy to the discussion on ethics, computer crimes and plagiarism. In the final chapter, Sara Rimer discusses how the culture of plagiarism is becoming a serious issue, following the advent of the Internet. Rimer in her article, A Campus Fad that’s Being Copied describes the ethical problem as a concern that has become ubiquitous and is threatening the legitimacy of American education. Verne Kopytoff in the article, Brilliant or Plagiarized, makes propositions of how the ethical challenge of intellectual dishonesty or academic cheating can be extirpated. Conclusion In respect to the foregoing, it is clear that ethics permeate every sphere of human existence, despite the breakneck pace at which the 21st century society is becoming liberal. Trent throughout the discussion shows that ethics form the very fundamentals of academics, medicine, human rights and law, business and the existence and operations in the virtual world. The import of Trent’s input is that divorcing ethics from the 21st century society is bound to bring catastrophic setbacks in academics, medicine, human rights and law, business and operations in the virtual world. As a matter of fact, some of these facets of human existence and advancement such as human rights and law may cease to exist, should ethics be taken away. References Coffey, P. (2010). Law, ethics, religion, and clinical translation in the 21st century: A discussion with Pete Coffey. Stem Cells, 28 (4), 636-8. Choi, C. & Berger, R. (2010).Ethics of Celebrities and Their Increasing Influence in 21st Century Society. Journal of Business Ethics, 91 (3), 313-318 Lako, M., Trounson, A. & Daher, S. (2010). Law, ethics, religion, and clinical translation in the 21st century: a discussion with John Sinden. Stem Cells, 28 (1), 3-4. Trent, M. A. (2004). Ethics in the 21st Century. New York: Longman Publishing. Waness, A. (2011). Ethical concerns in early 21st century organ transplantation. Journal of Medical Ethics & History of Medicine, 4 (1), 1-5. Read More