Tenets of Normative Ethics - Essay Example

? Moral Autobiography Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals with values relating to human conduct. It analyzes whether an action is right or wrong according to the degree of goodness and badness involved in the action and the motives. Like all others, my behavior too is the product of both genetics and socialization. So, the ethics in me too has been undergoing the influence of both. In other words, the gene in me and the society around me both had an impact on my behavior and my ethics. Genetics made me possess certain innate qualities that I find difficult to erase. However, it seems to me that socialization had a larger role in deciding my outward behavior (Text). For example, my present skills, knowledge, values, emotions and my role are all decided by the society. Admittedly, the very beginning of my socialization was from family followed by peers, school and the wider society. Thus, the beginning of my ethics was from my family, especially my parents. As my father is a Jew and mother has no affiliation with any religion, I grew up with no influence of any religion on me. However, the values of ethics that developed in me were mainly imported from the values I observed in my parents. In the early stages of my life, that is play, I imitated the surroundings I saw. I played doctor, police, father and teacher. At this stage, even without my knowing, the basic values of ethics were getting inculcated. Evidently, in the beginning, my ethics was entirely normative in nature. Admittedly, it was somewhat in the kind of the Golden Rule that one should do to others what one wants others to do to one. I learnt the fact that I should respect my parents, teachers and all elders. In addition, certain fundamentals like killing or harming is bad, it is good to help others were also incorporated into my ethical repertoire. Here, the tenets of Role Theory seem useful. According to the theory, the observable social behavior of people is like carrying out ones role in the society. For example, as a child I was made to obey my parents and all other elders I met. In addition, as the Symbolic Interaction Theory suggests, I started developing the concept of self. As I was defining myself, I found myself taking the role of a son and a student. As a child, I used to observe and play the roles of various people. As I imitated my father, I observed how my father has been with me, and thus I got the ideas of ethics. Admittedly, at this stage, I got no influence of religion, and the only ethical aspects of my life came from my parents' advice and observation I made. As a result of the normative nature of my ethics, I can say it was virtue ethics that I upheld in the beginning. It was inculcated not as my duty, but as a virtue I should develop. If I try to mention them, the very first thing is that one is supposed to respect all elders, especially parents and teachers. In addition, I found that unnecessarily harming anyone is morally wrong as Symbolic Interaction Theory claims. As I found that others do not engage in such activities that are harmful to others, I realized that harming others is immoral. However, as I reached adolescence and started mingling with may people, I reached what is called utilitarian concept. I found the fat that if I behave well with others, there is the feeling of wellbeing in the group I live. In addition, there was the development of deontological idea that I can expect in return, the kind of virtue I produce. In addition, I rightly followed the principles of virtue ethics by trying to develop a eudaimon life that gives satisfaction. Admittedly, this took place mainly because my parents, especially my mother taught me that if one has virtue in life, or if one always does good things in life, one will have peace and thus will be a good human being. However, reaching adolescence and reaching the Christian school, my concepts of ethics developed and altered a lot. Admittedly, Christian ethics varies from ethics in general. While Christian ethics stress on what religion wants us to do, the secular ethics I gained so far only considered what is good for the society. For example, I so far understood the ethical principles in the light of normative ethics that taught ethics only as a value that is good to be upheld. However, the Christian ethics taught that it is the duty of humans to be ethical according to the principles of Christianity, and consequently, there arose a number of contradictions. For example, my utilitarian ethics made me think that it is good to adopt capital punishment, abortion, and euthanasia if they promoted common good in the society. According to my concept until then, the adoption of these killings had to be dependent on the particular situation in hand. However, there came radical changes in my ethical view as I started gaining from the Christian principles from the Christian schools where I studied. There, I learnt a lot about ethic and morality. For example, for the first time in my life, I was learning the importance of life. For the first time, I found my normative ethics contradicting the Christian ethics in a serious way. For example, Christian principles are stern in the fact and claim that no life can be ended artificially. However, I found a dilemma in this connection. For example, I found some circumstances where it may be very necessary to depend on euthanasia. In case of uncontrollable pain and suffering and when there is no hope of a cure, I reached the opinion from my own assessment that mercy killing may be allowed in such circumstances. Moreover, I found another dilemma that abortion too becomes such a question that is difficult to answer according to the principles of Christian ethics. To illustrate, though Christianity says that killing, in all cases is against morality, it does not take all life situations into account. For example, there are instances when the growth of the fetus may be a risk to the life of the mother. The religion does not say if it is right to kill the fetus or do abortion in such circumstances. In addition is the sexual ethics. During my education, I came to know more about environmental ethics. This is so because my school curriculum and media used to point out the importance of protecting environment and the responsibility of humans to protect the environment. In addition, I became familiar with various theories ranging from biocentrism, holism, ecocentrism, land ethic, social ecology, ecofeminism, and so on. I found myself satisfied with the principles of eco-holism as it believes in the coexistence of all ecological entities. Here too, I found Christian ethics in contradiction as it believes in the superiority of humans in the ecology. While religion promotes the exploitation of nature as according to its tents everything is made for humans, it does not say anything about protecting nature and other living creatures. Moreover, as I reached the society in my youth, I understood the fact that there are various people in the society from various races, places and colors. In addition, I found that most of the time, there exists discrimination in the society based on caste, creed, and religion. The Christian principles of ethics taught me that all people are equal and all deserve equal treatment. In total, I reached the conclusion from my ethical observation that the tenets of normative ethics are more vital and more useful for the survival of the society. While Christian ethics seem strong with clearly defined rules, most of the rules are difficult to follow in absolute sense. Read More