Morality & Cultural Ethical Relativism - Essay Example

Morality & Cultural Ethical Relativism Morality and Self-interest Scenario The issue of ethics sometimes appears to be difficult when it comes to certain issues or scenarios especially where one needs to chose between self interest and interest of others in a group. Some people may few that the concern or putting the interest of others before self interest of others is a central or necessary dimension of virtue. However, the danger to this dimension is that it may obscure the views of other people’s realities which must also claim some significant. In particular, taking into considerations the interests of others too is morally right because morality is the art of doing right to others. Therefore, sharing is imperative because it is also a moral philosophy, which can help others to benefit from something even if it is little. From the Christian philosophical perspective, self interest aspect is viewed as self love or duty to self or saving one’s soul or other aspects but this does not necessarily mean that people should refuse to share with others. Sharing is one way of fulfilling self interest since it can help in saving other people. The moral teachings from biblical point of view demands one to love others the way he or she loves himself or herself. Therefore, sharing is one of the ethical aspects that can enable one to exercise the love by showing concern to others. A common misunderstanding that arises when it comes to making moral choices is when someone is egoistical. The ethical egoist merely employs self-interest in making moral decisions but this does not necessarily mean that someone is selfish. Ethical egotism is an approach that argues that a moral principle of an action is established by the self interest of an individual. Therefore, an action that advances self-interest is moral and the one that does not advance self-interest is also moral. Making moral decisions about medical decisions is based of self-interest and many other contemporary medical aspects take into considerations ethical egoism practices. Ethical egoism is desirable because nothing is inherently wrong as long as one does it in a right way to avoid lawsuits. For those who are ethical egoists, the right thing to do is to make moral choices that will protect them from being sued or make moral choices of what is best for their self-interest. Even the bible especially Philippians 2:4 does not condemn ethical egoist or self-interest but it does require ethical egoist to be balanced with concern for others. Taking onto consideration the welfare of others is imperative because the moral act of enlightened self-interest takes into considerations self-interest of others or the concern for the society. The ability to take self-interest follows on from self confidence and self acceptance but one should bear in mind that one’s own interest will be best served in case one takes into considerations the interest of others. Human beings are fundamentally ethical egoist; thus they appear to be intrinsically concerned first with their welfare. All human beings take their interest first but they tend to forget that taking into considerations the interest of others by sharing is one way of avoiding being selfish. Sharing is vital because it is through sharing that one can not only meet his or her own demanding needs but also help others to achieve their demanding needs. Cultural Ethical Relativism Scenario Cultural ethical relativism is viewed that all beliefs, cultures, customs, norms and ethical beliefs are relative to human being within his or her social environment. Cultural ethical relativism is when the society has dissimilar moral beliefs without taking any stand on the right or wrong for those beliefs. In cultural ethical relativism, what is deemed as ethical in one society may be deemed unethical in another society. This means that diverse culture may view right and wrong in a different way because there are no common standards of morality that exists in the society; thus nobody has the right to judge other people’s cultural beliefs or their norms. What constitutes wrong or right is determined exclusively by a person or the society (MacKinnon 37). Cultural relativists believe that different societies are worthy and equal in their own rights so even if there are conflicting moral values, nobody should judge them in terms of right or wrong. The field of public health is highly complex and reorganizing ethical and developing ethical analytical skills is vital. Ethical analysis involves the use of unique set of dogmatic and evaluative aspects such as rights, virtues, duties or responsibilities, fairness, liberty, self-respect and the well being of the society (MacKinnon 57). These aspects constitute primarily moral vocabulary of the society but they are complex to define because there meanings are never determined once. Therefore, employing ethical analytical skills to determine or make moral judgments on some crucial challenges especially in a multicultural society where people have different cultures, norms and beliefs, without discrimination is significant. In the public health ethics, medical professions are required to make proper ethical choice and take their responsibility or perform their duties by making proper decisions or taking proper action in their best to achieve the interest of the public or the society as whole. In this scenario, one can inject children and leave the adults because one cannot force or judge their decision of refusing vaccination. This is because one should respect the cultural beliefs of the society and the adult cannot be forced to take medicine once they have refused. However, carrying out informed consent by informing adults about the significant of taking vaccines can help but trying to understand their cultural beliefs is more significant. This is imperative because culture is complex and it might pose conflicts; thus effective communication in this case can play significant roles. Morality is contrast to science and it does not seem so objective; thus one ought to think of morality as a matter of subjective opinion and this is what is basically termed as ethical relativism (MacKinnon 15). However, a reasonable person cannot admit cultural ethical relativism because it is more reasonable to reject ethical relativism in favor of ethical objectivism (MacKinnon 82). Cultural ethical relativism includes right or wrong; thus the society should therefore provide valid arguments or reasons for not taking vaccines. It is the right of the government to maintain a health nation or ensure the well being of the society so when vaccines are given to people in the society, issues of cultural relativism should not be taken into considerations. It is the role of medical professions to fulfill their duties; thus everyone should be offered vaccines for disease prevention in case it is a disease outbreak in the society. Although if someone refuses to take vaccines by providing reasonable justifications for not taking vaccines, then they should not be forced but rather left to make their own decisions. Cultural ethical relativism does not offer valid moral criticism and the decision of what is right or wrong is determined by an individual or the society. For instance, some cultures may view it wrong to take vaccines which do not come from their healing traditions but other cultures may view it right. Moral diversity and culture among people may impact the role of doctors, thus the need for informed consent to raise awareness on the significant of vaccines in the society where there are diverse cultures or different beliefs towards healing medicines. In the field of science, research investigations tend to result in general agreement despite cultural diversity among people. Therefore, the moral theory or judgment can apply in a universal manner; thus one tends to conclude that no objective or universally valid moral good exists. Work Cited MacKinnon, Barbara. Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Concise Edition. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Read More