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Week 1a - Reflecting Upon Ethics

The document discusses the definition and nature of ethical judgments. It states that ethical judgments are typically phrased in terms of things like best interests, happiness, fairness, safety, rights, duties, responsibilities, bad consequences, and virtues. Ethical judgments involve making reasoned decisions about what people should or should not do based on well-founded principles of right and wrong. Ultimately, ethics is about guiding human behavior and decisions according to moral standards aimed at promoting overall goodness.

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Jonathan Acuña
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1K views

Week 1a - Reflecting Upon Ethics

The document discusses the definition and nature of ethical judgments. It states that ethical judgments are typically phrased in terms of things like best interests, happiness, fairness, safety, rights, duties, responsibilities, bad consequences, and virtues. Ethical judgments involve making reasoned decisions about what people should or should not do based on well-founded principles of right and wrong. Ultimately, ethics is about guiding human behavior and decisions according to moral standards aimed at promoting overall goodness.

Uploaded by

Jonathan Acuña
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fresco – Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico DF - Mexico

Picture taken by Jonathan Acuña (2019)

Reflecting Upon Ethics: What is it?


Ethical Judgments

“Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe


what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits for
society, fairness, or specific virtues” (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, & Meyer, 2010).
By gathering one’s thoughts after reading this definition of ethics, one can
conclude that it is about how people should live righteously in search of happiness.
Hence, ethics then manifests itself in our lives as moral judgments regarding all
human endeavors.

“Plausible ethical judgements are made through a process of moral


reasoning and in terms of things we value” (The Open University, 2020). Feeling
the lure of temptation by trying to frame the moral judgments’ lore, it can be
roughly stated that people phrase their ethical assessments in terms of what they
look for or what it is expected from their actions. In the end, ethics is “what people
should or should not make happen, what people should and shouldn’t do, and
why” (The Open University, 2020). And based on these ideas of making happen
and doing, humans phrase their understanding of moral judgments.

Not trying to upend the order of moral judgments, many of people’s ethical
judgments are phrased in terms of what they look for. As it can be observed
without having to brood over for a lengthy moment, that the list below specifies
many of the things one looks for in life. “Ethics refers to well-founded standards
of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of
rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues” (Velasquez,
Andre, Shanks, & Meyer, 2010). Ethics is a fearsome way of living in a world where
bloodlust is every and anywhere; yet it is what it is expected from others to
collective attain society’s best interests, one’s happiness, fairness among peers,
safety for oneself and people in one’s inner circle, and rights.

best interests
happiness
Ethical judgments are phrased in term of … fairness
safety
rights
Adapted by Prof. Jonathan Acuña from The Open University’ Global Ethics (2020)

As people delve deeper into understanding ethical assessments, it is


necessary to take note of the feelings brimming inside oneself when talking about
responsibilities, duties, rights, consequences, decency, morality, and virtue. These
are not things people are exactly looking for in their lives’ ethics, but these are
moral constructs linked to ethical actions that are expected from fellow people.
Ethics is also “the study and development of one’s ethical standards” (Velasquez,
Andre, Shanks, & Meyer, 2010), which are encased within all these types of actions
in a person’s life.

duties
responsibilities
Ethical judgments are phrased in term of people’s… rights
bad consequences
decency, morality, virtue
Adapted by Prof. Jonathan Acuña from The Open University’ Global Ethics (2020)

One does not have to be out of one’s wits to comprehend that humanity is
ruled by ethics. This is not about thinking that the gods rule from on high, and
they are the ones who instruct humans to act morally in the eyes of their fellow
people. As stated by Aristotle (2016), “every craft and every investigation, and
likewise every action and decision, seems to aim at some good; hence the good
has been well described as that at which everything aims.” Humans are ruled by
reason, and reason should be governed by morality aiming at goodness.

References
Aristotle. (2016). Nicomachean Ethics. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

The Open University. (2020). Ethics. Retrieved October 17, 2020, from FutureLearn.Com:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/global-ethics/3/steps/905593

Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. (2010, January 1). What is Ethics? Retrieved October
19, 2020, from Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University:
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/

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