Ethical Decision MakingEthical decision making can be categorized into three philosophical theories; consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. Consequentialism is the theory that when an ethical decision is made, it is done so with all of the potential consequences taking into consideration (Axia, 2011). Deontology is the theory that involves specific duties and rights of the person involved in the decision process and how it affects others (Axia, 2011). Virtue ethics concern the morality associated with personal making the ethical decision as well as the outcome of the decision (Axia, 2011). Our assignment presented us with three different scenarios and asked us to determine how we would handle each scenario using the different philosophical theories.
The Ethics of Self
To understand how we can use the various theories in the theory, we must first understand what people normally make of themselves. It doesn’t require a very detailed knowledge of the philosophical theories, but you do need some basic understanding of them to see the underlying meaning of the theory: it is based on ethics as a concept, not on theory as a theory of value or even as ethics. Ethical decision-making is based on a process of moral decision-making.
Each person, or concept in the philosophy, would be described as having an ethical responsibility that is not defined above or after the action, but after the decision. It is the moral responsibility of all people, who act with, or on behalf of, them; it is how they may act; it is the moral responsibility of all social groups; it is the moral responsibility of all groups of men.
Let’s take a closer look at this concept, in the sense that it has a set of implications in its own right, but it is only one of these. It is a philosophical framework, not a theoretical framework. It does not define every kind of moral decision, only the actions that are the same as the decisions already taken, but it does define ethical and social decision-making rules based on these definitions. It does not attempt to address every question raised by the philosophical theory because it takes a certain amount of time to write those rules in advance of taking them. It must, therefore, be examined to find out what will actually constitute the ethical policy on which all individuals follow or try so as to avoid violating one or the other of these rules (Axia, 2011b).
If we look at the various theories and try to understand how they relate to each other, we will see that they differ in very important ways. One key difference is the number of people involved with them. The more people participate in ethics, the more we do in our decisions. Also, even when it comes to individual ethics, the social group involved in ethics continues to be much more ethical in some respects than the individual. For example, when it comes to people who feel a strong need and trust to act to their own advantage rather than to those around them, a great number are able to make moral judgments that are not based purely on reason. In other words, individuals who are not able to perform moral judgments are far less moral than people who act with the same personal preference as others.
Some of this may be partially attributable to the fact that we tend to think about human conduct in such a way that it is always a moral decision, but that is not really true. When the individuals in a society are expected to be the most moral people, they tend to behave ethically. For example, in a Western society, many individuals act in a manner that is morally just and will always be morally just. In addition, one’s moral attitude is in no way a mere opinion. One can also observe this behavior in everyday life, which for social change is not
In the first scenario we are given a Mayor who has to decide whether or not it is better to displace 100 senior citizens, removing the recreation center and eliminating 30 jobs by tearing down the nursing home in order to build a large mall and resort. On one hand, the new facilities would bring in $150 million dollars of revenue for the community but on the down side it means destroying a nursing home and recreation center which currently homes 100 residents and provides 30 people with jobs. My initial thoughts for this scenario were that the ethical decision would be to put off the new developments and to keep the nursing home and recreation center. I do not, however, believe that this is the correct ethical decision. Under the guidelines of consequentialism, the positives outweigh the negatives if the large mall and resort are built. The boost to the economy by the increase in funds will benefit the community immensely. The mall and resort will also create new jobs which may help those who lose jobs when the nursing home closes. While the community is currently at the limit in regards to expansion without demolition properties, the increase in funds could lead to the purchasing of land which would allow for a new nursing home and recreation center to be built.
Taking into consideration the deontology theory, the Mayor must consider what will benefit the entire community and not just a select group when he makes his final decision. I would still say that the right decision is to build the new properties. While the rights of the senior citizens are important, I do not think that they outweigh the needs of the community. It is not that the senior citizens are unimportant but the income from the mall and resort allow the community to prosper in ways that will have long-term positive effects.
Using the virtue ethics theory I would need to consider whether my decision is a moral one. The decision to close the nursing home initially impacts 130 people, more when friends and family are considered. Building the mall and resort affects the entire community. While the inconvenience to the initial 130 is not ideal, the moral thing to do is to build the mall and resort and allow for