Continued 5c) - Reader on professional ethics and how does the theories relate to my professional practice

Theoretical approaches to ethics

1) Consequentialism : This refers to a theory of moral obligation developed by JS MILL (1861). He suggests that the best way to make a decision is to choose the option that produces the greatest good for the greatest number. For example, lying could be justified as a wrong action but could be acceptable if the outcome or the intention of the action is beneficial or no harm for a large amount of people.

2) Deontology: This refers to a theory that Immanuel Kant (1779) believed in a rule based and is ethical action based on duty, so an action is either right or wrong no matter what the circumstances are. 

3) Virtue Ethics: This emphasizes the character of the person rather than the he or she takes. So there is an importance on being rather than doing. (Plato and Aristotle)  After reading some people’s blogs I agree with Nicole’s thought, she wrote that “looking at a person’s virtue or moral character makes more sense an ethical concept, and how can we just consider consequences or particular actions”. I believe every person is different with a different character and a set of morals, and virtue ethics considers people. According to Stan, he pointed out that heredity, environment, and experience are three major forces that tend to shape an individual, and once we understand this it is easier to understand people. Also he wrote “form these various influences we learn to judge appropriate and inappropriate behavior.” (S. Place, 1989, P 10) However, comparing to Natalie’s blog, she found another interesting theory from another Greek philosopher who believed that people always do naturally what is right and bad actions are simply a result of ignorance. This interested me and I agree with her that she thought when someone has done something wrong, they know it is wrong, hence the reason why people lie about their actions, they would not need to lie of they thought they were right.

After reading both Nicole and Natalie’s blogs on virtue ethics, I started to think that ethics influence the way in which we behave everyday both in our personal and professional life. However, it seems that there is always a dilemma of how we view those ‘right’ answers on many occasions. I think so far I have discovered that this is an area I need to consider when working on my professional inquiry.