Ethics Research Paper

Submitted By negilh
Words: 822
Pages: 4

Ethics Essay
Negil Hazelwood

ETH/316

April 1, 2013
Kevin Barker
We can define ethics as the good and bad decisions made for some people but ethics goes further than that definition. In a brief description, ethics reflects a person’s inner beliefs, acted on values, and portrayed morals that help sculpture you as an individual. Training and rearing as a child is the initial point of were ethics and values are created. Normally this behavior is a reflection or a rebellion of what was portrayed in an individuals teachings. Each ethical decision made can define an individual in some way. This essay of collected thoughts and research will reflect the similarities and differences of virtue theory, utilitarianism and deontological ethic theory. “Each theory emphasizes different points such as predicting the outcome and following one's duties to others in order to reach an ethically correct decision” (Trevino, 2011). As we define virtue theory can think of examples of those in a divine light as it reflects a person who is pursing excellence in life. This type of ethical theory looks to the positive in the next person and focus on their character rather than their actions. Ethically an individual that followed the virtue theory rely more the actual nature of a person such as good heartedness and charity. Morally an individual that followed this particular theory would steer other to make the correct decisions. This is occasionally cut down into being a character based ethics. Contradictory to virtue theory, deontology has a more of an emphasis on an individual’s action and how they stay within the guidelines to the rules. This theory is more geared towards the greater good for everyone. With that said, it is essential that the right action is chosen. Discipline play more a role in this theory as more of it standards are held on committing to the right action. Ethically an individual that followed the deontology theory would rely more on rules with an individuals actions which would affect a bigger picture of the spectrum with the right decision. It is clear that deontological ethics is based off moral facts that result from human actions. In other words, the concept behind the theory of deontology is about principle and staying within the guidelines for the all involved. Somewhat similar to deontology, utilitarianism focuses on the consequence of the greatest good. As described in the text, utilitarianism ethics emphasize that action should be morally beneficial to a group. This theory of ethics can be described as “the greatest good for the greatest number” or simply put, “the greater good” (Boylan, 2009). Within the structure of utilitarianism, morally an individual makes decisions that benefit everyone by focusing on the ending goal that works by make the most of the good while decreasing the negative. The relationship between virtues, values and ethics is that they manage the way a person relates with other people in the society. They also outline someone's character and moral standards. Virtues, values and ethics also help a person in making critical decisions in life. Raised within a large family setting, my upbringing was closely related to the