Ethics: The Study and Development of Moral Standards - Essay Sample

Introduction

Ethics denotes a system of ethical-moral standards and principles which affect how people making decisions and lead their lives when faced with dilemma situations. In my opinion, ethics are based on the well-developed standards of wrong and right, which describes what humans ought to do, typically in terms of obligations, fairness, rights benefits to the community, or specific virtues. More so, ethics is described as the study and development of an individual’s ethical standards in different environments. Ethics is very crucial to me since it guides me to make good decisions that will enable me to be a superior person in the future (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). Ethics as a basis for ethical decision making is very crucial since it guides on decision making and critical thinking when addressing the ethical dilemmas. Ethics are important to us since it enables us to make the best decision and also advances our own goals.

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Ethical Guidelines

Through the guidance of ethical guidelines, we will make the best decision when faced with dilemmas in our real-life situation. I frequently use the utilitarian approach when making moral decisions in my daily life experience. Utilitarianism is the best ethical guideline approach to the moral-ethical decision since it mainly involves decisions with consequences which concern most people; it guides us to weigh between the good and worst that can be produced by our action (Mandal et al., 2016). I use the approach in my daily life since it instructs me that I have to make the decision that provides the best and less harm; thus, the ethical action is to make the best decision, which is associated with the greatest good to the community and government. For instance, I was faced with an ethical dilemma of dropping out of school due to peer pressure since some of my friends had left and commenced business. I was guided by the concept of the utilitarian approach and made a decision to continue with my education since it will enable me to gain more good things such as after school, I will be employed. The ethical guideline approach is crucial in our daily life since it enables us to make the best decision, which changes our lifestyle and our behavior. I learn that making the best ethical decisions that impact our life needs a trained sensitivity to moral, ethical issues, and ethical guideline approaches such as exploring the ethical perception of weighing consideration and a decision that affects our choice when faced with dilemmas (Christians et al., 2020).

Utilitarian Ethical Approach

The utilitarian ethical approach is influenced by the consequences of our decision. The greater influence of the utilitarian approach is the desire to produce better by increasing the number of good things that are produced by choice of our decision such as happiness in the society and reduce the worst things such as pain (Mandal et al., 2016). The approach mainly depends on the standard of utility, which is a measure of how beneficial an action we choose to us. I learn the utilitarian approach guideline in school from the teacher. I was equipped with the concept of utilitarianism during class lessons on ethical guidelines, and I have found it to be very crucial when making our daily moral-ethical decisions.

The ethical issues presented in news coverage entails issues such as privacy, impartiality, and public interest. In my opinion, ethical issues in news coverage should be adhered to since it enables the acquisition of factual and newsworthy information that will be relayed to the public. Also, in mass media and movies, the key ethical issue presented is stereotyping. Stereotyping plays a crucial role in television shows and entertainment since it enables the success of the event and is mainly utilized to depict complex characters ranging from human motivations, emotions, and behaviors (Patterson et al., 2018). In my opinion, the ethical issue presented is essential since it enhances and defends values like universal dignity for life and the rule of legality and law. They deal and define the ethical questions pertaining to how media should utilize and protect the content and images captured from the citizens as an approach to protecting their privacy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the utilitarian approach is the best ethical guidelines to be used to make a decision when encountered with the dilemma of selecting the good things or worst. Moral-ethical issues are crucial since it impacts our behavior and the kind of decision we make in our everyday. If I come across the best ethical issues that will improve my decision making, I will not hesitate to adapt since I will apply moral ethics for the rest of my life when making decisions. I will always improve my ethical approach in my everyday life in order to make the best decision when I am faced with a dilemma in my life.

References

Christians, C. G., Fackler, M., Richardson, K. B., & Kreshel, P. (2020). Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning. Routledge.

Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education.

Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D. K., & Parija, S. C. (2016). Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine. Tropical Parasitology, 6(1), 5. DOI: 10.4103/2229-5070.175024

Patterson, P., Wilkins, L., & Painter, C. (2018). Media ethics: Issues and cases. Rowman & Littlefield.