Your Personal Ethics Statement

1. Your Personal Ethics Statement Comm454-001 Free Speech & Ethics Instructor: Steve Klein

2. Your Personal Ethics Statement What is YOUR personal philosophical approach to help you answer and deal with ethical questions? How can YOU devise or define your own personal ethical statement of values and principles?

3. Your Personal Ethics Statement There are three primary ethical philosophies. Each answers this fundamental question: Does the ends justify the means?

4. Your Personal Ethics Statement IF you answered NO, then you are an ABSOLUTIST (or legalist) and subscribe to deontological ethics (the ethics of duty). The ends NEVER justifies the means. Discover the rules and follow them.

5. Your Personal Ethics Statement Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) • The categorical imperative • Without exception • Do only those things that you would would be willing to have everyone do as a matter of universal law • The duty of the journalist is to report the news. PERIOD.

6. Your Personal Ethics Statement IF you answered YES, you are a RELATIVIST and subscribe to teleological ethcs. This is the ethics of the finals ends, or of the consequences of the act. The end can and often does justify the means: INTENTION is critical.

7. Your Personal Ethics Statement IF you answered MAYBE or SOMETIMES, then you subscribe to situational ethics. This is the ethics of specific acts: Does the end justify the means? It all depends.

8. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics • Antinominanism = no moral absolutes … every person, every situation is unique

9. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics • Deontelics (John Merrill) = some acts, by their very nature, are unethical in most cases The truth is paramount … lying is unethical (in most cases BUT there are rare exceptions for good purposes)

10. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics • Love thy neighbor (Joseph Fletcher) The one absolute is the Golden Rule: • You shall love thy neighbor as yourself. • Always place people first; do what is best for people.

11. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics • Utilitarianism = bring the most happiness to the greatest number of people. This is a the philosophy of the greatest good (rather than the greatest happiness) .. over a long period of time.

12. Your Personal Ethics Statement John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) • He received a rigorous education under his father, James Mill (1773-1836), and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), who were close friends and together founded utilitarianism. • John Stuart Mill's own philosophy developed into a more humanitarian doctrine: he was sympathetic to socialism, and was a strong advocate of women's rights and such political and social reforms as proportional representation, labor unions, and farm cooperatives. • On Liberty (1859) is probably his most famous work.

13. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics • Veil of Ignorance (John Rawls) = rule of the people, or treat all people the same … no personal bias. Behind the veil of ignorance, all people (regardless of race, gender, age, appearance) are equal and treated the same. If there was an exception, it should benefit the least advantaged.

14. Your Personal Ethics Statement Situational ethics Aristotle’s Golden Mean (384-322 B.C.) • A rational and moral position is somewhere in between (though not necessarily in the middle)

15. Your Personal Ethics Statement What is principled reasoning? • Appraise the situation • Identify your personal values • Appeal to those ethical principles without abandoning your personal values • Consider your loyalties

16. Your Personal Ethics Statement Ultimately: Make an informed, intelligent and prudent choice.