In the beginning of filling out the activities, I was skeptical of the exercises in Ethical Challenges being of any use to me. Activities #1 and #2 were basic, I appreciated that it was specified that it was okay "to include more than five or to choose fewer or to add other values". It made the process of ranking MY values, very personal. Activity #2 made me realize that although for the most part I do treat people the way I want to be treated, I expect more from people than I am currently giving.
Once I got to to Activity #3, I started to see why these activites may be important. I had a hard time trying to find vices of deficiency and excess. For the virtue "honesty" the only vice of deficiency I could come up with was "liar" and "too open" for the vice of excess. I don't feel that I am necessarily a liar, nor do I feel that I am too open. But on Activity #1 I didn't rank honesty highly at all. This activity made me think about the different spectrums of being virtuous.
Activity #5 was interesting, because I scored mostly in the middle for my variations in ethical intuitions. It also made me question the double-standards I hold people to.
Activity #11 made me notice the relationship between ethics and law, economics, self-interest, religion, and opinion. For example, in my understanding, if a prisoner tells his attorney that he is guilty it is unethical for the attorney to represent him, but it is against the law for the attorney to implicate his client. For economics, it isn't illegal to make money, but it is if the means of making money happens to be against the law.
Writing the card for Activity #14 made me think of the image of having an angel over my shoulder begging me to make the right decision. It was helpful because it could serve as a reminder the next time I overreact or expect too much from people. "Ethics would be a meaningless exercise if it weren't for free will" (Elliott, 14). I found this quote interesting, especially when Elliot claimed that "we all bring baggage from the past and have hidden motivations to our decisions." I was aware that people often project their own understanding of events on people, but for me it is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that no one but the person is really aware of their true motivations behind their actions. I assume that our leadership essay will allow us to contemplate our goals as future leaders as well as reflect on our priorities, possibly similar to the way the activities in Ethical Challenges have made me consider my responsibilities and whether they benefited me or if others.
My response to Activity #6:Roles and Conflicts of Commitment
Rank
1. Sister
2. Daughter
3. Student
4. Friend
5. Roommate
My response to Activity #7: Recognizing Conflicts of Commitment
It's difficult for me juggle being a good friend and being a good roommate. As a friend, I feel like it's my responsibility to be accepting and not judgmental but there have been instances where I can't be honest with my friend/roommate because I don't want to upset her. For example our opposite conceptions of tidiness didn't bother me as a friend because as a friend I accept her, but as a roommate I like my room to more organized. It took me a long time to vocalize my opinion, but because she is also a good friend, she understood my predicament and has since organized her side of the room. Compromise was key to solving that conflict.
Overall, I enjoyed Ethical Challenges. I don't necessarily think I wouldn't have come to the conclusions I had come to on my own, but I also don't spend enough time thinking about ethics in relation to the decisions I make and the people I try and protect. On page 30, Elliot asks the question "What makes some entities worthy of moral protection and other things not?" She uses the ethically unsound example of arranging the killing of another child in order to access a needed organ for her son to further her argument that "being in the moral community means that every individual has the same basics," and while her role-related responsibility is to take care of her son, every child has equal rights to life. I believe that this argument can cross over to ethics in relation to many things, especially the treatment of animals.
Ethical Challenges has left me with many things to think about.
Overall, I enjoyed Ethical Challenges. I don't necessarily think I wouldn't have come to the conclusions I had come to on my own, but I also don't spend enough time thinking about ethics in relation to the decisions I make and the people I try and protect. On page 30, Elliot asks the question "What makes some entities worthy of moral protection and other things not?" She uses the ethically unsound example of arranging the killing of another child in order to access a needed organ for her son to further her argument that "being in the moral community means that every individual has the same basics," and while her role-related responsibility is to take care of her son, every child has equal rights to life. I believe that this argument can cross over to ethics in relation to many things, especially the treatment of animals.
Ethical Challenges has left me with many things to think about.
Hi Gaby,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by your responses and I also had similar feelings in activity #14 about how conscience works. Ethical Challenges has left me with several things to think about as well. I appreciated the dramatic and harsh examples because, the point was very clear. The most difficult activity for me was activity #11. I had a hard time thinking of an examples and I really spent the most time on this activity. It was really beneficial because unlike the easier activities like #1 and #2 I had to think long and hard on the relationships.
I enjoyed reading your responses and how it differs and is similar than my response.
-Whitney