Ethics Class 1 to 4 Flashcards
(24 cards)
What are the three sets of core values?
- Human Values (Empathy, Reason: they make us human)
- Foundational Values (Sacrifice, Hard-work: we learn them in institutions like family and schools)
- Public Service Values (Integrity, Service: we learn and use them in the professional space)
What guides the actions of the following groups of people?
a) Humans
b) Citizens
c) Members of Society
d) Members of Professions
a) Conscience
b) Law
c) Regulations and Customs
d) Codes of Conduct
What are the roots of the words ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’ and what do they mean?
The word ‘ethics’ comes from the Greek word ‘ethos/ethika’ which means character or custom.
The word ‘moral’ comes from the Latin word ‘mores/moralis’ which means customs.
Root words of both terms mean customs or practices.
Can the terms ethics and morals be used interchangeably?
Yes. Philosophers like Peter Singer and William Frankena have used these terms interchangeably, as have Indian philosophers.
However, from the 1970s onwards, professional disciplines such as medicine and engineering started differentiating between professional ethics and personal morals.
State three points of difference between professional ethics and personal morals.
Three metrics:
Professional vs Personal
Ideal Standard vs Customary Practice
Permanent vs Changing
Professional Ethics:
- Refers to professional conduct, values and principles.
- It is an ideal standard of behaviour.
- It conveys a state of permanence.
Personal Morals:
- Refers to personal behaviour.
- It implies the customs practiced in a community or culture.
- May change as acceptable social behaviour changes.
Define ethics.
Ethics is a BRANCH OF PHILOSOPHY that is concerned with human conduct.
It refers to the KNOWLEDGE that describes right and wrong, or appropriate or inappropriate.
This knowledge becomes the basis of our MORAL JUDGEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES.
We use these judgements and principles to GUIDE HUMAN CONDUCT towards the end goal of leading a GOOD LIFE, in step with ethical considerations.
What are the five sources of ethics?
a) God and Religion
b) Human Conscience
c) Rational Cost-Benefit Analysis of Options
d) Laws and Constitutionality
e) Examples of role models, life lessons from great people.
What are the two kinds of actions (think legality vs ethicality)?
Legal but unethical actions (slave trade)
Ethical but illegal actions (breaking Salt Law in the CDM)
State three points of difference between ethics and law.
Three metrics: How did it develop, what does it control, and what is the end goal?
Ethics:
- Developed gradually from people’s awareness.
- Guidelines for the good life, rules of living.
- End goal is the individual’s self growth.
Law:
- Written and enforced by govts/state.
- Guidelines for public conduct, imposes restrictions through punishments.
- End goal is the common good of society.
State two points of difference between ethics and religion.
Metrics: What are they and where are they grounded?
Ethics:
- They are essentially rules of living.
- They are grounded in reason and human experience.
Religion:
- Focusses on following God’s commands or religious rules.
- Grounded in revelation or divine authority,
What are the three strands of ethics?
Very similar to three sets of core values.
- Personal Ethics: Moral rules, conscience.
- Social Ethics: Common or conventional morality.
- Professional Ethics: Codes of Conduct, Ethical Codes.
What are the 7 Universal Moral Rules?
- Help your family
- Help your group
- Return Favours
- Be Upright
- Defer to Superiors/Respect Elders
- Divide resources fairly
- Respect other’s property.
Remember that while these rules are common across 60 societies, their ranking keeps changing.
What are customary norms or conventional morality?
Norms or customs are practices that are passed on from one generation to another. Examples can include ostracisation through caste, widowhood norms etc.
Elaborate on Professional Ethics.
Professional ethics are a set of standards adopted by professionals. They focus on issues that are important for and in a profession. By emphasising the moral obligations of a professional, they regulate the professional relationship of an individual. For instance, the normative expectation that an IAS officer should not accept bribes.
What is ethical literacy or ethical intelligence? What is its role in our lives?
Ethical literacy or intelligence involves reflecting and thinking systematically about the values of principles one believes in, and using them as guides to make choices.
Through moral reflection, we can foresee the possible consequences of our actions. We can use ethical intelligence to examine our large life choices, small daily decisions, our values, goals and rules of living, and our relationships with others.
What is ethical competency?
One-sentence answer
Ethical competencies refer to the skill of applying ethical principles in different aspects of a citizen’s life.
As a citizen, what are some of the ethical competencies we can and should display?
- Promoting constitutional principles of equality, fairness, justice.
- Proactively respecting and serving the public law.
- Respecting, protecting and not misusing privileged or confidential information.
- Ability to embrace and promote ethical behaviour.
- Refusal to do something unethical.
- Maintaining truthfulness and honesty.
- Being responsible for one’s behaviour.
- Engaging in ethical reasoning.
Name the three important basis of trust?
- Being Honest
- Principle of Doing no Harm
- Fidelity or Loyalty
What does it mean to be honest? How does one practice honesty?
Honesty is a human characteristic that reflects a quest for truthfulness rather than deceit in thought and action. Honesty is a duty to be consistently non-deceptive in one’s interpersonal interactions, as well as encouraging others to be honest.
Practicing honesty implies being non-deceptive. That means one does not indulge in lying, half-truth or silence.
How does one operationalize the principle of doing no harm?
Doing no harm means that we avoid doing things that harm other people either accidently (without intention) or recklessly (with information). We try to avoid hurting others (and all living beings) in direct and indirect ways.
What are the five tenets of Pancasila (Panchsheel), the Buddhist Code of Morality? Which basis of trust do these correspond to?
The five tenets of Pancasila are:
- To abstain from killing or physically harming others.
- To abstain from taking what is not given.
- To abstain from speaking falsehood.
- To abstain from sexual misconduct.
- To abstain from intoxicants.
Thus the tenets advocate that individuals prevent themselves from causing physical, economic, verbal, emotional harm to others or themselves.
These tenets correspond to the principle of doing no harm.
What is the Gandhian Concept of Non-Violence?
Gandhi defined non-violence as
“refraining from causing pain to, or killing ANY life, out of anger or selfish purpose, or with the intention of injuring it”. He advocated for non-violence in both thought and action.
What does it mean to uphold fidelity?
It means to act faithfully in relationships with others by fulfilling one’s commitments (agreements, contracts, promises, oaths etc.).
Why is the right to privacy important? What are the two dimensions of the right to privacy?
The right to privacy rests on a central value of trying to protect people and their information.
The psychological dimension is being apart from others. The power dimension is the right to control information about ourselves. The right to privacy would let a person control the extent (how much), the timing (when) and the circumstances (where) of the information about oneself that is available to others.
