Ethics, morality and Truth
by Jimmy Henderson

In introducing ethics I wish to provide you with a practical exercise in will -power, for it is our will power as well as our belief in what is right that underlies the keeping of an ethical code and ethical behaviour . If our will power is weak, our resolve is eventually eroded and we are open to manipulation and peer pressure.

In the following week I want you to stand at each robot crossing that you normally cross in your daily walks or affairs and first note how many people jay walk or sneak across before the light is green .
Secondly, I want each of you to make a conscious effort not to walk until the green light has come on and if it changes, not to attempt to sneak across quickly before vehicles approach . This is a small thing but you will be surprised how difficult it is to resist the temptation to cross when so many others are doing it, or when you have to wait a long time for the green light to come on. Make the effort for a week and note the changes in your mental attitude and willpower.

Discussion

Attitudes and values a framework of ethical principles

Apart from having to use our will power, ethics involves having a framework of what we regard as "right" or "good" behaviours. We are therefore continually judging and measuring ourselves against our ideal ethical framework . If we do not live up to this ideal, we normally experience guilt. This emotion of guilt, like pain, is an indication or sign that we have not acted according to our ethical standards.
Our will power comes into play by having to make decisions which we know will not be to our immediate benefit, or may even cause us to lose privileges in order to stick to our principles, which are, in fact, our framework of ethical ideals.
The problem is, of course, that different people have different principles or ethical standards and some have none at all.

Discussion

Our ethical framework normally arises from our home background, past experiences and spiritual, religious or moral beliefs or attitudes. A framework of ethics, attitudes and values normally link together and form part of our personality. As I have stated, people's priorities may differ, but generally a good ethical framework contains all or some of the following attitudes and values :
A sense of responsibility
Responsibility is one of the cornerstones of ethics. This involves acting responsibly towards our family, friends , employer or even strangers, in that our behaviour should not harm or endanger them in any way. A sense of responsibility links up many other ethical behaviours into a ethical framework. Once we accept a personal ethical framework, we also have a moral and ethical responsibility to abide by the rules we have accepted.
A sense of justice or fairness
This is also a cornerstone of an ethical framework. To this we can add reasonableness, which we have already discussed earlier on.

Integrity
Integrity is actually a virtue but it links up with ethics in that if we accept our ethical responsibility, we will act with integrity at all times. Integrity implies that we will always strive to abide by our highest ethical values and this could include keeping our word or a promise no matter what the cost to ourselves.
Honesty
Honesty is essential for any relationship and is based on our commitment to be fair, open and responsible. Honesty does not only mean not becoming involved in dishonest activities such as stealing, cheating etc. Linked to honesty are associated values of openness, sincerity, genuineness and trustworthiness.
Loyalty
This is also related to relationships and a sense of commitment. The stronger the relationship and commitment initially made, the deeper should be our sense of loyalty. Loyalty means being willing to make sacrifices in order to acknowledge our commitment.
Unselfishness : A willingness to express care , concern and warmth.
Having an ethical framework implies a positive step on the part of any person and such a framework will generally include altruistic values and behaviours such charity and helpfulness.. However, some people can be cold and distant and still adhere to a strict ethical code. (usually professional or business ethics)
Non-judgmental and unconditional positive regard.
These attitudes are of a very high order and often not easy to maintain in any ethical framework. It means being able to tolerate, accept and treat all other people with fairness and respect in spite of differences in social position, culture, beliefs, lifestyle or value systems. This does, however, not imply that we adopt a laissaiz faire attitude towards criminality or gross violations of moral behaviour.
Commitment
Having made any commitment to another person, whether as the result of a relationship or business agreement, implies a responsibility towards him or her as well as a sense of loyalty. Commitment means abiding by our ethical rules as well as being prepared to "stick to our guns " and our decision in spite of problems. Our will power is most sorely tried in having to keep our commitments. A commitment is closely associated with a relationship . Having a relationship implies that our partners or friends are sharing their lives, feelings and thoughts with us and we should acknowledge that with a commitment on our part. When we agree to enter into any relationship, we form an emotional bond or agreement with, or commitment to the other person which automatically implies trust, respect and confidentiality.


Discussion

Ethical dilemmas

An ethical dilemma occurs when we are forced to make a decision which will test our ethical framework. In this case there is usually a conflict between two or more ethical values which apply to the particular situation and we have to choose between these values. This is especially difficult when there appears to be a no win situation. In other words, no matter what decision we make, someone is going to get hurt.

When facing an ethical dilemma, we need to explore and "unpack " the situation with all of the associated problems and implications in order to make an ethical evaluation. This requires clear thinking. However, our emotions, in the form of attitudes and values, obviously also play a role. ( Hopefully a positive role. )
Very often there may be no obvious solution present and we will be moving into "grey" areas where "right" and "wrong" are not so easy to define. In cases such as this, it becomes a matter of our individual conscience and if we are prepared to pay the price associated with a certain decision, such as the loss of a friendship or promotion .

The ethical toolbox

The kind of ethical "tools" or considerations we may use to make an evaluation when faced with an ethical dilemma are the following :
The ethical values involved : Which of our ethical values come to mind in this dilemma ( eg. confidentiality , loyalty etc ) and how important do we rate these particular values ? (In other words, are there more overriding values or factors involved ? )

The motives involved : Did the situation arise as the result of a selfish motive, personal gain, or not ? Are the people involved sincere but possibly deluded?

The Intention : Did the situation arise intentionally or is it incidental or accidental ? What is the degree of deception or self deception ?

The effects of the action or decision : Is the effect on others harmful or incidental, immediate, ongoing, in the past or a future possibility? Has it a serious or a minor effect? Does it affect people or only principles ?

Consent : Was there adult consent or was someone manipulated or coerced into this situation ? Is the "victim" able to control the situation or is he or she powerless and defenceless ? (child)

Repentance: Are the person(s) involved repentant ? Is the action or situation one of a kind ? Will it be repeated ?

If you examine the framework it will be seen that we are trying to determine the level of culpability and accountability of the persons involved as well as the seriousness of the situation. We also have to consider the idea of error versus limitation.

Error
To say a person made an error generally implies that he or she either consciously or unconsciously chose to act or behave in a way judged to be unacceptable or wrong. To be able to choose at all implies that the person had some knowledge of the options open to him or her and merely chose the "wrong" one for his or her own reasons. This implies further that he or she will have to accept responsibility for the decision and the choice and is therefore accountable.
Limitation

But what of the case of the person who for reasons not under his or her control is unable to make a correct decision? For instance, he or she may be young, inexperienced or was deceived or misled by someone else into an action which he or she did not fully understand. It may also be the case that he or she is simply not emotionally or psychologically mature enough to make a decision on that level or to realise the implications of his or her actions. What also of the person who is forced into an action against his or her will ?
Examples of this would be the young child who draws on a newly painted wall with a crayon, a young unmarried mother of 13 pressured to have an abortion, the tribesman on some remote island who has never been in contact with civilisation and attacks visitors to the island out of ignorance and fear.
Can we really judge him or her as harshly as we would judge ourselves, who know better ? Are these cases not so much a question of right or wrong behaviour but rather one of his or her behaviour being limited by a lack of insight, understanding or control over his or her life which would render him or her less accountable than persons with full knowledge of the results or implications of their actions?

The implications of this is that we are usually more tolerant and less critical of a child, the intellectually challenged or the dis-empowered person who has had few real chances in life.

Discussion

Group discussions

Examples of ethical dilemmas


Participants are invited to enter into small groups of about four or five members and discuss these dilemmas . A spokesman is to be elected to feed back the information to the class .

Group 1 - Scenario # 1. Confidentiality
A friend or family member comes to us in confidence for advice and they tell us they have committed a crime.
Do we inform the authorities or do we keep quiet because of our friendship, family ties and ethical commitment to confidentiality ?
Group 1 feedback
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................

Evaluation
There is always a temptation to speak about our experiences, partners or family problems to others . Our ethical values of confidentiality and responsibility demand that this temptation should be avoided. A relationship implies trust, which involves not discussing their intimate details publically. Yet we also have an obligation to the law as well a moral obligation to others who are, or may become victims of this friend at a later stage.
( An obligation also implies commitment and responsibility )

Bearing in mind our ethical "toolbox" , a pragmatic solution would be to look at the effects of the crime, is it serious and harmful? Is it a crime against a person or against a legal framework (tax evasion)? Is it in the past, or ongoing (such as child abuse )? Is it likely to happen again ? Is our friend repentant or bragging? Will it serve a real purpose by our reporting it (apart from a legal obligation )?
At the end of the day it is your decision according to your own conscience or ethical framework that will determine your action. Some people could rather choose to adhere to their values, such as confidentiality or friendship. However, we need to ask the question whether our ethical ideals of confidentiality and friendship have morally more value than the continued suffering of a human being which we could have prevented.

Group 2 - Scenario # 2. Role conflict

We are a supervisor in a company. One of the junior workers is a personal friend of ours . This worker has been absent from work frequently, supposedly because of a lingering illness. During one of his personal visits to our home he informs us that he is, in fact, quite healthy and has been using up his sick leave instead of having to take vacation leave to attend to things at home.
Group 2 feedback
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
Evaluation
We are in an ethical dilemma. Do we look to the interests of our company and report the matter, in which case our friend will in all likelihood be fired? What of our long standing friendship with this person? Do we not have certain ethical responsibilities towards him as the result of this relationship?

Once again we refer to our ethical "toolbox" .
The ethical values involved are confidentiality and loyalty to our friend versus our integrity and responsibility towards the company .
Our friend's motive is personal gain, to accumulate his leave and therefore could even be seen as fraud.
His intention: He consciously made the decision to use his sick leave knowing full well that it could lead to his dismissal. However, on the other hand, the effect of his deed is not directly harmful to others and even the company is not losing profits as he is using sick leave credited to him . It is thus the principle of deceit that is involved.
It is not stated whether the friend was repentant or not and this appears to be the key issue here. If he is confessing as the result of guilt, and on being confronted on the issue, is prepared to take a warning to heart and not repeat the action, it is likely that we could regard the matter as finalised. If , however , his attitude is boastful and it is clear that he intends to continue with this deceit, the problem would have to be addressed in a different way.
If we decide that ethically we cannot stand by while this continues, but still wish to maintain our long standing relationship, we would probably need to look at a series of steps beginning with soft options such as off the record verbal warnings. If this does not have the desired result, we could later follow it up with a written warning due to the company's "suspicions". )

Discussion : Would there be other ways of dealing with this ethical dilemma?

Group 3 - Scenario # 3. Sexual harassment

We are a senior partner in a large business . An unattached subordinate at work is clearly indicating that he or she is physically attracted to us and wishes to enter into a sexual relationship. We are also unattached and attracted to them but we realise that an intimate relationship with this person will affect our working relationship. Do we agree to the relationship or do we reject the advances of this worker?

Is there a problem here ?
Group 3 feedback
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
Evaluation
As both persons are unattached, many of the ethical "tools" would not apply in this scenario apart from our responsibility towards the company in not creating a situation which leads to a breakdown in staff processes. If one of the persons are married, obviously a number of other ethical values would then come into play.
Current workers rights indicate that the company cannot really interfere in the after- hours private lives of workers and so provided the relationship does not affect the work situation, ethically the only limits we need to consider, provided we are consenting and not being coerced or harassed, are in terms of our feelings towards this person and our common sense appraisal of whether we feel this relationship has any future. It would become more of an ethical issue if we did not play open cards with this person and make our position clear (either for or against the relationship ) as it could become harmful to his or her emotional state as well as our own.
This concludes our discussion on ethics. Are there any other comments?
Morality

Morality is very closely related to ethics and can be described as our sense of “right” or “wrong”.
In order to act according to our conscience, we need to have a clear set of moral guidelines with which to make decisions regarding acceptable or unacceptable human behaviour. If we are not sure how we feel about real-life day to day moral issues, we will not be able to make decisions when it is necessary. We need to know what is our bottom line and how far we are prepared to go on an issue and what action we are prepared to take.
A moral decision is complex and never straightforward, as it involves people with different motives, agendas, perspectives and belief systems.
Religious people relate morality to their sacred scriptures and really don't have much of a problem. Good and bad, right and wrong are embodied in their scriptures as commandments. If we act or behave in such a way that we are obedient to the will of God as directed in these scriptures, we would therefore be seen in a religious sense, to be behaving in a good or right way.
Many persons, however, do not accept religious values as a basis for morality. It is still possible to have a system of human morality, ethics, rights and ideal behaviour based on principles of mutual respect, fairness or justice, as exists in a legal Constitution or Bill of Rights. This would mean morality consists of striving for an ideal relationship between people where each person would treat the other in a way which they themselves would wish to be treated. In other words, to treat them as people, to respect them as equals and not to abuse or misuse them. In this case “right” or “good” actions would improve our relationships and behaviour which troubles the social fabric of the group or community would be regarded as “wrong” and “bad”.

Discussion
The difficulties faced

We have indicated the difficulties that may be experienced when facing complex moral issues or decisions in our lives. We can never really be sure of a person’s motive, personal agenda or perspective. Some people may not even be fully aware of their own insincerity, due to self-deception.
The power of Perspective
Much also depends on from which side of the fence we are looking. To illustrate this point, I will use an example which I call the Twin-films phenomenon. Let us think back to some of the many war films that appear on our movie screens, films about World War two, the Vietnam war, the conflict in Ireland and even the Anglo Boer war (Breaker Morant ). These films are always produced from a particular perspective. One side being indicated as the heroes (usually from the country that produced the film ) and the other side portrayed as a villain. We identify and sympathise with the “heroes” because we experience and share their trials and tribulations in the film from their perspective. However, if we have ever been exposed to a film about the same war produced in a different country, we may find that the war takes on an entirely different perspective and may even find ourselves, for the period of the film anyway, identifying, siding and sympathising with the other side, whose perspective is now being shared with us.
This is the power of Perspective, that once we become emotionally involved in an issue and share often painful experiences with a group or a cause, we tend to identify with this group or cause. If we understand this principle, we will be able to understand how people can have different views on an issue such as the Trade-centre attack in the USA.
Discussion

Ethics, morality and truth

The fable of the elephant and the blind men

If understanding can be said to be relative to our perspective what then is the truth of any matter? Who is “right” and who is “wrong”?

Selective perception
Each human being has a very unique perspective on life. This perspective is linked to culture, religion and society in which he or she has been raised. (conditioning). This is reflected in the life view or frame of reference comprising of personal preferences, attitudes, values and cherished beliefs and acts like a filter, the end result being a very selective perception or interpretation of events and experiences in which we view things single-dimensionally, that is, only as they relate to us personally What is therefore immoral for us, may not be seen as immoral for another person in terms of his or her perception of right and wrong.

Discussion - Do we agree with this ?

Can we ever find an objective view of what is right or wrong?

A pragmatic view of right and wrong
An objective perspective on morality, good and bad behaviour and right and wrong choices, can be inferred directly from our own real life experience. All persons feel emotional pain as a result of either been hurt or having injured someone else.(guilt). This pain can also be experienced from a decision or action which destroyed something within us such as our self esteem , peace of mind or a sense of purpose in life.
If we accept this principle, a right or good decision or action would be one which does not injure oneself or others or does not destroy something important in our lives or the lives of others. In other words, the decision or action is constructive and positive for physical, emotional, intellectual and even spiritual growth. A bad or wrong decision or action would therefore be one that was destructive to the physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual well being of oneself or another person. This could also be extended to include the well being of another living entity, such as an animal.
Absolute truth or absolute “right” can only be reflected in eternal ideal principles, some of which we come to know in human virtues such as love, patience, tolerance, compassion and integrity, as exist within a framework of ethics.
All other human activities, actions and issues are therefore relative to our framework of ethics (motive, intention, effects or consequences, consent and repentance) and are judged accordingly. For example ; How close were we to the ideal of unconditional love when we performed this or that action? Did we perform it out of love or is there another (often hidden) motive?

Conclusion- Final discussion

Jimmy Henderson