Importance of ethics

Ethics help to guide human actions in the society; this was the idea I had about
ethics before the ethics lecture during this course. It never occurred to me that
sometimes, not all situations have straightforward answers and deliberation was
necessary before making a decision. This course exposed to me the different
thoughts on ethics and I learned the importance of making various considerations
before making a decision. While most cases can apply the different philosophical
views on ethics, some cannot. Thus, I think more work is still needed in regards to
ethics.
The first philosophical approach to ethics I learned is consequentialism. This
method of classifying behavior as good or bad relies on examining the outcomes or
the consequences of the action. As such, approaches to classifying ethics that drop
the consequences of an action as a determinant are not consequentialist.
Utilitarianism is an example of a consequentialist approach to ethics. It adopts
the notion that the right action is the one that gives the maximum benefit or
utility to the most number of people. While the theory is appropriate in various
decisions, it becomes complicated and sometimes incomplete when applied in some
situations. The first problem is the standardization of all situations. For
instance, it equates the utility of various activities such as listening to poetry
and playing a simple game as similar. In addition, utilitarianism seems to require
that agent should calculate all possible costs of an action before performing it,
which is impossible for human beings. As such, it fails in some instances to judge
the action as right or wrong.
The next approach that seems to solve some of the problems of consequentialism
relies on rules or moral obligations. As such, it gives rise to an agent and
victim-centered approach since both actors may have different perspectives about
the consequences of their actions. The key advantages of this approach over
consequentialism is that it gives consideration duties ion to the various
conventions of moral duty. As such it eliminates the alienating aspects of the
consequentialism. However, a key weakness is lack of consideration of the
circumstances and adoption of an absolutist approach at all times. This stance does
not fit the real world where compromise is sometimes needed. In addition, the
approach relies on refuting some of the claims of consequentialism. As such, it
cannot stand on its own without comparing its ideas with those of consequentialism.
In my opinion, both approaches seem to fit different situations. However, it is
difficult to determine the situations that can fit a particular theory and those
that do not. A key problem I developed is the concern with utility in
utilitarianism. It also seems to be the focus of the weaknesses identified. As such
a change of the focus to another principle might eliminate these challenges. On the
other hand, deontological approaches seemed to be the most applied approach in
various fields. For instance, in the medical and nursing professions, doctors and
nurses are expected to behave according to certain standards. However, the
situation cannot be replicated in all circumstances. As such, it is important to
make proper deliberations based on the approaches to morality before making a
decision.