Ethics and Structure Objective 1.02

Ethics Ethics: deciding what is a right or wrong action in a reasoned, impartial manner Morality: involves the values that govern society’s attitude toward right and wrong Ethics are based around the following basics:  Feelings and Opinions  The Greatest Good  The Golden Rule  Consequential Reasoning  Rule-based reasoning

Feelings and Opinions Ethics are viewed as how a person feels about a certain situation Ethics may also be based on what opinions are expressed about certain situations

The Greatest Good The idea is that must people will base their opinion of ethics based on how a certain situation affects the greatest amount of people The more good that result, the more ethical the action taken The more bad the result, the less ethical the action taken

The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you The heart of the golden rule is empathy Empathy: putting yourself in the other person’s position

Consequential Reasoning Takes a look at the consequences of the action before making a decision on what way to act Looks at alternative actions and it gives the final outcome of each action

Rule-based Reasoning Makes a decision based on majority vote Sometimes it is not the most ethical decision Based around the U.S. Constitution

U.S. Legal Systems The U.S. Legal System is based upon the Constitution, where laws are created and amended. The basis for the Constitution is to protect human rights. Our legal system is based upon three levels of government:  Judicial: Led by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decides if the law being made is constitutionally correct.  Legislative: Led by Congress. Congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of two members from every state. The House of Representatives consists of members based on their population.  Executive: Led by the President. Elected by vote of the people

International Legal Systems The Adversarial System (each side to a dispute presents its arguments for and against the issues involved, and victory goes to the party that persuades the judge or jury to their side) is one legal focus of the American people. This system is not shared by other countries. In other countries, many in Western Europe, support the fact-finding approach (victory is the primary objective). In many other countries, the court system is tied in with the legislative and executive branches. Many countries use religion as a basis for the law, such is the case in Saudi Arabia, where Muslim and the law are tied together.