Personal Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal Ethics - Essay Example If I live by rules that are stemmed from the ill effects of society, then I will end up being depressed and discouraged. Free will basically trusts one’s instincts. It is being able to live well, to do things my own way and to live slowly but surely. My thought patterns are shaped by the way I see things. If I see things in a different light, if I see the two sides of a coin and if I choose to see what I want to see in my own perspective, then this is what I call free will. Ethics is governed by the rightness and wrongness of actions. What is then the definition of right and wrong? Can these be equated with obligation and duty? Take the context of the family. I know for a fact that the family is the basic unit of the society. Is the husband obliged to take care of his wife or vice versa? Are parents obligated to take care of their children? When the elderly in the family starts to suffer from dementia, are the concerned family members obliged to take good care of him or her? These are the questions that will help us define the morals and principles that have shaped the society. I treat Kantian ethics as a foundation of the difference between right or wrong, between good and bad. Immanuel Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act according to duty. But then is duty synonymous to responsibility? How does duty become a sense of accountability? Take for example the situation in the community. The rules that the society dictates can sometimes be so distracting but if I would consider that rules are meant to be followed and not meant to be broken, then everything in the community will be in order. The very simple sign, â€Å"No smoking† at the gasoline station is meant to be abided.... In this case, is this really my duty not to smoke Or is it simply following the rules and being aware of the consequences if I smoke at the gasoline station How can I say that it is a matter of common sense How does comprehension differ from awareness How does common sense differ from morally dictated laws If I do something, should I think the welfare of others Take for example a friend of mine needs a job. Let us name my friend Elle. Elle has been looking for a job for the past six months. Now an opportunity for her to work part time has landed on her lap. Her duty is to fill in the position of a nurse in a nursing home for only three days. Now as she started working, she does not want to let go of the opportunity. What she did was to convince the nursing home administrator to hire her full time instead of the 2 Nurse whom she has temporarily replaced for three days. Elle was able to convince the nursing home administrator to hire her full time at the expense of the nurse who only took her days off. Who is now at fault here Is it that of the nursing home administrator or is it that of scheming Elle who thought of her own self interest rather than the nurse who has worked in the nursing home for years When the nurse returned, she does not have a job anymore. On Elle's part, she would rather think of her own survival rather than the welfare of the nurse whom she has replaced. In this situation, the context of good and bad is really out of the maxim of the rules of good and evil. Take for example the context of suicide. Japan is considered the country with the highest suicide rate. In Japan, suicide is common but in the milieu of Christianity, suicide is not advisable. In this framework,