With many different opinions in ethics, we often have a lot of arguments and differences in society. Although we have these debates, most people don’t even realize the types of ethics we have and all the typology’s that come with them. In this essay I will talk two of those types, one being idealism, and the other being mindful. I would also like to include some case study about some research done on humans today. To me, these are what we do today as well as how we work in the world today, rather than obey the laws and do as said anywhere in the world. We are becoming more ideal and we are revolutionizing as we know it.
After reading and doing some research on idealism itself, I found that “idealism” and “idealist” are by no means used only within philosophy; they are used in many everyday contexts as well. This is not because such people are thought to be devoted to a philosophical doctrine but because of their outlook on life generally; indeed, they may even be pitied, or perhaps envied, for displaying a naive worldview and not being philosophically critical at all. Even within philosophy, the terms “idealism” are used in different ways, which often makes their meaning dependent on the context. However, one can distinguish a descriptive use of these terms and a polemical one, although sometimes these different uses occur together. From viewing this perspective in class in our discussion, we found that this would be helpful for speed limits. We all go over the speed limit sometimes, so I think is we said the ideal speed limit is 70 we could go over 15mph or under 15mph. This will accommodate nearly all over the drivers on the expressways and will result in less traffic stop so the officers can focus more on drug trafficking. As I said above, idealism is a great way to let everyone’s ideas combine and we all get our way. Although this wont please everyone, it is a way to possibly meet in the middle.
The next type of typology that I would like to talk about is the most default one, and this is mindful. This type is one that we choose because of mind has adapted to a certain habit that we are used too. Mindfulness is a practice of paying attention to present-moment experience in a manner that is engaged and unassuming. “Engaged” means attentive, interested, and observant, and “unassuming” means being without judgment—open and receptive to what arises in the field of awareness. We use this in every day life as we see other people doing things differently because the way they are brought up. This has a very big role in our minds and how we do thing/adapt to them. By intentionally paying attention, moment by moment, we build a more direct relationship to what is upcoming in the future, seeing more clearly what is at stake. By having this typology, we get to put all our minds together with all our different backgrounds and cultures. Although learning about these typologies are a great way to understand some of the ethical development we have in todays society. I would also like to look at the development of ethics and how we came about these different typologies altogether. After reading a journal about business ethics by D.P. Robin, I learned that there is a process to which we use ethics in business every day. “The benefits of a multidimensional measure of ethics in business begin this presentation. It is followed by a brief review of the major moral philosophies that are used in the development of a multidimensional scale. The scale development procedure is described and is followed by an application of the scale. Finally, the authors identify several additional areas in which the use of the scales may prove beneficial for increasing understanding of ethical decision-making, both by researchers and practitioners.” This process is unique as it takes the product and puts it right into the start of another process which finally leads one to the final product they are looking for what they think is the ethical choice. Development doesn’t just happen in business ethics, it happens in almost every category out there and, as a result it plays a very big role in how we make choices. Even though we have all these processes to make ethical choices and development, we still cannot please everyone. Another way to view and look at the choices we make are case studies. These are cases in which we do research just like business ethics, but they go into more detail and real-life situations.
In a case I found from ethics bowl, they talk about the fake news in the 2016 elections involving Hilary Clinton and Donald trump. In this case they talk about Trump and how he might have had connections with Russia during the election time. This is what Craig Timburg had to say, and this caused a lot of controversy about Trump receiving “support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping…Trump and undermining faith in American democracy.” From this and the news, this caused a lot of uproar within politics and played a big role in the election. On the hand news got out that Hillary Clinton was getting promoted from ISIS as they told Muslims in the U.S to vote for Hillary. From this case study, you get to see what research people find and what they come up with, and the questions that make you ask “why”. Because of this and all the fake news that is out there, Facebook and Google are trying harder and harder to stop the fake news that awaits on social media. With more technological advances each day it is a start on stopping the leaks that slip their ways into our minds that make us choose an unethical decision.
Whether it be idealism or mindful, there is always an ethical choice we could make with either of these typologies. When it comes to developing an ethical thought, we know that there is always a process we need to do before we make any choice. When looking the case study in my essay you could use idealism and say that both candidates have their pros and cons, but everyone makes mistakes, so it should be okay. As a mindful choice would be too choose which one you think Is a worse case and knock that person down for it. No matter what you think or the person next to you, there will always be a disagreement somewhere along the lines, and that is what I have took a lot of attention to not only in research, but also in our classroom discussion about abortion and assisted suicide. With that I say that an ethical choice is one’s opinion and that there never is a true ethical decision no matter the typology you choose to side with.
Works Cited
Hannah Ritchie, “Read All about It: The Biggest Fake News Stories of 2016,” CNBC, June 13, 2017.
Mcnamara, Carter. “Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.” Free Management Library.
Craig Timberg, “Russian Propaganda Effort Helped Spread ‘Fake News’ during Election, Experts Say,” The Washington Post, June 13, 2017.