Determining Moral Behavior

Our principles of right and wrong form a framework for the way we live our lives. But where do these principles come from? Ethical systems provide the answer to the question of why something is wrong or right.

An ethical system is a structured set of principles that defines what is moral. Ethics of virtue is the ethical system that bases ethics largely upon character and possession of virtues.

One difficulty with the ethics of virtue is in judging the primacy of moral virtues. The natural law ethical system holds that there is a universal set of rights and wrongs that is like many religious beliefs, but without reference to a specific supernatural figure.

Honesty and fair dealings are always prioritized over other values. A deontological ethical system is one that is concerned solely with the inherent nature of the act being judged.

The core elements of any deontological or duty-based ethical system are the importance placed on intention, and the use of a predetermined set of principles to judge morality rather than an evaluation of the consequences of an act. A teleological ethical system judges the consequences of an act.

The difference between ethical formalism and rule utilitarianism is that the actions themselves are judged right or wrong depending on the motives behind them under ethical formalism, whereas utilitarianism looks to the long-term consequences of the prescribed rules to determine their morality. Ethics of care is the ethical system that defines good as meeting the needs of others and preserving and enriching relationships.

Peacemaking justice is an ancient approach to justice that includes the concepts of compassion and care, connectedness, and mindfulness. To summarize, the ethics-of-care approach identifies the needs of all individuals in any ethical situation and attempts to maximize them. It is different from utilitarianism, however, in that one person cannot be sacrificed for others. Also, there is an attempt to resolve situations through human relationships and a sense that decisions should come from compassion rather than attention to rights or duties.

Egoism is the ethical system that defines the pursuit of self-interest as a moral good. But if it is true that humans are naturally selfish and self-serving, one can also point to examples that indicate that humans are also altruistic and self-sacrificing. One thing seems clear: when individuals are caught doing illegal acts, or acts that violate their professional codes of ethics, or acts that harm others, it is usually only egoism that can justify their behavior.

The imperative principle directs a decision maker to act according to a specific, unbending rule. The utilitarian principle determines the ethics of conduct by the good or bad consequences of the action.

The generalization principle is based on this question: “What would happen if all similar persons acted this way under similar circumstances?” Understanding how ethical decisions are made is critical to law enforcement professionals.

Ethical relativism describes the position that what is good or bad changes depending on the individual or group, and that there are no moral absolutes. Absolutism, as previously discussed, is the position that, if something is wrong, it is always wrong.

Universalism is a similar concept in that it is the position that what is considered wrong is wrong for all people for all time and if one wants to perform a certain act, one would have to agree that anyone else should be able to do it as well. Situational ethics is the philosophical position that although there are a few universal truths, different situations call for different responses; therefore, some action can be right or wrong depending on situational factors.

Moral pluralism is the concept that there are fundamental truths that may dictate different definitions of what is moral in different situations. Interestingly, situational ethics seems to be entirely consistent with the ethics of care, especially when one contrasts this ethical system with a rule-based, absolutist system. In the ethics of care, you will recall, each individual is considered in the equation of what would be the “good.”