Ethics are an important thing to have. They give us a basic set of guidelines that we can look to when we have big decisions to make. This can be very helpful, since sometimes these decisions can be very difficult to make, and having more resources we can rely on is always a good thing. Perhaps most importantly however, is the fact that a good code of ethics can help us to treat other people better. Being an ethical person can mean looking out for other as much as looking out for yourself. By developing and following such a code of ethics, people may start treating each other better, which could cause even more people to develop and follow such a code of ethics. Eventually, perhaps with some luck, this would repeat until everyone is following a code of ethics like that and everyone is doing their best to help each other as much as they are helping themselves.
Everyone has a different way of going about making decisions, especially when they are as difficult as most ethical decisions tend to be. Personally, the first thing I do when faced with a difficult decision is to try to think of all the possible actions I can take. Even when you’re faced with a situation that only appears to have two possible options, sometimes if you look harder at the problem, you can find a third option that solves the problem better than either of the obvious options. This does not always help, but when it does, it usually helps a lot. Failing that, I usually next look at how each option will affect others. I typically feel that the option that helps the most people or hurts the least people is the best option. However, there are many different things to consider, such as health, finances, relationships, etc. that make this a really difficult task, even impossible sometimes, so I wouldn’t ever be able to think about everything, so it can be a somewhat rough estimate. If that all fails, then I usually try to ask someone for their opinion. Having another person’s opinion can make making those decisions a lot easier, since you then have their ideas of what is better as well.
Our group discussed the Citicorp Tower case study. For the most part, our group believed that what the person did was the most ethical thing to do. However, we were also unsure if we would actually do the same thing in that sort of scenario. While what he did was clearly the most ethical thing to do, it also led to him being financially ruined. This is a huge consequence for doing the right thing, and would be very difficult to do. In the end, we decided that if we were going to be able to spare the resources needed, we would almost certainly do what he did.
In my opinion, the virtue that applies the most is responsibility. This is because he very quickly took responsibility for the errors in his calculations and the shortcuts that were taken during construction, even though he knew his actions would lead to his financial ruin in the end. Next, I would say honesty applies quite a bit. While he could have kept quiet about the errors in his calculations and the fact that there could be a storm that would destroy the building, he instead chose to be honest about his findings and get everything together that could prevent such a disaster. The third one I would choose would be integrity. The way he chose to go and make all these changes to the building so quickly, despite the pain it would cause him, shows how strong his morals principles and ethics are.
While the other virtues can still apply to this case study, I feel that they do not apply quite as well. Charity probably applies the most out of these three, but I would say that it is somewhat shown through the other three I chose better, because him helping out his fellow men and women are shown through his honesty and responsibility. Fidelity is shown a little, but it is in the same boat as charity is for the most part. Self-discipline is probably shown the least, because it is only shown through his ability to quickly choose to take a loss to make the building better, which also shows the other three that I believe this case study shows more of. One ethical value not given in the “Virtue of Ethics” that we talked about a bit during our meeting was prevention, or him choosing to respond to this potential crisis before anything bad had the chance to happen. I think this value is shown a great deal in how quickly he chose to fix the building that could break, despite the fact that it was possible that nothing bad might happen for a very long time.