WHAT ETHICS IS NOT

Ethics is not just about how you feel, the sincerity of your beliefs, or your emotions; nor is it only about religious viewpoints. Feelings such as in the statement “I feel that capital punishment is wrong

” are not sufficient when making an ethical decision. Others may feel that capital punishment is right in that it helps to deter crime. All people have feelings and beliefs. However, ethics must be grounded in reason and fact. In this respect law and ethics are similar. For example, a statement such as “I feel that cheating is wrong” doesn’t tell us why you believe it is wrong to cheat. A better statement reflecting ethics would be, “I think cheating is wrong because it gives one student an unfair advantage over another student.” That “advantage” may mean that one person may be hired rather than another simply because the grades were the deciding factor.

The sincerity with which people hold their beliefs is also not an adequate reason when making an ethical decision. For example, Hitler sincerely believed that he was right in exterminating more than 6 million Jews. His sincerity did not make him right.

Emotional responses to ethical dilemmas are not sufficient either. Emotions may affect why people do certain things, such as the woman who kills her husband in a rage after discovering he had an affair. However, we should not let our emotions dictate how we make ethical decisions. We may have helplessly watched a loved one die a slow death from cancer, but our emotions should not cloud the issue of euthanasia and cause us to kill our ill patients.

Ethics is not just about religious beliefs. Many people associate ideas of right and wrong with their religious beliefs. While there is often an overlap between ethics and what a religion teaches as right and wrong, people can hold very strong ethical and moral beliefs without following any formal religion.