Making Sound Ethical Decisions

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Chapter 10

• Making SoundEthical Decisions

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Chapter Objectives

• Gain sensitivity to the presence of moral issues
• Learn the significance of attitudes toward
  yourself in moral decision making
• Learn how to find win-win situations
• Understand the importance of respecting your
  craft
• Learn why its important to strive for moral
  excellence

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• ETHICS
• A set of principles of right conduct.
• A theory or a system of moral values An ethic
  of service is at war with a craving for gain
  (Gregg Easterbrook).
• ethics (used with a sing. verb) The study of the
  general nature of morals and of the specific
  moral choices to be made by a person moral
  philosophy.
• ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The rules
  or standards governing the conduct of a person or
  the members of a profession medical ethics.

You are the only medical supply shipment for a
small country in the Sahara. After picking up a
delivery from a nearby medical center, you return
to your airplane to find that the only shade for
countless miles has been inhabited by indigenous
life forms, yet you still have to deliver a vital
shipment of fresh blood in time to perform a
life-saving operation. (ALL life is sacred to
you.)
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Questions

• Is it possible to distinguish between strategy,
  rule bending, and cheating?
• Is sport a selfish activity? Do most ethically
  cor-rect solutions to problems require you to
  deny yourself in some way?
• Are ethics in sport worse today than in the past?
• Why do we hear so much about athletic excellence
  and so little about moral excellence?
• Is this the way things should be?

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Ethics / Morals

• The author suggests ethics and morals are the
  same. Readings suggest ethics are a set of
  individual moral values.
• Rules are neutral, but of good / - bad values.

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Developing Good Ethics1) Identifying whats
worthwhile / valuable2) Distributing good
fairly

• Authors 5 steps
• Sensitivity to moral issues
• Respecting / loving yourself

• Find win-win situations
• Respecting / loving your craft
• Searching for moral excellence

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Is it moral to use animals for scientific
research?
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Step 1 Sensitivity to Moral Issues

• Remove Moral Calluses
• The author makes assumptions on moral social
  development that are devoid of religious
  training, that is, he states we grow less
  compassionate with age and are encouraged in our
  culture to grow from greater moral sensitivity to
  lesser care and concern.
• Just as calluses on our hands prevent us from
  feeling what we touch moral calluses that form
  around our hearts keep us from feeling issues of
  ethical right and wrong.

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Removing Calluses

• To remove calluses, one need be more aware of how
  theyre formed, and how they affect the ways we
  think, perceive, and behave.
• Common symptoms of moral calluses
• Everyones doing it (How could it be wrong?)
• Unable to tell whats game / whats not game
• If no penalty for X, then X must be game / XOK
• Difficulty telling sound strategy from
  win-at-all-costs trickery
• Old age and treachery will always overcomeyouth
  and skill

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Removing Calluses(continued)

• Blatant rule breaking referred to by TV
  com-mentators as shrewd strategy
• Sensing that not caught no foul committed
  (what-ever works is right)

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Harmful? Or Harmless?

• Basketball coach yells at ref to improve chances
  of winning next call
• PhysEd teacher calls in sick
• But uses day for family responsibilities
• Justifies this as rest and relaxation
• Hockey player targets previously injured opposing
  player
• Coach teaches player to fake or exaggerate injury
  / contact in order to draw foul
• Fans make deafening roar at football game to
  drown out QB calling plays

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Removing Moral Calluses

• Making Promises
• Looking out for Harm
• Looking out for Selfishness

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Making Promises

• To play hard
• To play by the rules
• ALL the rules
• To honor the letter and spirit of contracts
• To keep students and clients interests foremost

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Looking Out for Harm

• Are we careful enough in looking for all sorts of
  harm in sport, not just physical injury?
• Do we put too much responsibility on refs to
  prevent harm ( to avoid personal blame)?
• Does over-focusing on winning harm anyone?
• As professionals, are we aware our actions affect
  more than students and clients (Taxpayers,
  parents, local residents)?

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Looking Out for Selfishness

• Twin Tests to Uncover Selfishness
• Will I honestly be able to recommend this action
  for everyone in a similar situation?
• Always act as if you are acting for everyone
• Would I be willing to have others know of my
  actions and motives?
• Always act in ways that you would be willing, in
  principal, to make public.
• Calluses take time to develop,time to dissolve
• Making/keeping promises,watching for harm,
  preventing selfishnessincreases moral sensitivity

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Intermission
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(No Transcript)
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Step 2Respecting and Loving Yourself

• Get control of yourself.
• Respect yourself.
• Place your needs and interests in proper
  perspective.

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Three Types of Self- Management Worth Examining

• Cooling out
• Loving oneself psychologically
• Loving oneself philosophically

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Cooling Out

• It is risky to make ethical decisions in a
  highly emotional state
• Cooling out involves being quiet and calm to look
  and see, to put some of your emotional
  involvement out of play, to reflectively review
  any obligations you might have, and to imagine
  the consequences of various actions on both
  yourself and others.

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Loving Yourself Psychologically

• High self regard is not only compatible with a
  healthy concern for others but may be a
  prerequisite for reaching out in morally good
  ways.

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SELF TEST

• People with higher levels of self regard are less
  likely to be preoccupied with such thoughts and
  should be better able to notice what is going on
  around them as well as see what needs their
  teammates (and opponents) might have.

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Loving Yourself PhilosophicallyWhy be ethical at
all?

• We can tell humans at their best from humans at
  their worst.
• Culturally there are differences but a rough
  consensus can be drawn to agree on humans who
  have reached their full potential.
• Knowledge of what humanity is at its best brings
  with it a call for action.

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• To understand what the finest human
  capabili-ties are, is to have a ra-tional basis
  for organi-zing ones behavior in that direction.

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Three Recommendations For Achieving Humanity At
Its Best

• People should seek Internal Goods.
• People should develop a coherent life story.
• People should promote good and avoid harm.

Outside article http//paganwiccan.about.com/cs/e
thics/a/harmnone.htm These words the Wiccan Rede
fulfil An it harm none, do what you will.
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People Should Seek Internal Goods

• The internal goods of any practice are those
  achievements or excellences that are available
  only to those who confront the problems head on,
  honestly, with their own personal capabilities.
• Qualities developed by seeking the internal
  goods
• honesty
• integrity
• perseverance
• a sense of justice and fair play

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People Should Develop A Coherent Life Story

• Individuals who exemplify the species at its best
  insist on making this discrimination between what
  is right for their unique life story and what is
  not, and acting accordingly.
• It takes singleness of purpose to find your story
  and your values in the face of various
  distractions.

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People Should Promote Good and Avoid Harm

• This has to do with identifying good and harm and
  acting in accordance with this perception.
• It also has to do with a recognition that these
  actions have consequences for others as well as
  oneself, and that goods should be distributed
  justly.

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In Review

• Good ethics are highly dependent on the self and
  require self-control (and cooling out, when
  necessary), good feelings about oneself
  (self-respect and self-love in a psychological
  sense), and high human standards (self-respect
  and self-love in a philosophical sense).

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Review Continued

• If you let emotions like anger, frustration, and
  fear guide your decisions, you run a particular
  risk of displaying bad ethics. If you are not
  comfortable with yourself and who you are, you
  are more likely to display bad ethics. And if you
  do not see human beings as special creatures with
  unique powers to seek internal goods over
  external ones, choose a coherent life course or
  story line, and promote good over evil, you run a
  higher risk of displaying bad ethics.

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Step 3 Looking for Win-Win Solutions

• A frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks
  mutual benefit in all human interactions
• All parties feel good about the decision and feel
  committed to the action plan
• Based on a paradigm that there is plenty for
  everybody, that one persons success is not
  achieved at the expense or exclusion of the
  success of others.
• It is not your way or my way it is a better way,
  a higher way.

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Win- Lose

• Certainly there is a place for Win-Lose thinking
  in truly competitive and low-trust situations.
  But most of life is not a competition, it is an
  interdependent reality.

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5 Dimensions of Win-Win

• It begins with
• (1) character and moves towards
• (2) relationships, out of which flow
• (3) agreements.
• It is nurtured in an environment where
• (4) structure and systems are based on win-win.
  And it involves
• (5) process we cannot achieve win-win ends with
  win-lose means.

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4 Step Process to Achieve Win-Win Solutions

• First, see the problem from the other point of
  view. Really seek to understand and to give
  expression to the needs and concerns of the other
  party as well as or better than they can
  themselves.
• Second, identify the key issues and concerns (not
  positions) involved.
• Third, determine what results would constitute a
  fully acceptable solution.
• Fourth, identify possible new options to achieve
  those results.

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Win-Win is not a personality technique. It is a
total paradigm of human interaction. It comes
from a character of integrity, maturity, and the
abundance mentality. It grows out of high-trust
relationships.
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INTERMISSION
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Step 4 Respecting and Loving our Craft

• Focus on the activity rather than the people
  playing it
• This should help us be more ethical
• Consider our test and contest as precious jewels
  that need to be safeguarded and polished
• Helps us to focus on what others are getting out
  of it

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Ways of Preserving Test

• Care must be taken to
• Retain the difficulties or hurdles of game tests
• Retain chances for success in game tests
• Preserve an active, creative role for the
  performer
• Provide flexible rules that accommodate people of
  different ages, maturation levels, and skills
• And in some cases, both genders
• Structure games so that both challenges and skill
  improvement are open-ended.

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Ways of Preserving Contests

• Care must be taken to
• Make sure rules are the same for all competitors
  so that fair competition and an ability to
  compare results meaningfully are preserved
• Preserve an appropriate level of difficulty in
  the tests faced by competitors
• Assure that commitment is in place prior to all
  competition
• Make sure that competitors are members of the
  same testing families

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Example

• Preserving Table Tennis
• See page 253

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Step 5Looking for Moral Excellence

• Many athletes will make whatever sacrifice
  necessary to achieve a certain goal in their
  profession
• The entire sporting industry as a whole has
  become this way
• Society has caused the sport industry to lower
  its morals
• Or is it the other way around?

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Ways of Raising Moral Standards in Our Society

• Look for actions that are
• Optional, rather than required
• Surprising, rather than expected
• Unusual, rather than routine
• Example Moral Excellence pg 256

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Moral Excellence

• When searching for moral excel-lence there is
  only one place to start. That is with yourself.
  You have to determine what you believe is morally
  right or wrong

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Learning Activity

• Name one example in your life in which you have
  won at the cost of another person. Was it
  morally wrong in your eyes and why?