Ethical Decision Making
College life brings with it a new set of opportunities and challenges. You have entered a community of peers; some of you are living away from home without the everyday guidance and support of parents, family and friends. You are encountering a degree of diversity in everyday living to which you are probably not accustomed. And academically, expectations have changed dramatically. College faculty do not see themselves as disciplinarians and there are no school principals monitoring your activities and attendance. You are on your own, managing your time, negotiating choices and relationships, and dealing with a more complicated set of academic expectations and responsibilities. In every setting – dorm, classroom, college activities and work – you must balance your needs with obligations to yourself and to others. And this means that you are involved in ethical decision making.
In a 4-5 page essay, discuss a real situation you have encountered this semester which had an ethical component or dimension – that is, where you had to negotiate your own interests, values and needs within the context of the needs and/or expectations of others. You can use an example taken from your own experience, current events, the readings or class discussion. Do you believe the decision/action/resolution was ethical? Explain the decision-making process. Be sure to analyze your example within the context of the differing approaches to ethics discussed in Mill, Kant and Gilligan. How did the readings help you think about the situation from a new or deeper perspective?