Ethical decision making framework: IDEALS

Ethical Decision Making Framework
FOCUS: IDEALS
NAME: Paul Anderson
STEP ONE: THE DETAILS OF THE CASE

(1) Choose one inquiry, from inquiries 1 - 28 (pages 114 - 117). Indicate which inquiry you chose, and then briefly explain it in your own words:

I choose inquiry #20 about the man who was elected president of a small country and then became a tyrannical dictator, but was eventually put to death by a small group of the people he had oppressed.

(2) Stakeholders:

The president, his army and secret police, the government and the people of the country all have a stake in the situation. The group that assassinates him are considered to be people of the country.

(3) Are the details given sufficient? Why or why not?

The details are sufficient to give insight into the situation, establish the ideals in conflict and make a decision about the actions taken.

(4) What additional questions does this inquiry raise?

Who did the small group of assassins represent and was their motive to make the country a better place to live or were they just usurping his power to replace his injustices with their own?

STEP TWO: THE RELEVANT CRITERIA

1. Obligations (aka "duties"):
The obligations of citizenship would definitely apply in this situation as well as professional obligations.

2. Moral Ideals (aka "virtues"):

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Prudence:
Prudence applies here as it is the exact opposite of rashness and impulsiveness which may apply to a small group of people assassinating another small group of people.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Justice:
Did the assassination of the president and his accomplices represent justice? * Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Temperance:Probably not applicable in this situation.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Courage:
Courage definitely applies here. Possibly to the president having the courage to do what he did also to the people who assassinated him having the courage to risk their life to accomplish their goals.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Loving Kindness:
Probably not applicable here.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Honesty:
Honesty was definitely violated here by the president. It sounds as if he became president under one pretense and then revealed his true objectives.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Compassion:
I believe that the assassins acted with compassion for their fellow citizens.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Forgiveness:
Not applicable here!

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Repentance:
Not applicable here!

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Reparation:
Not applicable here.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Gratitude:
Not applicable here unless the people of the country show gratitude to the assassins for removing the dictator from their country.

* Cardinal Ideal/Virtue of Beneficence:
Not applicable here.

* Conflicting ideals--consider the relative importance of each; determine which ideal represents the greater good (or the lesser evil). See pages 110-11 for clarification.

Murdering the president and his men would present a conflict in ideals, but I believe the assassins considered it the lesser of two evils given that the president was murdering seemingly innocent people.

3. Consequences (aka "outcomes" or "results"): Optional this week

STEP THREE: POSSIBLE COURSES OF ACTION

Alternative #1:
Seek to remove the president from office through traditional political channels.

Alternative #2:
Seek help from international sources such as the United Nations or other countries sympathetic to the preservation of human rights.

STEP FOUR: THE MOST ETHICAL ACTION

Examine the action taken or proposed and decide whether it achieves the greater good (the most widespread "respect for persons")...if it does not, choose one that will, from your alternatives. Where the choice of actions is such that no good can be achieved, choose the action that will result in the lesser evil.

I believe that assassination of the president was justified. In the case of the Arab guerrillas holding the Israeli Olympic athletes hostage, the authorities had to kill the guerrillas to prevent the murder of more innocent people. This case is similar in that the president was executing the people of his country, so his assassination prevented the further loss of innocent lives.

SELF EVALUATION

1. In your own words, describe something new that you learned from this week’s assigned reading material and guidance.
The explanation of courage was meaningful to me. I guess I never really thought of it as having 3 dimensions. I was moved by the story about the little girl on the bus who befriended the other boy. I would not have thought about it being a conflict of ideals – I now realize that it was not exactly honest, but it was certainly the right thing to do.

2. In your own words, describe in detail some insight you gained, about the material, from one of your classmates' blogs this week.
I cannot honestly answer this question because I only read the instructor blog.

3. Did you post a thoroughly completed post to your blog on time this week?
Yes, except for the question above.

4. Did you ALSO print this out, so you can bring it to class and earn total points?
Yes.

5. Of 25 points total, my efforts this week deserve:

24. I suppose that reading the other students’ blogs is helpful but I did not feel that it was critical for my grade. We all have to be responsible and budget our time as we see fit. I work an average of 48 hours a week and am taking 14 credit hours for the second semester in a row, so anything above the required assignments usually doesn’t make into my schedule. I do read the assignments and try to turn in work that reflects that.