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Showing posts from January 23, 2011

Is There A System Of Ethics That Exists Apart from Our Opportunity To Act In An Ethical Manner?

The following is a paper I wrote for my ethics class.  Thomas Booher Is there a system of ethics that exists apart from any person's opportunity to act in an ethical manner, or does ethics exist for you only when you are called upon to act ethically? If by ethics we mean, a set of values or ideals about what is right and wrong, then yes, I do believe that there is a system of ethics that exists apart from any person’s opportunity to act in an ethical manner. As a Christian, I believe that God’s law is right and true and is what I am to live by. My ethics are God’s ethics, and God exists outside of me and apart and above all people, eternally; therefore, God’s law is the system of ethics that everyone is to live by. I cannot understand how ethics could suddenly “exist” when I am called upon to act ethically and then “not exist” the rest of the time. In her book Ethics , Barbara Mackinnon says, “We can think of ethics as a study of the various sets of values that people have.... w