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Ethics: (Greek ethika, from
ethos, "character," "custom"),
principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called
morals (Latin mores, "customs").
The basic problems of philosophy continue to be the same
even as the advent of new technologies and the advancement
of science have led us to more complex perspectives on old
problems. The branch of ethics is no different.
"Eudaimonia", or a state of happiness, contentedness
and prosperousness combined, was thought of by the ancient
Greeks as one of the highest ideals of ethics. Skip forward
to thousands of years later and we
find that
our conception
of what the "common good" is still continues to
baffle us. The individual need for
free will has gradually replaced family or community needs,
bringing
with it an entirely new set of ethical issues.
With the arrival of increasingly powerful technologies and
advancements in the understanding of medicine, genetics, nanotechnology
and other branches of science, our society seems to be demanding
for an equal increase in ethical behaviour and wisdom to balance
out our potentially serious blindness to future difficulties.
How we teach ethics becomes even more important as we are
required to make more complex decisions concerning consumer,
environmental, business and political issues during this
unprecedented
time in our history.
Ethical Development
Laurence Kohlberg, a professor at Harvard University in the
1970's, suggested that individuals pass through three sequential
stages of ethical development: The pre-conventional stage,
the conventional stage and the post-conventional stage.
The pre-conventional stage is found in most preschools
and dog-training facilities. This is the stage where individuals
learn to behave according to a fixed set of norms taught
to them by an authority figure. Usually the Pavlovian
method is used to reinforce the proper behaviours and to
discourage inappropriate behaviours (i.e. rewards and punishments)
until
eventually the individual learns that to behave morally is
to act in one's better interest.
The conventional stage is the level most adolescents reach.
At this point right and wrong are based on group loyalties
to family, friends and one's society. It then may advance
to recognition of the necessity of law, duty and respect for
authority.
The post-conventional stage is the development of the understanding
of mutuality and a genuine interest in the welfare of others.
This stage is characterized first by a general interest in
what makes a good society function, and then develops into
an acceptance of certain rights and morals that take priority
over the laws of a society.
Kohlberg believed that individuals could not skip any of
these levels, and that people can get stuck in one of the
earlier stages if specific understanding is never achieved.
He also believed that the bulk of moral development is the
result of social interaction.
Teaching Ethics
As time has gone on it is apparent that our educational
goals have left philosophical and ethical ideals behind.
For the last 50 years or so, school curriculums have gone
from complete avoidance of ethical education to incorporating
three
somewhat consecutive approaches:
- Values clarification and self-esteem building techniques
that clarify an individual's ethical perspective. This is
done in attempt to avoid indoctrination of specific values
and to encourage students to know what their own belief
system is - and why they believe it.
- Moral decision making that focuses on the education of
general ethical principles in the hope that the individual
may be able to synthesize the principles on their own.
- And, more recently, character education, which sees that
character has more to do with the formation of individual
habits then specific decisions do. The development of positive
role models is the most important asset in helping the individual
develop a relationship with the people in the society they
belong to.
All three of the above approaches have weaknesses, but it
would seem as if a program which synthesizes the most useful
aspects of all three still needs to be researched.
Character Education
The character education approach seems to work best as it
develops the individual's interaction with other individuals
in the society. Through these social interactions, the development
of habits learned by positive role models can be encouraged.
Everyone who comes into contact with students as they advance
is responsible. In this way the expectations on both citizens
and leaders is increased exponentially as we all learn to
pick up the necessary slack in the education of societal values.
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