Evolving Ethics

Throughout our lives we develop a set of ethical and moral beliefs. The world we live in, our relationships, family life, and religious backgrounds all play a role in determining our thoughts. Often one of these plays a much larger role than the others. For example, for people raised in a very strict religious household their religious background plays a huge role in their ethical and moral beliefs. 

The philosopher match quiz lined up my answers with the beliefs of John Stuart Mill. Mill writes about determining the moral worth of actions by their  consequences. This idea of the "ends justifying the means". He also wrote about the "general happiness", an idea of decided what is best based on the action that will cause the greatest happiness for the masses. I can see where both of these ideas are similar to mine. However they are not exactly the same. The idea of attaching a value to an action based on the consequence and weighing options that way is something that I believe. But the idea of the consequences being the only thing that matters is not accurate. I believe in the value of the reasoning behind the actions. Its not just enough to do the right thing, you need to do it for the right reasons. I can except the concept of the general happiness much more easily. The idea of doing things for the 'greater good' or to benefit the greatest number of people aligns with my priorities. 

In class as we shared the different philosophers we studied I could pick out different idea from most that I agreed with. Despite disagreeing with most of Bentham's ideas I agree with the idea that good laws help the greatest number of people as well as the importance of government intervention in order to help the common good. Kant's idea of acting so that your actions could be moral law is appealing and the desire to connect science and philosophy and religion but I don't fully agree with the idea that knowledge is based on experience. This went on for each philosopher. Each one would have a few things I agreed with and a few I didn't. Even Rousseau, the last match has some concepts I agree with such as the social contract. 

As we looked at our own ethical and moral beliefs in class and which philosophers we most closely identify with I find the origins of our beliefs even more interesting than the beliefs themselves. I could recognize some of the beliefs of the philosophers I was matched with with the ideas of my parents or close friends. Your experiences effect your beliefs even if you don't realize it right away. For example I firmly believe in the importance of voting. This believe could come from the fact that my parents always made a big deal about voting and dragged us along to the polls on election day, the fact that my family votes on most things from restaurants to board games, or that we go to a church with a principle "The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and in society at large". 

Despite the fact that my own ethical and moral beliefs incorporate ideas from a while range of philosophers, the quiz did a pretty good job of matching me with those I had the strongest connections to. Utilitarianism does reflect my own ideals about doing good for the greater good and although I don't believe the consequences are the only mean of judging an action I definitely believe in the idea that the consequences play a huge role in determining the moral value. Also Mills idea of pleasure vs pain, is another aspect of his beliefs I can relate too. 

Its hard to say exactly what your ethical and moral beliefs are as they are complex. The quiz was interesting as it made an attempt to match us with our philosophers but even the 100% match wasn't perfect. Our beliefs are a collection of ideas picked up from various experiences and as we continue to live they continue to change.