Can Ethics be Taught ?

Ethics
 Ethics aims to answer one big question.
How should I live?
 Ethical beliefs shape the way we live – what we do, what we make and the world we
create through our choices. Ethical questions explore what Aristotle called 'a life
well-lived'.
 Ethics isn't just an exercise for philosophers or intellectuals. It is at the core of
everyday life.
 We ask ethical questions whenever we think about how we should act. Being ethical
is a part of what defines us as human beings. We are rational, thinking, choosing
creatures. We all have the capacity to make conscious choices – although we often
act out of habit or in line with the views of the crowd. We could all make conscious
and conscientious ethical choices if we wanted to.
 Ethics and Values
 In order to understand what ethics is, and what it might look like,
it's important to distinguish the difference between ethics and
values .
Ethics is about the way we treat one another and is an action concept
that dictates how we choose to live our lives. The ultimate true test of
our character is when we are willing to do the right thing even when
it is not in our best interest to do so.
 Values Refers to our core beliefs or desires , the things we value
the most. Our values shape our attitudes and determines how we
will behave in certain situations.
 Ethical Values Vs. Non-Ethical Values

Ethical Values:
Directly relate to our beliefs concerning our moral duty as opposed to
what is correct, effective, or desirable. These are the values that drive
our principles.
Non-Ethical Values:
Are concerned with things that we like or find personally satisfying
and/or important, with no regard to the moral content.
 Universal Ethical Values
Honesty
Integrity
Promise-keeping
Fidelity
Fairness
Caring
Respect
Responsibility
Striving for Excellence
Accountability
 Can Ethics Be Taught?
In a recent editorial, the Wall Street Journal announced that ethics
courses are useless because ethics can't be taught. Although few
people would turn to the Wall Street Journal as a learned expert on
the teaching of ethics, the issue raised by the newspaper is a serious
one: Can ethics be taught?
The issue is an old one. Almost 2500 years ago, the philosopher
Socrates debated the question with his fellow Athenians. Socrates'
position was clear: Ethics consists of knowing what we ought to do,
and such knowledge can be taught.
 Cont….
 Most psychologists today would agree with Socrates. In an overview of contemporary
research in the field of moral development, psychologist James Rest summarized the
major findings as follows:
 Dramatic changes occur in young adults in their 20s and 30s in terms of the basic
problem-solving strategies they use to deal with ethical issues.
 These changes are linked to fundamental changes in how a person perceives society
and his or her role in society.
 The extent to which change occurs is associated with the number of years of formal
education (college or professional school).
 Deliberate educational attempts to influence awareness of moral problems and to
influence the reasoning or judgment process have been demonstrated to be effective.
 Studies indicate that a person's behavior is influenced by his or her moral perception
and moral judgments.
 Kohlberg’s levels of moral development

Much of the research that Rest alludes to was carried on by the late
Harvard psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg was one of the
first people to look seriously at whether a person's ability to deal with
ethical issues can develop in later life and whether education can affect
that development.
Kohlberg found that a person's ability to deal with moral issues is not
formed all at once. Just as there are stages of growth in physical
development, the ability to think morally also develops in stages.
 Kohlberg’s levels of moral development
 The earliest level of moral development is that of the child, which Kohlberg called the
preconventional level. The person at the preconventional level defines right and wrong
in terms of what authority figures say is right or wrong or in terms of what results in
rewards and punishments.
 The second level of moral development is the level most adolescents reach. Kohlberg
called this the conventional level. The adolescent at the conventional level has
internalized the norms of those groups among whom he or she lives. For the
adolescent, right and wrong are based on group loyalties: loyalties to one's family,
loyalties to one's friends, or loyalty to one's nation
 But if a person continues to develop morally, he or she will reach what Kohlberg
labeled the postconventional level. The person at the postconventional level stops
defining right and wrong in terms of group loyalties or norms. Instead, the adult at this
level develops moral principles that define right and wrong from a universal point of
 Factors that stimulate a person's growth
 Many factors can stimulate a person's growth through the three levels of moral
development. One of the most crucial factors, Kohlberg found, is education.
 Kohlberg discovered that when his subjects took courses in ethics and these
courses challenged them to look at issues from a universal point of view, they
tended to move upward through the levels. This finding, as Rest points out, has
been repeatedly supported by other researchers.
 Ethics can be taught
 Teddy Roosevelt said, “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to
educate a menace to society.”
 If you look at the hard evidence psychologists have amassed, the answer is
yes.
 By and large, most of our ethical beliefs are learned. We are taught both by family
and government what we can and cannot do. But even a small child seems to
understand when something they do is not right, so I must also conclude that
somewhere along our evolutionary path, some absolute basics were learned that
were hard wired into our brains. In case this seems odd, just take a look at the
wildlife. Every pack or group displays behavior that says they will not accept
certain types of behavior. So either the wolves and big cats are just as smart as us,
or a certain amount of behavior code is already in our brains.