Can Ethics be Taught ?

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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 view.

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.