Taking the Right Action

Doing ethics means taking the right action, and this involves considering the rules that define our duty and the rights of others.  

Ask yourself: "What rules express my moral duty?" and "What rights must be protected for everyone to enjoy freedom and human dignity?"  

Considering the right action to take is different than thinking about being a good person.  These two ways of reasoning are like our two eyes, which enable us to see clearly.  

Asking, "What action should I take?" and "What kind of person should I be?" helps us clarify our ethical choices.  

Rules define what is right and wrong.  Stories illustrate what it means to be a good person.  We obey rules or break the rules, but we don’t obey or break stories.  We are moved by stories, and we may learn from them.  

We give reasons to justify rules.  Those who have raised or cared for young children know that every child at some point questions the rules by asking, “Why?”  Answering, “Because I said so,” is never helpful, because it discourages a child from trying to learn how to reason about moral choices.  

Sometimes a rule includes the reason for the rule.  This is true of the Golden Rule – “Do to others as you would have them to do to you.”  This rule invites us to consider how respect for our feelings and rights is important to us, as a way of realizing that expressing respect for all other people is a way of doing what is right and also being a good person. 

There are many rules, and at times we have to choose among them.  How are we to make such a choice?  In doing ethics, we begin with our duty, as human beings, to live ecologically.  Among all the species, human beings are able to understand that life relies on a healthy environment.  

We have a duty always to consider how our actions will affect the ecosystems that sustain life on earth. 

We also have a duty to respect human rights.  For these rights are the necessary social conditions for human dignity. 

Rules and stories both involve reasons and feelings, but we are more likely to give reasons for rules and to express feelings about stories.  Thinking clearly about ethics, however, involves relying on our feelings as well as our reasons and considering stories as well as rules. 

To learn more about this approach to moral reasoning, you may wish to purchase Doing Ethics in a Diverse World by Robert Traer and Harlan Stelmach.  

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Think of a rule that seems right to you. Why are you so sure this rule is right? 

If you are a religious person, you may believe the rule is right because it is a commandment of God. 

Or, maybe the rule you thought of is a human right, like freedom of speech or religious freedom. 

Are there conflicts between the rules you think are right?

Under international law everyone has a right not to be tortured, but the US has tortured suspected terrorists and claimed this was necessary to protect natural security. 

Do you see that those who support torture are using a prediction of likely consequences to justify setting aside the legal and ethical presumption against torture? Do you think this is right?

Asking what kind of persons we should be is one way of clarifying the difficult choice between two right actions: for instance, respecting human rights and protecting national security. 

Do we admire a torturer? Do we want to be the kind of person who supports the use of torture because it may make our nation more secure?

Your answers matter.  

For additional comments on taking the right action, click here.