Personal Ethics

br Personal Ethics Personal Ethics When faced with a decision which requires an ethical framework , my usual pattern of decision making follows a pattern of reflection and introspection . The introspective element is both cerebral , that is based in a rational analysis of the issue or matter at hand , and also intuitive , of which is to some degree an assessment of the emotional components of the decision at hand . However , intuitive introspection , at least in my opinion , transcends the boundaries of rationality as we understand it , and it even transcends our understanding of

emotional responses , so intuition , although critical to my own decision making process is a slightly difficult aspect to illuminate

I once read the following paradigm somewhere . The origin of the paradigm is lost to my present memory , but the paradigm was this whenever you are faced with a truly perplexing "yes or no " or "do or don 't " or "either or " decision , and you really can 't seem to make up your mind , flip a coin and assign "heads " to one outcome , and "tails " to the other . Now , when the result of the coin flip is shown , assess your feeling about the result and you will see what you wanted to do all along . In other words , say your choice is between going to a movie or playing a video game with your friends online . You can 't make up your mind which would be abetter choice , so you flip the coin , assigning "heads " to going to the movie , and "tails " to playing video games vowing to abide by the result . Now , let 's assume the result of the coin flip is "tails " -- staying home to play video games -- and you feel excited , d and happy right away without thinking . Then staying in is what you wanted all along . If the coin-flip result of "tails " -- staying home to play video games -- made you want to flip the coin again for a different result , then you would know the same thing , that what you actually wanted to do was stay home and not go out to the movie

That is not to say that I make my decisions , trivial or profound , based on a coin flip ! What I am driving at is that we often have intuitive feelings that lurk below the level of our rational consciousness and we can access this intuition in some cases when making decisions . As someone who has little faith in absolute ethical systems , or in a morality which is based on abstract philosophy , I like to include my own feelings , as well as my rational understanding of ethical concepts when I am faced with decisions

The underlying principles which inform the way I live my life are also drawn from the aforementioned notion of intuition or deep-introspection For example , if I refuse a certain job offer , or even the offer of friendship on specific occasions this may have less to do with something which could be expressed in a linear...