- It is more important to perform good acts than being a good person. Deep down most people know what is right and what is wrong; showing that they know the difference is what counts. Take someone who never takes action in doing the right thing. They constantly talk about what the best thing to do is and demonstrate that they have good thoughts, but how much of a difference is that person going to make in a situation where action is needed. In some situations, someone who talks about doing good is important; if they inspire others to do good then that is very powerful. I think actions heavily outweigh words though so when it comes down to it, the person that takes action in doing something to benefit others is going to be seen as the “good” person. This doesn’t necessarily say that the person who doesn’t take action is seen as a bad person, but it takes a certain kind of person to stand out from a crowd.
- Deciding if the ends justify the means is extremely situational. The only person that can answer this kind of question is someone who is extremely versed on both sides of the situation. I think if someone knows a lot about a certain side, it can be extremely easy to defend the ends, but it wouldn’t be much of a conflict if there weren’t valid points on both sides. This kind of situation comes up a lot these days in terms of how we treat our ecosystem (ecosystem being anything from local to global). Deciding whether to install wind turbines, dams, nuclear power plants all have their obvious end goals, but it takes a lot of engineers, scientists, architects, and politics to come to a decision. There are a lot of people that strongly oppose the means and there are a lot of people that think they are justified. This conflict is something that must weigh the ecosystem and see if it can handle the means to arrive to the end goal.
- I think that the process by which decision are made matter more than the outcomes of the decisions themselves. This question I definitely had to think about, and I could swing to either side in certain situations, but I think its more important to find the the right process than it is to reach a decision. I stand behind this because I think of the situation in which a decision is reached through a corrupt process. Yes, a decision was reached and that could be important, but at what cost? Were innocent people affected by this? Was the betterment of a population or ecosystem sacrificed for the profit of a small group? I think there have definitely been times in history were the “right” decision is reached through a broken process, but I would rather know that the decisions that impact me and my environment are reached through a proper process even if I do not tend to agree with the outcome.
2 thoughts on “Your Ethics Views – K. Leimkuhler”
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Hi, my name is Lizzy. I found your answer to question 2 interesting because I too said that the answer to the question was situational. Here is a link to my blog in which I explain my personal reasoning: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/03/module-3-5/. I also like how you related this question to ecosystems. The example used is insightful and definitely relative to this course.
Hey, My name is Nick. I liked how you explained your reasoning to why performing good acts is more important than being a good person. We both had similar views how the good action is going to benefit someone else. Also, we both believe that the process decisions are made are more important than the outcome. Check out my blog post about ethics at: http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/02/module-3-nick-tomaine/