what can ethics do for you?

Connor Newlin

This article claims that ethics will lead us to better understanding of our lives and we will make informed decisions weighing the pros and cons of given situations that will help us live to the best moral capacity. I am going to play devil’s advocate while analyzing this article because I found it interesting and enjoyable to read but it makes some bold statements about social aspects that might not all necessarily be true. Some topics in ethics are truly incredible to think about which is why I love the subject, but will it really make us better at making decisions and becoming successful in life? There are people who live their lives entirely by their religion and will claim no ethics is needed in order to better oneself. If this holy person is living a happy, successful life where they have no regrets who are we to disagree with them?

                I will use another example; the entire first three pages of the article gave an elaborate scenario where the man needed to make tough decisions on how to spend his time and money. After completing the article, I still have no idea what would be considered the “right” choice for this man or why. I know what I would probably do with my time and money, but the study of ethics is not exactly the thing that led me to that point and I am not sure if it would change my mind about it either. I don’t view ethics as a necessity because there are people who have really “made it” in life that I consider great people who have done everything right and they know nothing about ethics. The article used a chess analogy where there was an informed player verses one who moves pieces randomly, but I don’t think life really has its winners and losers so to speak.  Ethics again is one of the more profound and interesting studies but I have a question after reading this article: what is it really leading us to? My best answer is that we are all human and in the end of the day we will make whatever decisions we see fit and ethics is something we already have ingrained in our minds, the class will help us understand why we do what we do and expand on these vague concepts that we constantly ponder.