Man Pham

April 30, 2017

English
Justification Paper
Ethical Dilemmas

When the time comes and a dilemma is placed in front of you, there are different ethics
that come into view. Personal ethics, the moral principles that shape your behavior, or societal
ethics that surrounds you and introduces an alternative route. Finding the correct judgment may
differ from one person to another, such as the example of a runaway trolley. On its path,
hurdling straight towards five people, you are placed in a role that can alter the course of death.
In other words, you can switch the path of the trolley to another trail that would lead to the death
of a person, or keep the trolley the way it is resulting in five deaths. While some may debate that
killing one in order to save five is the best choice, some may argue that it was their fault they
were in the way to begin with and to take the life of the one person, who is innocently standing
there, is immoral. Being moral or immoral to your ethics circulates around justice, a term that
defines how just your behavior or choice was. Through the process of learning different ethical
ideas and frameworks, voluntary obligations stuck out the most. The idea of showing a selfless
act to others to benefit either sides relates closely to my own morals.
As everybodys first rule, do no harm generally implies what it has stated. This rule is
still as important as the rest because it relates to being self conscience of your actions, whether it
may be harming someone physically or mentally. This is closely related to natural duties to treat
persons with respect, to do justice, to avoid cruelty, and so on (Justice 4). Although it similarly
follows those terms, it still leans towards voluntary obligations in the perspective that we must
concern ourselves with the good of other people (Justice 13). Therefore, this proves that doing
no harm would be beneficial to yourself as well as the peers around you.
The following rule is being respectful, whether its to an adult or a stranger, to show
respect to everyone implies that youre courteous and should have the treatment. The importance
behind this rule is to show how difficult respect is earned, but easily lost. As a person who may
be highly respected through ranking, such as a pilot, when an ethical dilemma comes in with his
community, it changes his overview of his future actions. With community obligations, he
demurs on the grounds that he cant be the one to bomb and possibly kill some of his people
(Justice 28). The pilots action exhibits his voluntary obligations to his community. Even if it
was necessary to bomb the community in order to carry out with their plan, he stood to his ethics
and avoided what wouldve been a morally wrong choice from his perspective.
The third rule is putting others first based on moral decisions, not just kindness. This rule
is significant due to the bias decisions some people may make on general assumptions or
knowledge of the topic. For example, with family obligations, it is the special obligation of
family members to one another (Justice 4). If two children were drowning, one being your own
child and another being a strangers child, who would most likely be saved? Most people would
say their own due to the family relationship they have, but some may say the other kid, just
because that kid may be a change in the future. Many, however, never thought of factors that
werent given in the situation, such as the distance of either children or their possible futures. All
of these play an essential role in the dilemma, and knowing certain bits and pieces of the story
could give way to a bias decision. In the end, one of the child drowns, while the other lives, and
you have the burden to live with. Tying back to voluntary obligations, it demonstrates how an
action is not done with bias, but to what morally appeals you.
My next rule is be supportive and helpful to an extent that you dont do everything. This
rule goes out to all the selfless people putting others in front of themselves, even if it will cost
them some sort of personal loss. This rule is important because it ties back to rescuing Ethiopian
Jews such that they went against a neighboring government. We shall not rest until all our
brothers and sisters from Ethiopia come safely back home (Justice 41). They were supportive of
their own kinds and tried to help the Ethiopian Jews as much as they can before being pressured
to stop. This goes back to voluntary obligations because of the action being done. The rescuing
of the Jews were particular to their morals because of their close tie to religious affiliation.
The proceeding rule is to be forgiving, but never forget what happened. This ruling is
important because of the moral dilemma with two aging parents who needs to be cared for. One
of which is your mother and the other is a strangers mother. It might be argued that the moral
responsibility to care for my mother derives from the fact that she looked after me when I was
young (Justice 15). A possible choice can be saving the strangers mom because of some sort of
bad relation with your own. The view in that would be your mother forgiving your actions, but to
an extent that you still remember what had happened.
Dont be a bystander is the next rule on the list. This rule is important because being a
bystander is boring and nothing is achieved from it. An upstander, on the other hand, gets to help
with the decision making and encourages others around to be confident. Going back to the idea
of the rescue efforts for the Ethiopian Jews, it stated, Israel has a special responsibility to rescue
Ethiopian Jews that goes beyond its duty (Justice 51). They were pressured to cease their help
and watch the Ethiopian Jews suffer, but they didnt stop providing help. They stood up for their
moral beliefs and kept escorting them out to safety in their homeland, even if it meant violating
some rule, they became the upstanders that the Jews needed.
The seventh rule is keep your words, especially when a promise has been made. Keeping
your word implies that you are trustworthy and honest. In other words, you become more reliable
and people come to you when theyre in dire need. As stated, Whether we must concern
ourselves with the good of other people depends on whether, and with whom, we have agreed to
do so (Justice 13). This relates to voluntary obligations due to the mutual agreement between
two or more people. In order to carry out with the duty, you must keep your word and show your
peers that you care.
 Stop! Dont lie! Its something that will come back to haunt you if you forget about it.
This rule is important because lying can start off as a joke, but after a while, itll be more serious.
Sooner or later, the lying can be a habit and no one will really trust you again. If you want a
good business reputation, then treat your customers honestly (Justice 45). This statement is
unintentionally proving that lying will cause a bad reputation. By comparing good business
reputation to honesty, turning that around would incite on bad reputation to lies. This is a key
component in voluntary obligations because the actions being done requires consent and if you
lie about something, the consent may be taken away.
The following rule is staying loyal, exemplifying it would exert yourself as a trustworthy
person. This is important because it helps build your character up to a person where everyone
could trust without hesitation. Not only that, but it shows connection that has been built that is
going to be difficult to break. We see in his stance a recognition of his encumbered identity as a
member of his village (Justice 35). Again, the pilot showed loyalty in addition to the respect he
has given to his community by avoiding the situation himself and offering the action to another
individual. Although the community got bombed in the end, the blood wasnt in his hands and
that made it morally fine for the pilot. This binds back to voluntary obligations because it
proving how staying loyal tends to be towards a particular person or group, and in this case, a
community.
The last rule is be different, stick out from the crowd. The importance behind this rule is
that being different broadens your perspective and ways of thinking. Rather than being similar to
your peers, stand out from them and show everyone what makes you unique. Although there are
no clear evidence shown from the text Justice it still fits with voluntary obligations because
its a particular action done by yourself that could benefit your community.
The development of these rules are from personal experiences, mainly from what people
describe me as. Through the process of revising and editing, I had a few revisions made to my
ten rules. Originally, my seventh rule was make people happy, which then changed to be helpful
to others, which finally turned to keep your words. That rule had the most change because of
how broad the idea was, which made it fit in more than one ethics, but as I narrowed it down, it
placed right into voluntary obligations. My second rule began as be honest and respectful, to
only being respectful. It was pointed out to me that being honest and dont lie are similar ideas,
just worded differently. Other than that, my other rules were fine, I just had to word the rules
differently. For example, I changed my rule of person of action, like an upstander, to dont by a
bystander. Both of which portray the same meaning, but worded better so its not too long or
wordy.
My life would be the way it is because most, if not, all the rules have been shown by me
at some point. If the world lived by these rules, it would be a more trustworthy and friendly
environment where everyone could be special in their different ways. There wouldnt be distrust
because no one would lie, and everybody is trustworthy. The world would be a more tranquil
place with peace and serenity spread all over.