Ethics Awareness

OBLIGATION

You tend to base your ethical perspective on an individual's duty or obligation to do what is morally right - principles that represent what rational persons ought morally to do. You believe that ethical conduct appeals to "conscience." In judging whether a person's actions are ethical, you look to the intent behind his/her actions, rather than focusing on results. In other words, to be considered ethical, we must choose how we act and what rules we are willing to follow. From your perspective, ethical principles must be: (a) appropriate under any circumstances (universalizable); (b) respectful of human dignity; and (c) committed to promoting individual freedom and autonomy. Human beings must never be treated simply as "means" to the accomplishment of some defined "end." The end does not justify the means. This category is most closely aligned in philosophy with a deontological theory (Immanuel Kant and John Rawls).

YOUR ETHICAL STYLE

You believe that human beings have intrinsic value - we have a right to individual respect. Therefore, you cannot support social traditions and policies aimed at "the best interests of society as a whole" if any individual