Applying Ethical Theories to My Life

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Gabriel Rodriguez

Phil 2306

Burleson

30 September 2021

Ethics Research Paper

In many ways, multiple ethical theories apply to my life whether it be through my religious ideas and the God I choose to follow, the work I do and the people I work for, the organizations I work with or have worked with and how I choose my politics, or the service I’ve done and plan to continue doing throughout my life. While I would try my best to choose one, it’d be best to cover a few as many facets of my life involve more than one ethical theory to begin with and as such would be done an unjust explanation using just one theory over another. In this, I’ll discuss how I’ve been affected be ethical egoism, ethical relativism, and how my experiences have led me to see the violations of the social contract theory in my surroundings.

Through religion, many people learn a specific code of ethics or morals via their religious texts or teachings. For Christians and the religion of Christianity, the religious text of The Holy Bible gives a number of lessons and teachings throughout the Old and New Testaments both of which are made up of smaller books written by followers of Jesus Christ and members of the following he gathered. One of the most commonly derived phrases from Christian teachings is that of The Golden Rule which goes, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This line of scripture from The Book of Matthew, chapter seven, verse twelve says in common terms, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” This is an important piece of text when it comes to ethics, especially those pertaining to Divine Command Theory because when taking into account of how to treat other people. For example, in the criminal justice system, one would hope to be treated fairly and equally, just as the person prosecuting them would, should they be in the position of being prosecuted, rather than the prosecutor.

Religion has played a large part in my life as I grew up going to church, but there was a time for more than a few years when I stopped going and stepped away from the religion to explore other ideas like atheism or agnosticism. In the last two years or so I’ve come back to Christianity, as it provides a much-needed guide and standard to hold myself to. I’ve begun reading the New Testament of the bible cover to cover in order to gather a greater understanding of the religion as well as it’s teachings, as even when I was previously involved in church going and youth activities within the church, I was never all that interested with the scripture but instead the communal aspect provided. All of this of course was done in my own accordance, save for the years when I was younger as I had no choice but even in reflection upon those years, I don’t see them through an unfond lens.

Within religion, especially Christianity but most importantly any religion, there is always going to be a sense of ethical relativism. What is considered acceptable from one religion may be considered taboo or forbidden in another. For example, the Ten Commandments listed in The Holy Bible give a set of rules that a follower of Christ is to live by. Similarly, but contrastingly different are the Five Pillars of Islam, which hold the core beliefs and practices of Islam. In Judaism there are also ten commandments, these commandments following closer to leading one to act against the “Seven Deadly Sins,” or the most egregious acts one can commit in terms of sin, as it pertains to things like theft, adultery, lying, murder, or worship of another god other than the one from the prescribed religion; for Christianity it would be God, Allah for Islam, and Yahweh for Judaism.

In a historical context, religions like Christianity and Judaism break down from the religion of Islam and the descendants of the people listed in the bible are for the most part in direct relation to Abraham who was the Messiah for the people of Islam, whereas in Christianity the Messiah is Jesus Christ, but in the eyes of Muslims and the followers of Islam, Jesus is one of many prophets. This is just one reason why there are so many offshoots of one overarching religion, especially in the religion of Christianity, where there are many subsects of the religion. Differing sects of religion are also seen in Islam, where there are many tribal and very old teachings of the religion in small groups but in the inverse, there are also common and more mainstream followings like the Sunni and Shi’ites. (“What is Christian Ethics?” Langerak, Ed)

Within the organizations I’ve been involved with throughout my life, there are a variety of things that I may do that could be considered altruistic and egoistic simply based on the fact that some of the things I had done within said organizations had been in the interests of others, but for myself above all else and I’ll get more specific with those examples as I continue on. I grew up going to Cub Scout meetings and eventually moved onto Boy Scouts, a more matured skills and leadership-oriented program meant to develop young men into well rounded leaders, which now called Scouts BSA allows admittance to young women for co-ed experiences. Within Boy Scouts, I completed a number of service projects meant to assist in the community, whether that be singing Christmas Carols to the elderly, cleaning up a stretch of road or highway, or for my Eagle Scout Project (the final test of leadership you must complete before earning the highest rank of Eagle Scout) where I repainted an awning for the Fatima Catholic Church during the COVID lockdowns in mid-2020. Most of the time I did these things, not because I felt like they should be done, but because they were either something that the Troop (the name for the unit of Boy Scouts) was doing or I needed the service hours for an award or my next rank or in other cases, in return for a waiver of camping fees I among other members of the troop would clean a large portion of a small National Park or reservation.

Now, in a program where it’s encouraged that you help the community you could argue that I was being immoral in only helping people if it were for my own benefit, as I likely wouldn’t have otherwise (though I did often volunteer through the Church I attended). In the time I spent volunteering, likely between two hundred to five hundred hours over the course of three years or so, I was really doing it for my own benefit even if it did help others. This could be a poor example to set for future leaders, creating the idea that one should only assist others if they’re to be compensated whether directly or indirectly. In fact, this is what Harvard Business Review says in their article ‘Why People Make Unethical Choices’ when they say, “A positive example isn’t being set. Leaders must accept they are held to higher standards than others. They must be extra vigilant about not just their intentions, but how it is others might interpret their behavior.” This isn’t to say that there is an issue with young men providing a service to the community in order to rank up in a program built upon making well rounded members of the community, but rather begs the question: “Is it ethical to teach the young men that if you want to gain higher ranking amongst your peers, you must go out of your way to help others in a way that is mostly selfish, as you’re only doing it for your own benefit in the end?”

In other facets, I could also be considered egoistic for the reasons I got involved in politics. Some years ago, at a National Scout Jamboree in 2017, I got the chance to see the forty-fifth President, Donald J. Trump speak in person amongst people from surrounding countries and across Europe and Asia. In his speech he spoke about fake news and the media pushing a false narrative which led me to looking into just what he’d spoken about. Sure enough, in an article titled ‘Trump to Boy Scouts: ‘We could use some more loyalty’,’ CNN goes on to say that Trump went on a political tirade, pulling very small bits and pieces from his nearly hour-long speech to make it seem as though he were trying to make the impression of pushing politics on the Scouts, of whom I was included. Having been there I can tell you it was quite the opposite and there were plenty of anecdotes about building a great business, being a great leader, and how to lead fiercely. (Trump to boy scouts: 'we could use some more loyalty', Watkins E.)

Since then, I grew deeply invested in politics, watching the news, reading articles and joining groups such as the Houston Young Republicans, working with Republican Congressmen and Senators, joining the Texas Libertarian Party Misus Caucus, and helping campaign for multiple political pundits who most of which unfortunately never made it into office. All of these things I did for myself, as politics is something I greatly enjoy, but also for other people as the work I’m doing not only benefits me, but people who hold the same values as I do and even for some who don’t but don’t quite understand it. For example, in campaigning for Republican Wesley Hunt, there was an effort within Harris County to push Constitutional Carry as part of the platform, albeit rather late into the campaign and not often mentioned. This benefitted myself, as I am a large supporter for the second amendment but also for everyone’s right to the best form of self-defense.

In the future, I plan on joining the United States Marine Corps after completing my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science within the next two years. I would like to learn some skills whilst serving my country that I can then take and use elsewhere and possibly begin my career in politics, perhaps taking office locally or at the state level to make change in my community and moving on from there. I would like to eventually run for the office of President of The United States of America, as I see what is being done with the country now and I feel as though it’s being abandoned by the people who are supposed to be upholding the Constitution and what this country stands for. In a case where it’s the people’s ideas and wishes aren’t valued it should be assumed that the people claiming to represent said people are incompetent. Within Psychologist’s Ethical Standards “2.01 Boundaries of Competence”, it states “(a) Psychologists provide services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience,” and while this pertains to psychology, it could also be argued that elected officials should act only within their boundaries of competence and as such, those who do not should not be allowed to stay in office. In the case of the forty-sixth President of The United States, the history of lies pertaining to plagiarism, his admission to cheating on the bar exam when trying to become a lawyer, and multiple clear but not prosecuted cases of criminal action while acting in office for the United States; Should they keep their position of office whilst having acted out of their boundaries of competence, especially when acting egregiously? (“Termination and Abandonment: A Key Ethical Distinction.” Behnke, Stephen.)