End-Based Ethics- Also known as utilitarianism, end-based ethics has one deciding to do whatever provides the greatest good for the greatest number by predicting the consequences of different actions. If utilitarianism holds that the most ethical thing that can happen is the action that maximizes the happiness or good for society then actions have quantitative outcomes and the decisions that go into "the greatest good for the greatest number" are appropriate, even if that means reducing the rights or happiness of some (Troyer, 2003).
Using the utilitarian principle, who benefits from giving the child back to the original parents? We are not even sure that they benefit, not knowing the specifics, but we do know that the foster parents and the child are traumatized, and that the good works done over the past years and the protections offered by society have been devalued by the outmoded idea that birth parents are what parenting is about. Instead, the Court should have looked in detail about how the foster parents loved the child, how happy the child was, and what would be the greatest good for society -- based on the emotional facts of the case.
Analysis- in both ethical situations we use the issue of a standard...
These schools of ethics are absolutely relevant for 21st century life because we do not live in a black/white world -- there are clearly situational issues that move to a higher ethical consequence -- morality and happiness and what is good for a future citizen. It was not the child's fault she was born to drug addicted parents, and if the parents have truly rehabilitated, there are thousands of children who need adopted -- they can start over and prove their own morality to society. Aristotle, I believe, would have approved of these two ethical interpretations based on his views that virtue was the middle action between too vices -- in our case, one vice is the selfish nature of the birth parents, the other vice the stringent legalisms of the law -- the middle option, or looking at the situation sensibly and morally from the point-of-view of the individual most impacted (the child) would be acting in the right way, at the right time, and towards the right end goal.
REFERENCES
Deverette, R. (2002). Introduction to Virtue Ethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Troyer, J. (2003). The Classical Utilitarian's. New York: Hackett Publications.
