¶ … philosophical approaches to ethics. I did not begin this course with an extensive understanding of normative ethics. Instead, because the utilitarian approach is similar to my own, I assumed that most people had a utilitarian approach to ethics. Not that I would advocate an overt harm to an individual in order to help society, but I believed that the right choice would be dictated by the greatest good. I agreed with the notion that "we choose the course of action that provides the greatest benefits after the costs have been taken into account" (Andre & Velasquez, 2010). However, what I did not realize is that I was also employing some deontological perspectives in my own personal normative ethics. There are some lines that I feel should never be crossed, which is deontological in its orientation. "In contrast to consequentialist theories, deontological theories judge the morality of choices by criteria different from the states of affairs those choices bring about" (Alexander & Moore, 2012). For example, I feel like it might...
Understanding that my personal ethical perspective does not fit neatly into any pre-set ideals was actually very helpful to me.
I think the work I did in the session for the class was decent. I tried to incorporate what I was learning into the classwork as it was assigned. Honestly, for me, so much of the material was through-provoking that I felt as if assignments were rushed. I did much thinking about the ethical and moral questions and issues underpinning the facts that I learned. I think this detracted from my ability to complete the course work to the best of my ability, but I think it increased my ultimate understanding of the material. I feel as if this understanding is even more important than any grade I could have received in the class. Therefore, I do not know that I would actually change anything about the work that I did because…
