Ethics and professional responsibility in practice

Ethics and Professional Responsibility

In basic terms, discrimination of individuals on the basis of their race, sex or even sexual orientation is inherently wrong, unfair and unethical. If that is the case, each and every individual should have his or her interests taken into consideration without any bias. In this text, I evaluate the premise that there can never be any justification for racial discrimination. Further, I explore the relevance of ethics in contexts of military conflict.

Race, Racism and Ethical Considerations

Race denotes the categorization of human beings into distinctive groups based on factors such as outward physical appearance and ancestry. It is a phenomenon also related to and influenced by traits such as ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status and appearance. On the other hand, racism constitutes any doctrine or belief which holds that inherent race-based differences in humans pre-determine individual or cultural achievements. These beliefs are always accompanied by subsequent beliefs that some races are superior in comparison to others and thus have the right to rule over presumably weaker races (Koggel 2006, p. 89-93). In essence any policies that support such beliefs or intolerances based on the mentioned criteria also constitute racism. Since race and racism deal with a classification that self imposes superiority; this raises ethical concerns as to whether racism is indeed ethical in nature. Ethics as a moral philosophy addresses questions about what is morally wrong or right. An ethical analysis of racism indeed reveals that it is unethical because the socially constructed categorization is based on irrelevant factors that seek to connect physical appearances to blood lines, intelligence and status in a manner that is not scientifically proven. Science has already proven that race is not a biological or anthropological concept. Therefore, race is not scientifically meaningful because it cannot be measured and it is not discrete in nature (Pataki & Levine 2004, p. 87-90).

Throughout history, racism has led to the unequal consideration of all people due to external factors such as social Darwinism, societal influence and poverty. However, since these are external factors and race is not biological, then there should be an equal consideration of all people based on their basic intrinsic values. The negative connotation of racism based on the unequal consideration is what is broadly understood by many as immoral racism, which in essence results in inequity. Immoral racism is what leads to discrimination of people and inequity in society based on outwardly determined racial differences (Koggel 2006, p. 89-95).

Contrastingly, it is important to note that racism and racial differences may be defined in a more neutral manner which does not consider racial differences as weaknesses, but rather as important differences among people. The removal of negative aspects of racism eliminates the negative connotations of racism and results into what can be referred to as "moral racism" which is essentially based on positive ethical considerations that do not recognize racial differences as signs of weakness but rather as signs of important racial differences. Moral racism may also be based on ethical concerns such as virtues, goods and rights. In essence moral racism denotes racism or racial considerations that seek to support racial rights and call for the rights of all races to independence, life and liberty. This is a form of positive racial advocacy that requires all races to be considered equal as there is no substantiation of any claims that seek to undermine one race in favor of another (McCulloch 2010, p. 1).

On the flip side is another form of racism which is also based on ethical concerns such as virtues, goods and rights. However, this form of racism rejects racial rights and instead calls for active racial competition among races towards achieving mastery and territorial dominance. This is a form of racial survival for the fittest in which there is no belief of the existence of racial rights (McCulloch 2010, p. 1).

Despite the negative connotation of racism, there is a need to have some form of racism, but in a positive manner. Arguably some form of racism is necessary. For example, there is a need to socially map and define the racial landscape and this cannot be done without the use of some form of racism. This has indeed been a historically compelled action because throughout history, racial lines have naturally existed between men and thus could not be ignored (Pataki & Levine 2004, p. 87-90). Therefore, it can be conclusively stated that the society cannot cast a blind eye to racism; especially moral racism. Racism cannot be totally neglected and it has to exist amongst humanity. Two other examples of why moral racism may be necessary include race-based medicine and racial profiling. Despite the controversy that surrounds racism, it can be generally agreed that these two are necessary in aspects such as medicine and crime, and as such the racism aspect may not be neglected. For example, racial-based medicine seeks to determine conditions that are prevalent in some races in comparison to others. This may be exemplified by obesity and sickle celled anemia both of which are prevalent among black Americans. Therefore, such race-based medical profiling is not immoral in itself, but rather a natural and positive racial consideration that may yield positive results if focused on improving and researching on certain medical conditions of importance (McCulloch 2010, p. 1). Similarly, racial profiling in cases such as crime resolution is not really racial, but rather a racial approach towards seeking societal solutions. Therefore, it is totally difficult to do away with racial considerations in such circumstances.