Public service and competing ethical claims of public managers

Public Service and Ethics

Ethics is a philosophical concept that attempts to explain the moral organization within a given chronological time and cultural event. It is more concerned with understanding the way that ethnical ideas are presented, than judging those concepts within the construct of the society. However, when one looks at the history of any philosophical subject, it is important to note that differing concepts of philosophy often arise "out of" that very historical and cultural fabric of the time -- and then evolve so that they become more acceptable to future generations rather than contemporaneous ones (MacIntyre, 2006). While the topic of ethics is vast, and a long essay could be written about each individual contribution, we can divide the idea of Western Philosophy into seven major periods, at least to appropriate group basic thought.

First, for western philosophy, the basis for the study of ethics arose in Ancient Greece. Socrates, for example, believed that the pinnacle action of anything that makes one human is the ultimate goal of happiness, and virtue (morality) is the manner to reach that. Since all humans intrinsically seek happiness, it must mean, then, that all humans are moral and just, and any evil is nothing more than ignorance. Socrates' student, Plato, took this view and expanded on it by indicating that virtue is not just the absence of ignorance, but in such moral virtues like justice, fortitude, temperance, and harmony. Aristotle, taking both ideas, used his observation of the world to show that it is really only happiness that all humans strive; and everything else is simply a part of that ultimate activity (Roochnick, 2004).

Modern philosophers, of which there are many, tend to take the sociological and technological changes in society and combine them with previous philosophical work to help decide just what the focus is that humanity strives. There have been the nihilists (Nietzsche, who declare God "dead,") the evolutionists, spurred by the work of Charles Darwin, all contributing to the idea of Marxism (Karl Marx, Friederich Engels), who believed that within each human a certain task was their contribution to society as a whole, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," spurning some of the major revolutions of the 20th century (V. Lenin and Mao) (Scruton, 2001).

Of course, the study of ethics did not end with Lenin and Mao; in fact modern social philosophy had its roots with Descartes ("I think, therefore I Am), Kant (brining unity to rationalism), to the existentialists (thought begins internally and all else flows outward), to the newer contemporary philosophies surrounding the use of language and culture (Bertrand Russell), deconstructionism (critical analyzation of thought and work through minute analysis of the text), and even into combination theories like Post-Structuralism (there are no absolute truths, and the goal is to expose the fraudulence of the self as the final entity) (Delacampagne, 2001).

Rather than viewing the overview of ethics as a "classical" versus "modern" approach, what seems apparent is that there has been a powerful, but gradual, evolution in theory that began in Ancient Greece, and has simply been reinterpreted based on more contemporary cultural and societal ideologies. Within the modern construct, the battle for ethical understanding breaches the philosophical and often moves into public entertainment -- motion pictures and television for example. One such example is the 1974 book and subsequent 1976 film entitled All the President's Men, the story of the events surrounding the Watergate burglary and subsequent resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The so-called "Watergate Affair" encompassed a number of secret, and illegal, activities sanctioned by President Nixon or his aids. In brief, Nixon hired some underlings to break into the Democratic Party Headquarters (The Watergate Hotel) on June 17, 1972. They were tasked to gather secret information to be used against the Democrats in the upcoming election. Watergate, however, simply became a symbol of the numerous scandals that were uncovered by reporters from the Washington Post and elsewhere. Nixon, of course, downplayed the scandal, but when tapes of conversations were found, it became clear that Nixon himself had accepted illegal campaign contributions, and had harassed opponents with Presidential powers, and abused his position in office as well as his duty toward the Constitution. (Stans, 1978, inclusive). Nixon continued to deny his involvement, stating to the nation in November, 1973: "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got" (Kilpatrick, 1973).