Critical Thinking and Ethics
June 3rd, 2016
I feel that the principles and the rules of critical thinking are applicable to ethical reasoning. There are three main areas to consider when it comes to decision making. These areas include obligations, moral ideals, and consequences. When all of these areas are applied to a problem, the critical thinking will allow a person to come up with an ethical solution. One example is when doctors harvest the organs from inmates that are on death row. This makes it easy to see where the problems might occur. When a person understands all of the consequences of their actions, then they will be able to figure out the moral obligations of their actions.2. If everyone followed the rules and guidelines of logic, would there be a need for ethical decision making? Why?
There is always going to be a need for a person to consider the ethics when they are making a decision. This is because logic might not look at all of the aspects of the problem. It is critical that when a person is looking for a solution to a problem that they look at all of the different views. Of course, the easy solution is going to be to go for the first solution and not try to look for any other solution. Ethical decision making can be applied when the person looks at the different angles. It can help in finding the solution that that is going to benefit all of the parties that are involved in the situation. Logic will not allow the problem to be investigated properly at all of the different angles. In fact, it can lead to more problems and conflicts when the solution is used. We can take another look at the inmates who were having their organs harvested. This is a very unethical action of the Chinese doctors because it is obvious that they did not look at all of the views in this situation. This could lead to more problems in different countries because it can lead to the unwarranted death of the inmates who have their organs harvested (Ruggiero, 1992).
References:
Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan. (1992). Thinking Critically about Ethical Issues. Mayfield Press:
Oxford, UK.
