Difficult Decisions

CHAPTER 4Ethics

If, indeed, morals are internally referenced and externally influenced, ethics represent the converse. They are externally referenced and filtered through the lenses of our individual experiences. Ethics are a staple of functional societies in that they enable coexistence under a set of principles about what's generally okay and what just plumb isn't. Sometimes those ethical principles are codified into laws, which tell us what is allowed and what is not, with the consequence of violation of laws being threat of some sort of punishment. But the relationship between ethics and law is tenuous at best; sometimes laws serve to organize and formalize entirely unethical principles that concentrate power rather than ensuring the greater good.

Keep in mind that ethics aren't norms – they're not merely about “how things are done 'round these parts.” They are about the sense of “good” or “bad” attached to those ways of doing things, with the implicit judgment that those characterizations carry. And that general sense of good and bad may look different in different places, across generations, or out in public versus behind closed doors.

Think about cigarette smoking. From one state to the next, from one town to the next – heck, from one restaurant to the next – the rules and norms regarding smoking indoors might vary widely. In one club, bar, or diner, as long as patrons are of age and can choose whether to be present, there may be a clear if unwritten understanding that ...