My ethical thinking...

What influences my ethical thinking--how do I want to live my life and more importantly, what life lessons can I teach my children to assure they grow up to be good people that contribute positively to the world?

I believe that I am most closely aligned with the Divine Command theory even though I am not an every week church-goer and forget to pray before meals and throw out the occasional cuss word. I believe in God, Satan and Hell. However, I don't think you have to practice any religion to abide by the same principles. People can act like Christians even if they don't believe in any higher power. If one of my children came home someday in the far away future and said they were not going to baptise their child, my grandchild, I would strongly disagree but would have to accept their decision.

In difficult decisions, I believe that decisions that would benefit the most people and the individual is a good rule of thumb to live by, but it can't cover every situation that comes up. What complicates this philosophy is the Trolley Problem... I could not put someone else to death by my own hands to save others. I just couldn't do it. However, if I was standing with my husband by the train track control panel and had to make a decision to derail the train to save 5 people and killing one person in the process, I would probably tell my husband to do it for me and would think he did the right thing. Of course, if the one person was someone I cared about, I would act selfishly and take the lives of the 5 people instead.


I believe in "what comes around, goes around." If you live your life as a good person, in the end, you will be rewarded. If not...you will not be rewarded. Being a good person includes taking time out for others, caring for animals and our Earth, showing compassion for others and taking care of our bodies and souls. It also means taking a stand for things you believe in or value, even if that means you are breaking the law.

I believe every situation calls for a different set of rules and the decision I make may be totally different that someone else's decision. I have learned that I must be more open-minded to how/why people have come up with a different outcome and respect their decision. I need to consider both sides--not everything is an open/shut case.

With all of that said, I don't think a person can truly fully operate by one theory alone. Every situation will require us to draw the conclusion from our traditions, experiences, societal expectations and upbringing to make the decision we feel most comfortable with.