GEN480 – College of Humanities
January 22, 2012
Ed McCullough, M. A.
Ethics Awareness Inventory Analysis The basic theme of this paper is to interpret the results of my Ethics Awareness Inventory and apply them to my personal and professional development. In addition, the paper will include its statement explaining how my educational experience has affected my ethical thinking. The analysis will address my use of ethics in thinking and decision-making, and the potential for conflict in situations with people who have different interpretations of ethical behavior. Based on my Ethics Awareness Profile results, my Ethical Profile is most closely aligned with the character while least closely aligned with the equity. My ethical perspective is leaning towards on what it is good to be rather than what it is good to do. I believe that ethics should focus on ways to help people achieve moral excellence. When asked to judge whether an individual’s actions are ethical, I look beyond the actions to examine the individual’s character. Uprightness and integrity are key factors in my assessment. I look for evidence of virtue in people, including such traits as honor, justice, and benevolence, believing that a virtue is not just an abstract principle. Rather, virtue is reflected in the quality of an individual’s character, and character is more important than an individual’s actions. In my opinion, mere compliance with rules, no matter how well intentioned, does not make anyone an ethical person without being accompanied by consistent voluntary striving to be a morally good person. My educational experience has affected my ethical thinking by learning different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives from different people in class and the educational materials that are being provided. I believe that ethics relies on the ability of individuals to make sound moral judgments. I do not believe that it is enough