20121030

Entry #2 - I Pod-on (Pardon)?


                I will probably title my blogs with clever (annoying?) word puns, unless I either run out of word puns or get tired of it myself. Why, you may ask? Because this is my way of showing creativity! Pod-on (Pardon) me for amusing myself, but I hope that this will entertain you too!


                So the main topic of the week was making ethical decisions.  I sort of felt that using the iPod case was too overused.  Although, it was effective in getting to the point, I felt that I was already familiar with this as I had already picked up these lessons from ENVISOC the previous term.  Utilitarian and Kantian Ethics was already taught to me and I knew how to make an “ethical” decision by applying these theories.  What was surprising to me was that being “completely utilitarian” was actually a bad thing.  With the example of a purely utilitarian doctor, my eyes were opened in the sense that you could make unethical decisions even if you were purely utilitarian.  I felt that I could have been completely utilitarian in running a company in the future and reinforce the tough decisions with the rationale of being a utilitarian decision maker.  I guess this is why Kantian ethics are also necessary in the decision-making process due to it respecting human dignity. 


               I thought that ethics in decision making was just choosing what you felt was right; and that if more people are needed to make a decision, then we should just vote for the decision.  However, the lesson showed us a decision making model so that you can weigh each course of action to take and have actual numbers to back up the decision.  Although the numbers produced are objective, it would still give you an idea that there was a logical way of reaching the decision.  

               In the end, the lessons taught this week helped me to realize that each decision we make can have a different impact on many different people.  If these decisions were made in a company scale, then the implications would be much bigger.  

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