Tackling Global-Local Challenges in Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability

Tackling Global-Local Challenges in Ethics, Responsibility and sustainability

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
First encounter with ethical dilemma-subjectivism.....................................................................3
Second ethical dilemma-consequentialism..................................................................................4
Third ethical dilemma-business ethics scenario..........................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
Ethics is normally defined as a system incorporating moral principles (Darwall, 2013). Ethical
principles are used to guide people in leading their daily lives and making judgments in
particular situations. Ethical principles are applied to judge what is good for the individual and
society. Moral principles have their roots in cultures, philosophies and religion. There are three
main approaches to ethics, and these are meta-ethics, applied ethics and normative ethics
(Darwall, 2013). When the ethical principles are used to business environment for examination
of moral or problems that can arise in the business environment it is referred to as business
ethics. In the following pages, ethical principles are applied in situations of daily occurrences
Body
First encounter with ethical dilemma-subjectivism
As a person, my first encounter with a moral dilemma was back in my teenage years. During this
time we used to extensively play football in a nearby ground. One day while we were engrossed
in the play the ball flung off and went on to hit an elderly gentleman engaged in a chat with his
friend nearby. The man immediately fell. We all were petrified and did not know how to react.
As we all stood in silence, the man rose and came up to us. He asked who was responsible for the
act. We all knew who was the culprit but were too afraid. The man left afterwards after cursing
all of us for the silence more than the action.
Coming to think of it now, I feel that we were all in an ethical dilemma at that moment. We had
the option of disclosing the name of the friend who was responsible for the act thereby earning
the praise of the elderly and harming our friendship. Or, we had the option of remaining silent.
I still do not think there is a definite answer to the moral dilemma that I had faced years ago.
Ethics in this regards is situation based, and the decision that we made by remaining silent was
appropriate according to the location (BBC, 2019). It is true that the ball flung off due to the
mistake of one of our friend, but we were all playing the game together, and hence it could have
been committed by any one of us. In other words, we were equally guilty of the act even though
not overtly but covertly (Singer, 2011).