Angela
Compton
April
19, 2013
As I sat down to write my final “So
What” blog I was originally going to write a personal reflection on moral decision-making
and the difference it makes in the way I understand my own life and the way I
make decisions. However, with all the
happenings this past week with the bombing at the Boston Marathon I found
myself drawn to trying to understand the bombers (and other like them) and
their possible justifications for their acts based on their own moral
decision-making techniques.
Please understand that this in no
way is intended to justify their actions, because what they did was absolutely
atrocious and my heart goes out to everyone that was affected. This is my way of trying to understand “why”,
because I’m sure we will never know the real reasons.
I look through the three categories
of normative ethics that we were given 4 weeks ago; virtue ethics, duty-based
and consequentialist ethics and I struggle to make the connection, how could
they possibly think that what they are doing is right? Yet, they do.
Which means they had to use some type of normative ethics to come to
that decision. In my opinion I think it
comes down to the consequentialist ethics of ethical egoism (social contract
theory). They believe that the act is
morally right if the total good of an action is more favorable to the agent of
the act. Though we don’t know their true
motives the act itself was to benefit them in some way. They completely disregarded all the other
lives that it would affect; to them they did no wrong.
How do people get to a place where
taking lives to make a statement or because they are unhappy is okay? I don’t mean, “okay” as we accept it, but
okay as in they accept it in their beliefs.
Somewhere we are failing.
Somewhere along the line we stopped focusing on instilling good moral
character into our children. Somewhere
along the line people stopped thinking that was important, but I digress…
When it comes down to it, can I say
without a doubt what they did and other bombers like them do is morally
wrong? Yes! Because I am basing that on my own moral
ethics; virtue – because I was brought up to have a good moral character,
duty-based – I have respect others’ rights in this world, especially their
right to life, liberty and happiness, and consequentially in the form of where
I try to be a combination of ethically altruistic with a little utilitarianism
mixed in (depending on the situation). Unfortunately,
as long as there are people out there like that they are always going to be
able to justify their actions as morally right. It will not matter that you judge them as
wrong, because in their own hearts it is you who are wrong.
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