Is it ethical to break ones own ethics?

[Breathe]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

 

[LuisDantas]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?

It may well be, and it may even be the only way to ever improve one's ethical parameters. It is all a matter of ethical ambition and responsibility.

The most advanced forms of ethics are rather flexible, but they must part ways with their own prototypes at some point to come into being.

For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

It really depends on whether he was convinced and sincere.

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?

Of course not. Why would it?

 

[Jainarayan]

What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?

Relativism, relativistic morality... the world is fairly crawling with it.

For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Unethical, no. Self-serving, yes. I'd say the politician is trying to curry favor to remain in office, or advance his/her political aspirations.

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?

OK, you lost me here. But let me try:

A white person is asked to help promote a Blacks-only, Asians-only, gay-only, Italian-Americans-only event, but opposes groups that promote "exclusive" or non-inclusive events, is that unethical? I'd say no. I won't support the Boy Scouts of America because they exclude gays. In fact, when they panhandle at the grocery stores (bagging groceries), I tell them I will bag.

A member of one of those aforementioned groups is asked to help promote an event for one of those groups, but opposes "exclusive" or non-inclusive events, is that unethical? I'd say no. If I think it's not fair to promote a gay men only rally or parade, even being a gay man, is it unethical of me? I'd say no, it's my principles (but I'd do my damnedest to promote a Bears' Day Parade ).

 

[4consideration]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

I think we have to prioritize things in life, even within the subject of ethics.

In the first example, if a politician is personally opposed to gay marriage and votes for it because he believes that most of his constituents are in favor of it, and that it would be politically imprudent to go against the wishes of his constituents -- I think that means he is actually representing the will of his constituents, and that is what he is supposed to do. So, in this situation it is a question of which ethical standard he is focusing upon -- his personal belief, or his duty to represent his constituents -- leading up to which action represents which ethical behavior.

In the second example, I do not think there is an ethical requirement to promote events. So, refraining from helping promote something -- for any reason -- does not seem like a violation of personal ethics. In this situation, again, I think determining what is the priority is important.

I think on the subject of ethics we have every right to say "no thank you, I choose not to accept or participate in that" to anything that seems wrong to us. If it seems wrong to us and we have a reason for it, that reason may be more important to us than someone else's position that we should make what they want our priority. I think we have an ethical justification for acting according to our principles and for identifying which principles we think apply to the situation.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

I like to think ethics are more fluid than morals, and with good reason. It may be good to break your ethics for a greater good.

 

[Badran]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles?

Totally dependent upon the intentions and the reasons for doing so.

Ethical systems are are not a substitute to our rational and emotional facilities. Neither are they in anyway perfect systems for handling situations in life. Relying on them or on consistency alone is not sufficient, and is in fact sometimes unhelpful. Sometimes it takes a special situation for one to realize a deficiency(s) within their ethical system.

 

[Alex_G]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

I would propose that it hinges on what your precise definition of ethics is, and whether it varies in meaning in its different contextual usage.

For example, one situation where by one grows in worldly understanding would naturally and validly lead to the modification, or change in their relative ethical outlook on life.
Now a question like 'is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles?' can be interpreted in different ways.

In so far as 'ethical' is used simply to denote the nature of the principle we are talking about, then i think it is ethical to change ones views if its for the right reasons. ie it could be written ' is it ethical to break one's own principles?' - which of course it is if what it means to be ethical is to be responsible to the point that you are dynamic, reactive and open to change when new life experiences warrant a change in your principles.

But if you're breaking your principles as they currently stand (as in referring to them as ethical suggests they are the most ethical principles you hold to date, with none new to supersede them) then that's breaking them in a manner which is inherently unethical. i.e. you arnt simply changing for the better, but for the worse or for simply arbitrary reasons.

An additional consideration is that ethical and unethical behavior can occur simultaneously if you focus on different things. Such that a person could change and act in opposition to their principles, providing an ethically praiseworthy result, but that his/her motives for that action where entirely unethical, perhaps simply done for self preservation.

A further point would be in what the word ethical means, as its quite a broad umbrella term. In one way it could refer more heavily to simple cultural norms and practices, a more conventional way of life, and rules to which you adhere. On the other hand it could refer to highly specific and well thought out reasons to the governance of any particular action. Such that the nature of what is 'broken' and what it is it is 'broken for' is relevant to the overall ethical quality of the action. Such that one could be praised for being rude and impolite if its in defense of a vulnerable party, or the championing/safeguarding of human rights.

A final question to ask is, if you are incapable of breaking held principles, ethical or otherwise, for good or bad, are you in fact a being capable of ethical action at all?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

Depends on their ethics, don't it?

I think if I were to break my own ethics I'd probably change my ethical format, otherwise why would I break them?

 

[Me Myself]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?


For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?


Thoughts?

On your specific case, different frames of mind might make it different, but
I dont see any major difference with it.

On the general case, it would depend on the specific etica of the person too.

The case is too gerneral for me to give my perspective. We can sometimes do exceptions to out "ethics" maybe, if we are making an excpetion to the rule to act according to the spirit of the rule,

 

[Me Myself]

Depends on their ethics, don't it?

I think if I were to break my own ethics I'd probably change my ethical format, otherwise why would I break them?

Good observation. Adding clausses and exceptions to the format

 

[Breathe]

I think if I were to break my own ethics I'd probably change my ethical format, otherwise why would I break them?

What if they feel they have no other choice but to violate them that once?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

What if they feel they have no other choice but to violate them that once?

I'll consider the case so I do not make this complicated

In that case, I'd say to them it'd be bad if they still view it as bad doing it.

But to make it complicated, there can be, in those cases, what I like to call "exceptions". Imagine ethics as a gray highlight in a white picture. Where the gray highlight ends is where they draw the line on ethics, but it is not bumpy for that very reason - people sometimes have no other option but to violate their moral code, so they have to make it feel moral.

But to cut the whole edge off of it, I believe is impossible. It's like having to beat up your most loved one - if you find it bad it's completely restricted in your mind, if the situation comes up you will do mostly anything to avoid it.

 

[Me Myself]

What if they feel they have no other choice but to violate them that once?

What does "no other choice" means?

You d have to give an example.

You either thoug it was the best aciton to take or not. Maybe you were unsure, but then which things made you unsure and why? And why did you decide to go with the exception anyways?

 

[CaptainNobody]

There will always be times when you'll have to go against your principles for the better good.

One example would be causing harm to others. Most people would take a dim view of causing bodily harm to another by brawling in the streets, but a good deal of people might also feel compelled to step in if they saw a thug hassling a little old lady.

 

[Penumbra]

As the thread says, is it ethical to break one's own ethical principles? What about if one holds ethics that another considers unethical?

For example, if a politician opposed gay marriage, but voted in favour of it because the voting wasn't anonymous, would that be unethical?

Or if someone was asked to help promote an event that was Asian or Black only, but refused because he or she opposed groups that were restricted to one particular group or restricted another. Would it be any different if the person was of that group than if he or she was of a different one?

Thoughts?

A developed ethical system would make use of reason on a case by case basis to determine appropriate actions. Usually an ethical system has certain axioms or principles from which it is built.

For example, what exactly are the politician's ethics here? If she opposes homosexual marriage, then why? Does she support civil rights and freedoms? Those two concepts are opposed. What are her fundamental principles?

It could very well be the case that she holds to an ethical system wherein she avoids doing behavior that she finds unethical and also wishes to maximize freedom of others. In that case, she would abstain from homosexual marriage herself, but not seek to impose her ethics on other people, so she could vote in favor of gay marriage. No ethical principles were violated.

But if her ethical position is that she needs to stop other adults from doing things she finds to be unethical, to impose her ethical system on others, then voting in opposition of homosexual marriage would be in line with her ethical system.

A sufficiently thought out ethical system, I believe, rests on a rather small number of axioms, and then cases can be determined logically from them. Things like opposing homosexual marriage, or opposing race-specific events, are examples of ethical positions, but they're probably not fundamental. They don't exist in a vacuum. There are probably more fundamental axioms within that person's worldview from which those positions are derived. From what logic was their opposition to homosexual marriage built upon? What led to their view that race-specific events are unethical? The trick, probably, is that most people have not done a lot of introspection on their ethical system to determine what the axioms are. Answering ethical dilemmas generally would require going back and examining the base on which all else is built and then deriving the answer from there.

I could list out dozens of things I oppose or support, but most of them wouldn't be axioms. There would only be a handful of things that I would consider principles on which I base my life, and then all of my detailed positions would follow from there.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

I would suggest that it is never ethical to break ones own morals, however if you can consider a situation that would seem to suggest it might be ethical to do so then it is merely a case that your morals are more nuanced than you were previously cognizant of.

 

[ChristineES]

I think it would depend on why you are doing it? If a politician is voting for gay marriage when he/she is against it because he can get more votes might be unethical. If he/she is doing it because he believes that different people have different values, they may not be unethical.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

^But would he/she still be breaking their morals by doing so? I would argue that his/her morality concerns not just the personal position on gay marriage but also his/her willingness to recognize the value systems of others. That may not be something he/she is normally cognizant of in their own morality, but when faced with a situation where it becomes apparent, the dormant aspect of their own morality comes into play.

 

[ZooGirl02]

If one breaks one's own ethical values then one is a hypocrite aren't they? Therefore I would say that no, it is not ethical to break one's own ethical values.

 

[Me Myself]

If one breaks one's own ethical values then one is a hypocrite aren't they?

If one doesnt break one's own eical values this are the only options:

-you formulated all your ethical values very very recently

-kudos to you, you have reached nirvana, or are similarly extremely enlightened

- your ethical standards are just way too low. Of course you havent brake them.