Ethical Decision Making

Our lives bring up one ethical issue after another. Ethical choices face us in many
of our everyday decisions. The way that we make these decisions has great influence on
our futures and the futures of those affected by our decisions. There are repeated ethical
scandals in business, in politics and every other area of human activity. In these ethical
scandals people of wealth, of achievement, and of prominent status have lost their good
reputations and endured public disgrace. Some have faced criminal trials or have
incurred significant financial losses. Some have even gone to prison. They, and their
families, have been ruined. If they had it to do over again, how many of these people
would make the same ethical choices that led to their humiliation? What can we learn
from their bitter experiences?
The unmistakable lesson is that ethical choices matter a great deal, and that ethical
lapses can have drastic unforeseen consequences. It is abundantly clear that ethics is
vitally important to all of us. In this article, we attempt to create a practical framework for
ethical decision making.