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Muhammad Nurhazim Bin Haslin

0304544
Bachelor of Science (Hons) (Culinology

)

In this ethics reflection an experience in Taylors where I had to deal with, that raised an ethical issue,
I concentrate on three important issues: ethical models, personal ethics and values, and
utilitarianism First of all, among the three major ethical models, utilitarianism favors me a lot and it
helps me a lot when I face an ethical dilemma and need to make a decision. In the second part, I
write about how my personal ethics and values were formed and shaped. In the next part, I describe
one of the dilemmas that I have ever met and how utilitarianism helped me make a good decision. In
the last part, I focus my attention on personal ethics and values. At last, I show my opinion personal
ethics and values is very important for us and a university.
Ethical Models
Ethics, a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality, have invariably played an
important part in our lives, especially when we are going to make a decision. There exist quite a lot
of ethical theories or models, however, some of these ethical theories such as moral rights (rights
theory), theory of justice and utilitarianism exert notable influence on most of us in current life.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism claims that decision makers should maximize utility for society as a whole. This means
that a person should consider the benefits and costs resulted from his or her actions to the whole
society. Only if the benefits of the action outweigh the costs of the action, can a utilitarian act.
Utilitarianism requires that people consider not only the influence of their action on themselves,
their families, and their friends, but also the influence on the whole society. It is easy to find that
with utilitarianism, peoples actions are responsible for everyone in society.
Among these ethical models, personally, I favor utilitarianism a lot. The most important reason is
that utilitarianism cares about the consequences brought by the actions on everyone in the society.
Its not enough to only care about the personal satisfactions and dissatisfactions. We people should
take the responsibility of the whole society. Whats more, utilitarianism, especially the rule
utilitarianism makes it accessible for people to doing a critical thinking before they take action. As a
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utilitarian, I can make good decisions which will benefit both me and the whole society, forming a
win-win situation.
Personal Ethics and Values
My personal ethics and values are very easy to understand. When I am to make a decision, I will
never only depend on intuition. I would ask myself the following questions: Is my decision legal or
not? Does it comply with my values? If I do it, will I feel bad? Could my decision at last benefit the
society? Could I tell my parents about my final decision? I am willing to sacrifice something for the
privilege of benefiting both me and the whole society. I will keep asking and thinking seriously and
critically until I get the answer.
Conclusion
Ethical standards play an important role in personal decision making process. Peoples ethical
standards are invariably influenced and shaped by many factors such as their families, friends, the
culture they live in and internal reflection. Critical thinking is very necessary when people face an
ethical dilemma. A utilitarian is willing to sacrifice his or her personal profits for the privilege of the
whole society.