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Alex Mello

Mrs. Page

Service Learning, Period 3

20 March 2017

Code of Ethics Essay

When I look at what my individual code of ethics is, it seems easy and simple to split it

first into five important/valuable ethical standards that govern the decisions I make. First off, as a

Christian, I believe that Gods word is the highest and most pure standard of morality and ethics.

I attempt to live my life according to these standards. However, it is very difficult to even

remember everything that Jesus preached. Much less follow that standard of morality to the letter

100% of the time. This is why I try to follow the golden rule. This is the second important ethical

standard that I hold myself to. If you are not familiar to this rule, it is quite simple. The rule, sited

directly from the bible is Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do

to them; for this is the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12). I think of this separate from my

first ethical value because this can be applied to even non Christians. The idea of do onto other

as you would do unto yourself is a universal law that would decimate war and bring world

peace if everyone believed it. My third ethical value that I live by is what my family and friends

think of me. This can have it down sides, for instance, if I had friends that were a bad influence

on me then I would be pressured to do bad thing. However, I do not have bad friends, and caring

what my friends and family thinks about me makes me strive to be a better person. The fourth

ethical value that I try to live by is how something makes me feel. For instance, if I am told to do

something that makes me feel bad, then I have to take think whether or not I should actually be

doing it. This is my fourth value because sometimes my feels can deceive me. For instance, I
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may not like public speaking, but sometime I need to speak publicly, especially about my faith.

The fifth ethical value that I try to follow is the law and order of the government that I live under.

I believe that following the rule put in place by that government need to be followed by the

people, or there would be problems. In fact, the bible actually says to follow and respect the laws

of the government that you are living under. Let every person be subject to the governing

authorities. For there is no authority except by Gods appointment, and the authorities that exist

have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1). Every persons ethical values have been

influenced by some sort of outside thing such as a parent, religion, or the society that they live in.

There are many things that have influenced and helped me to form my code of ethics, but

there are a three things in particular that I feel have had the most lasting effect. My parents, me

religion, and the books and movies that I read/watched when I was younger. As with all people,

my parents played a huge role in the development of my personal code of ethics (Im not saying

that my parents influence everyones code of ethics, Im saying that every individual persons

parents influence their own code of ethics). My parents taught me what it means to be a good

person, to use manners, and to be polite. My father specifically taught me what it means to be a

gentleman, which is one of the things that has greatly affected my code of ethics. As far as my

morals go, I feel like my belief as a Christian has affected me the most in that I feel that I should

strive to be as Christ-like as I can possibly be. From an early age, books and movies also gave

me a good idea of what my ethics should consist of. Today, I feel like I am at stage 6 because

ever since the beginning of this class I have stressed that there is a certain set of basic moral and

ethical principles that everyone follows. These principles are not always the exact same, but they

all stem from the same categorical imperative which Kohlberg talks about. This has actually
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been a revelation for me because I have never been able to put a word to what I believe, and now

I can.

Civic virtue is the morality standard that every citizen has in relation to the society that

they live in. A good citizen in the eyes of society is someone who contributes and lives up to

their potential. Having civic virtue is important because without it there wouldnt really be a

society that exists. The majority of people in society follow the civic virtue, but there are a few

people that dont. Those people are in prison, or, they should be. If no one followed the civic

virtue, then there would basically just be a society that consists of felons. So, to sum it up, civic

virtue is important because it keeps society functioning, more or less.

In my life I have luckily never had to think too deeply about ethical dilemmas because

my conscience is very strong, much stronger than I would like admittedly. Nevertheless, I still

have them every once-in-awhile. In fact, I just had one the other day. Im starting a new job and I

needed to get two tuberculosis shots. I missed the second shot, and when I came in the day after

expecting to have get another shot, they just asked to see my arm (thinking that I was coming in

for a check up). So, I could have just gone along with it and no one would be the wiser and I

wouldn't have to restart the process and get two more shots. However, I told them that I didnt

get the second shot because not saying anything would have been against my code of ethics.

I personally dont think that it is important and/or imperative for each individual to have a

specific and personal code of ethics because if they have a code of ethics that differs from the

society that they live in then they will run into problems. It is however very important for each

person to have a code of ethics as long as that code of ethics is similar to the code of conduct that

their society promotes. This is because if an individual is without a code of ethics, they will

become metaphorically lost. Being wishy-washy is no way to live; when you have wishy
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washy people in society you end up getting people that will change their code of ethics to benefit

themselves. Having people like this in a society would be detrimental because everyone would

be selfish and changing their code of ethics to fit their needs. That is why it is so important for

people to have a solid code of ethics.

This assignment has helped me tremendously in figuring out how to explain my

philosophy point of view on morality. Before I read about Kohlberg's stages of moral

development, I was not really able to effectively explain my way of thinking. I honestly thought

that I was the only person that thought of moral law like that. After rereading the beginning of

Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis, and refreshing my memory about what he calls Moral Law

I was able to put to words what I believe. As far as helping my understanding or moral

development, I already had a pretty good understanding before this assignment. However, I now

will be able to explain this way of thinking more efficiently.