GOV 120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Anti-Communism, Humanitarian Intervention
Document Summary
Thinking ethically: moral decision making: first step in analyzing moral issues: get the facts. Among the most important but is the most frequently overlooked: facts are not enough. They tell us what is, but they do not tell us what ought to be: five approaches to deal with moral issues, 1. Utilitarian approach ethical actions are those that provide the greatest balance of good over evil. Identify the various courses of action, ask who will be affected by each and determine the benefits/harms, and choose the action that will produce the greatest benefits and the least harm. The ethical action is the one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number: 2. Rights approach individuals have the right to choose for him or herself. What makes human beings different from things is that people are able to choose freely what they do with their lives, and there is a fundamental moral right to have those choices respected.
