First please take this small quiz:
1. Which is worse?
1. Which is worse?
A. Hurting someone’s feelings by telling the truth.2. Which is the worse mistake?
B. Telling a lie and protecting someone’s feelings.
A. To make exceptions too freely.3. Which is it worse to be?
B. To apply rules too rigidly.
A. Unmerciful.4. Which is worse?
B. Unfair.
A. Stealing something valuable from someone for no good reason.5. Which is it better to be?
B. Breaking a promise to a friend for no good reason.
A. Just and fair.6. Which is worse?
B. Sympathetic and feeling.
A. Not helping someone in trouble.7. In making a decision you rely more on…
B. Being unfair to someone by playing favorites.
A. Hard facts.8. Your boss orders you to do something that will hurt someone. If you carry out the order, have you done anything wrong?
B. Personal feelings and intuition.
A. Yes.9. Which is more important in determining whether an action is right or wrong?
B. No.
A. Whether anyone actually gets hurt.The answers fall in two categories, J or C. Count your number of J and C answers using this key:
B. Whether a rule, law, commandment or moral principle is broken.
1. A=C, B=J 2. A=J, B=C 3. A=C, B=J 4. A=J, B= C 5. A=J, B=C
6. A=C, B=J 7. A=J, B=C 8. A=C, B=J 9. A=C, B=J
The higher your J score, the more you rely on ethics of justice. The higher your C score, the more you rely on ethics of care.
Ethics of care and ethics of justice are two ways of differentiating right from wrong and making moral and ethical decisions. None of these two is better than the other. Even though ethics of justice and ethics of care may seem very different from one another, actually they are connected. People generally depend on both to making ethical decision. The more you are able to mix these two ethics, the better you are in making the right decisions. Actually, very few people score 9 Js or 9 Cs. Most of the people have a combined result.
Ethics of justice relies on principles like justice, fairness, equality or authority. The advantages if this approach is that it looks at a problem logically and impartially. People who follow this style hope to make a decision based on certain principles which are higher than any individual’s interests. Disadvantages of this approach are that people who rely on it might lose sight of the immediate interests of particular individuals. This style is more common for men than women.
Ethics of care is based on sense of responsibility to reduce actual harm or suffering. The advantages of this approach are that it is responsive to immediate suffering and harm. The disadvantage is that, when carried to an extreme, this style can produce decisions that seem not simply subjective, but arbitrary. This style is more common in women than men.
So, what is your style of making ethical decisions? Do you rely more on ethics of care or ethics of justice? What was your score? How do you feel about your score?
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Source of the quiz: Discovering Philosophy by Thomas I. White
Ethics of care and ethics of justice are two ways of differentiating right from wrong and making moral and ethical decisions. None of these two is better than the other. Even though ethics of justice and ethics of care may seem very different from one another, actually they are connected. People generally depend on both to making ethical decision. The more you are able to mix these two ethics, the better you are in making the right decisions. Actually, very few people score 9 Js or 9 Cs. Most of the people have a combined result.
Ethics of justice relies on principles like justice, fairness, equality or authority. The advantages if this approach is that it looks at a problem logically and impartially. People who follow this style hope to make a decision based on certain principles which are higher than any individual’s interests. Disadvantages of this approach are that people who rely on it might lose sight of the immediate interests of particular individuals. This style is more common for men than women.
Ethics of care is based on sense of responsibility to reduce actual harm or suffering. The advantages of this approach are that it is responsive to immediate suffering and harm. The disadvantage is that, when carried to an extreme, this style can produce decisions that seem not simply subjective, but arbitrary. This style is more common in women than men.So, what is your style of making ethical decisions? Do you rely more on ethics of care or ethics of justice? What was your score? How do you feel about your score?
If you liked this post and think that more people should know about this post then please share this with others. You can also subscribe to this blog’s feed and stay connected.
Source of the quiz: Discovering Philosophy by Thomas I. White
Strangely my score was 9 Js and no Cs. I was a bit disappointed to see this result. I dont want to be a too strict person. i thought that i had the combination of the both at least a little. But i guess i depend on ethics of justice more.
I've got 7 Js and 2 Cs! I've hurt in my life too many people while trying to do the right thing. I don't regret at all!!!
Very interesting post. Keep posting things like this.
I got four Js and 5 Cs. I find that pretty balanced. Because there are instances wherein one must rely on ethics of care, and on other times ethics of justice. This was really interesting! I learned some new insights. Thanks so much!
@Uprinting, that's a very good combination. combining these to ethics is important to make the "right" decisions.
@MW, I think it is better to hurt someone by doing the right thing than making someone happy by doing something bad.