Paper
The Importance of Being Ethical
Published Jan 7, 2015 · C. B. Chapman
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
46
Citations
1
Influential Citations
Abstract
My title, chosen with apologies to Oscar Wilde, needs modest explanation. For one thing, the adjective "ethical" means many things to many people. There would be no confusion at all if my title had been "The Importance of Being Law Abiding." Everyone understands that it is important to be law abiding in order to avoid punishment or penalty. It is also generally understood that the antithesis of law and order is social chaos, something no sane person desires. Ethics, however, is distinct from law. It is a permissible generalization to say that ethics is concerned with aspects of human conduct that lie beyond the concern of law, and that ethics is concerned "... not so much with what human conduct is, as with what it ought to be" [1, s.v. "ethics"]. From a practical point of view, the man in the street, our ordinary citizen, need concern himself almost entirely with the requirements of the law and will come to no great harm if he doesjust that. Ethics in the sense that it relates to ideal conduct is, on the other hand, no more than a theoretical entity to those relatively few men in the street who give it any thought at all. I shall not, however, be saying very much about the man in the street. On the contrary, I shall try to convince you that there are certain critical groups in American society to whom ethical conduct by realistic definition is an urgent necessity, whether or not those groups show by their actions that they realize it. Indeed, their very social and economic welfares depend, in the long range, on group and individual conduct that is above and beyond the minimal requirements of the law. But far more important than that: The survival of our nation as an open society, a coherent social and political unit within which basic individual rights and needs are still respected, also depends very meaningfully on those criti-
Ethical conduct is crucial for critical groups in American society, ensuring their social and economic welfare and the survival of our nation as an open society.
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