Personal Ethics Development A personal ethics system is a category of philosophy that stands apart from other ethical systems such as business ethics, legal ethics, value ethics, or any of the other various ethical perspectives. The component that makes a personal ethical system special is that it is uniquely derived from an individual's experiences and beliefs. Although an individual's ethical system may share overlapping material from more formal systems, it also

After I entered Kohlberg's Post-Conventional Moral stage, I began to realize that: (1) homosexuality probably is not a voluntary choice; (2) homosexuals can have meaningful, committed, and stable loving relationship or superficial, casual, and unstable relationships exactly the same way heterosexuals can (and often do) experience both types of relationships at different times of their lives; (3) homosexuality is not a moral issue at all; and (4) gay people have

Ethics and Decision Making Values and Decision Making The process of making a moral or ethical decision is governed largely by the values that are applied when making the decision. In any case where a decision is being made, there are a range of values that can potentially impact the decision. These include personal values, organizational values, and cultural values. The value system that is most significant will depend on both the

" This particular cultural value system in fact helped me to assimilate more easily into the two institutions in which I spent most of my working life. The work ethic is defined as follows: The work ethic is a cultural norm that advocates being personally accountable and responsible for the work that one does and is based on a belief that work has intrinsic value." (Hill, R.B. and. Petty, G.C. 1995)

Ethical knowledge stems from the external world, what society has bred within us through our assimilation and experience within it. This is often set in place by societal foundations, legal requirements, and moral expectations of a community or culture at large. Ethical knowledge is thus shared by large groups of people from the same community or culture. From a nursing perspective, there is "a unique set of values and

This whole process is grounded in a commitment to social justice...." (Morales, 2003) Fortunately, the organization I work for has an open systems approach, which allows its employees to evaluate (1) ways of being (the psychological business process); (2) ways of knowing (the spiritual business process); and (3) ways of behaving (the theoretical and technical business processes). This open system philosophy frees the decision making process from cultural and personal