Andres Vazquez

Mrs. O’Keefe/ Mr. Kelly

American Literature

1 April 2018

Rules and Justification By Ethics

Humanity has many different viewpoints when it comes to making rational choices in

life. Humanity has to lived by the law of ethics, which are the ​moral principles that govern a

person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics is how culture defines a person's

decisions and how they commit certain actions. On the other hand, justice is the act of your

behavior or treatment on a person. Justice correlates with ethics because your actions are always

based on a certain ethical framework. As a society, we either believe in the consequentialist

framework, duty framework, or the virtue framework. The consequentialist framework goal is to

contribute the most good. However, the virtue framework focuses on the development of one’s

character. Lastly, the duty framework aims to perform the right action every time. ​ ​The 10 rules

that I created are justified by the duty framework

The first rule that society that is justified by the duty framework is “Do no harm”. This

rule reflects on the the duty framework because if you are trying to do the right thing every time,

then harming someone would never be the right thing to do. According to “A Framework For

Making Ethical Decisions”, it describes the framework as, “even-handedness encourages treating

everyone with equal dignity and respect.” (Brown University 1), this shows that doing no harm

would support the duty framework because we would want to treat everyone with equal respect.
Do no Harm is a great first rule because it shows the amount of respect that is owed to each

person. Humanity needs to be taught that people deserve equal respect regardless of race or

gender. This framework works to being more moral and accomplishing the correct decision.

The second rule that is justified by the duty framework is treat others how you would

want to be treated. The duty framework justifies this rule because this rule acts upons doing the

right thing everytime. Humanity will not want to be treated poorly, so in similarity you should

not treat others wrongly. In the duty framework category, it is described as focusing on,

“following moral rules or duty regardless of outcome, so it allows for the possibility that one

might have acted ethically” (Brown University 1), this justifies the rule to be valid and not

contradictory. If a person treats another person the way they want to be treated, then it would be

morally correct and the right thing to do. This is the most important rule because it will allow

society and the world to be a better place if we lived by this rule.

Thirdly, the rule that is justified by the duty framework is do not lie. This rule is justified

because staying truthful will allow things be done correctly. For example, in court the witnesses

are asked to be truthful and to say no lies. In this instance, the truth will cause the right decision

to occur so that the jury will reach a verdict. If you lie in this circumstance, you may allow a

criminal to go on free lands without justice. The duty framework justifies this rule because the

right decision is being created by not lying. That would be our obligation to humanity to do the

correct and right behavior every single time so that justice is made.

The next rule that is justified by the duty framework is do not murder. Murder is the

unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. Killing is war is much different

than murder because that type of killing is in the protection of a people, which can be justified by
the duty framework as well. This rule is justified because murder would never be the right

decision to make under any circumstances. Murder is taking another person life with no

justification. That is not the respect that we owe each other according to the duty framework.

Following do not murder, another rule that is justified is do not steal. This rule is justified

because owing respect to one another is a key aspect of the duty framework. The duty framework

and ethical conduct is described, “by doing one’s duties and doing the right thing, and the goal is

performing the correct action.” (Brown University 1). This demonstrates that stealing would not

perform the correct action and this determines that the rule is justified in the means of being

ethically correct. Stealing would go against the duty framework because stealing would never be

the right decision.

Do not cheat is the next rule that is justified by the duty framework. As a human being,

we continue to have obligations towards each other. Natural Duties is an obligation which treats

people with, “​respect, to do justice, to avoid cruelty, and so on.” (Sandel 1), this demonstrates

that cheating would not show respect but only show cruelty on another person. These are natural

duties that we owe to one another as civilized human beings. Cheating could be taken in any

category as well, whether it is in a relationship, school or even money. ​ It does not show the

obligations of natural duties that we owe to one another as human beings.

Humans should show unconditional love towards each other. This is justified because

throughout showing love to others will have the duty framework proven because you will be

making the correct decision. Loving others unconditionally does not mean that there will never

be a consequence for certain people making wrong decisions. You can still love someone and

have them penalized for the actions that they committed to one person or another. This compares
to the next rule on the list, which is be respectful to others. This rule is justified because

throughout time we have seen how cruel people can be to one another. If our society lived by this

rule the world would be in a better place. Nations would not be fighting each other and religions

would not be fighting religions. Our natural duty to one other is to avoid cruelty, but as a country

and world, we continue to reach that benchmark.

Everyone is entitled to their own privacy and we need to be respectful of others privacy.

This is justified by our natural duties to one another because it is our duty to give one another

respect regardless of past situations. Living in our private lives, we should be able to keep things

to ourselves and not worry about others to say things behind our back. As a friend to another

person, or even an acquaintance, we should keep things to ourselves to ourselves and respect

others privacy unless it is causing harm to another person. This would indeed prove that the duty

framework is about making the correct decision with respect.

Lastly, my ten rules ends with being helpful to others. This primary focuses on the

natural duties that we owe to one another. This action should not “r​equire an act of consent. “

(Sandal 1), but should be done by the kindness of each heart of a person. If we do not abide by

this act of unselfishness, it can cause tension between communities and race. This is the reason

why race conflicts continue to happen today because we do not show another the act of respect

and helpfulness. These obligation that we owe each other are crucial in making people be more

opened minded to each other.

My list developed extensively over time. I learned that things could not contradict each

other and even justifying each rule was difficult. Over time the mindset on certain issues change

according to the paideas that we had. Also learning about different dilemmas influenced the way
that I put towards my 10 rules. My revisions were rational because my original rules only

benefited the person doing the action. For example, in my first draft, one of my rules was to be

determined. That was not able to be justified because this would benefit the person and the duty

framework would not even be involved. Another reason why I made this revision is because the

rule contradicted the others as far as being a natural duty but rather as a another obligation.

In conclusion, these project has affected my viewpoint on how I will treat people. If I

lived by these rules, I would be a more civilized person and helpful towards others. I would be a

more open minded person if I followed the rules that I have created. The world would be a better

place if we followed these rules because it causes people to be unselfish and care about others. If

we made the right choice, justice could be made and happiness would grow in communities.

Racial tensions would decrease as well because if we all have equality than we would love

everyone the same. All in all, the world is corrupted and we need help to restore with good

hearts.