Critical Thinking and Ethics
Jeffrey Heffron, Shawna Lopez, Billy Begay, Terry Kubalewski
ETH/316
August, 8 2015
Aaron Rawls
Are the principles and rules of critical thinking applicable to ethical reasoning? Why?
Ethical reasoning is the ability to identify ethical questions and create ethical arguments from different ethical views. Critical thinking should always go hand-in-hand with ethical reasoning. Critical thinking gives one the ability to analyze every aspect of an argument to evaluate and determine the most ethical decision. Recognizing faults such as prejudices and preconceived notions that stem from environmental factors is crucial when it comes to making an ethical choice. Thinking critically will help avoid making judgments based on these faults. Without using the principles and rules of critical thinking one would limit the amount of information they use when trying to come to an ethical decision.
If everyone followed the rules and guidelines of logic, would there be a need for ethical decision making? Why?
Even if everyone followed the rules and guidelines of logic there would still always be a need for ethical decision making. The idea of rules and guidelines used for logic differ greatly depending on many different factors. These factors can come from things such as where a person lives, their nationality, and even their religion. Without using ethical reasoning one would limit the different ethical views they would take into account to form a truly ethical decision. Getting the position and viewpoint of everyone involved in an ethical dilemma is really the only way to identify a truly ethical decision that is right for all.