Situational ethics is when your ethics change based on the situation.
Can you get away with it? Is everyone else doing it?
For example, if you wouldn’t rob a store, but if a mob was looting it, you’d grab an armful.
If you wouldn’t steal an item, but if someone on drugs was selling something very cheap, you’d buy it.
If you wouldn’t hurt someone but if you didn’t like someone, you would.
If we are to have integrity and stand for what we believe in, our ethics should not change with the situation.
This can be quite difficult when the test comes. You may not be popular with your friends during these tests, but developing our higher selves that eclipse our lower impulses demands it.
Such a great message. We discuss this often (home and business). The phrase we use all the time is it is never the wrong time to do the right thing!
Larry, I would like our marketing manager to receive Think Daily, but I forgot how to sign her up.
One must consistently take inventory of their actions and intentions to live an ethical life. Going through the motions often leads to amoral behavior. When I evaluate myself, I often apply the Golden Rule. If I’m not treating others the way I want to be treated, I am likely not doing the right thing.
I was confronted with this dilemma a few days ago. While in Rite-Aid picking up a prescription, I noticed a young man stuffing a package of diapers into his backpack. I didn’t know what to do- report him to the cashier, tell him I knew he was stealing. Instead, I did nothing. After consideration, I wish I had offered to pay for the diapers. Next time I will do better.
You have hit on a vice in society that has reached near epidemic levels. Situational ethics seems to be the status-quo with so many now that they do it without even thinking about it. Politicians are possibly the worst. It’s a symptom of selfishness and selfishness is the #1 negative quality of people. We all struggle with it from birth. My opinion is that one becomes a responsible and trustworthy person once they have learned to overcome selfishness, for the most part.