Everyday Ethics

As you have hopefully figured out, the subject of my writing is ethics, specifically utilizing the notion of “everyday ethics” to help us all figure out how to be better people than we are.  This assumes that we have some notion of what it means to be a better person, which is a sticky concept at best.  Much of what I focus on deals with specific problems or situations, as well as more traditional ethical concerns, with the goal of drawing some sort of helpful message from them.  But what we really want to do is put this information into practice, requiring that we say something about cultivating the right kind of behavior, rather than simply figuring out what the right thing is, and then failing to act accordingly.

The distinction that I am referring to is somewhat common in the world of academic philosophy, known there as the discrepancy between theory and practice.  Applied ethics is the area where this phenomenon is most common, as what one knows to be right often conflicts with what one can actually achieve, due to conflicting interests that are the norm in most ethically conflicted scenarios.  For our purposes, we will focus on taking our knowledge of ethical conduct, and shaping it into the practice of ethical conduct, or training the ethical self.

The first and perhaps most important point to make is that when training the ethical self, you are doing just that.  You are not simply trying to remember to think about ethics, or learning to think like a philosopher does.  Rather, you are shaping your being into someone who cares about and considers ethics without having to think too hard about it.  This is essential because most of our moral decision-making is done unconsciously and incredibly quickly.  There isn’t always time to theorize about the ethics of a given scenario, so our best bet is simply to be the kind of person who makes the right kind of choices most of the time.

This alone is probably not immensely helpful.  It has the vacuous and nondescript qualities that make many “self-help” concepts somewhat useless.  However, we can utilize the concept of everyday ethics further in order to get a clearer grasp on exactly how we develop the ethical self that we are discussing.

Everyday ethics says that the world is your teacher, so the first aspect of developing the ethical self is to listen to the lessons that are being taught.  As I’ve tried to illustrate through my writing, the world is jam-packed with sound moral advice, from the level of national news to our everyday interpersonal communications.  If we simply open our eyes and ears, thinking consciously about the events of our day, we will begin to see the wisdom that literally surrounds us all of the time.

Everyday ethics also says that the world is your classroom, the place where you apply the lessons of the teacher.   For example, if your recent experiences have told you something about the importance of being honest with people you love, even if it hurts them, take some time to put this into practice, and then be critical of the results.  Are they good or bad?  Do they lead to the kinds of outcomes that are desirable?  Do you feel good about your conduct as a result?  These sorts of questions will help you to work out whether something is a good general principle to follow.  It doesn’t take long to cultivate a new habit, so a few weeks of focusing on a particular aspect of your conduct should be instrumental in the training of your new, ethical self.

In sum, training the ethical self requires that we listen, practice, and internalize.  This is simple enough, though that does not make it easy.  By utilizing the concepts of everyday ethics and making a sincere commitment to training our ethical selves, we begin to see the fruits of right conduct.  The moral life is not always rosy and sweet, but is always the right thing to do, and definitely something that is worth doing.

About the Author

Elijah Weber is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from Colorado State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman Univerity. He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Laura, his son Brandon, age two and a half, and two cats, both of whom are mentally deranged.