An Ethical And Moral Aspect Of Decision Making

It has been a recognized fact that the All India Services and other Central services belonging to the same domain have enabled the stability and contributed positively to the governance system and the national populace. These civil services have carefully drafted the policies to maintain the unity and integrity of the country and at the same time worked towards the welfare of the people. In general, the civil servants can be termed as the custodians of the laws that our country abide to.

Over a period of time, the values associated with the Indian Civil Services have worn out leading a way for corruption and unprincipled approach to doing things. There are many factors responsible for it. A judgmental and biased approach is a strong factor accountable for making the situation worse. The bureaucracy has moved far away from the point of making objective decisions that have a taste of both moral and ethical assessment.

To counter this problem the government has laid a provision of Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT from the year 2011. The examination will focus to check the candidates aptitude for this level of governance and the ability to take ethical and moral decisions.

This article will deal with the issues of ethical and moral aspects of decision making.

Before we proceed, the basic question that arises is what is ethics? It is defined as the set of behavior patterns that tells every individual how to behave in situations in which sometimes they are friends, family, peer, professionals and so on.

Ethics are not feelings, religion or law but these are those standards or values that make us uncomfortable over a thought or issue where we know that we are wrong. These days with advanced study in the field of social and natural sciences, one can attain information that helps to make ethical choices but then what is right or wrong has to be justified by the individual himself.

Ethics is one vast, debatable and controversial topic that can be bundled in words yet there are certain philosophers and ethicists who have developed their own unique way of defining ethics. Some of their studies are mentioned below.

The Common Good Approach

This approach was developed and followed by Greek philosophers who believed that life in a community is good. This lays stress on the actions of an individual and his contribution to the society. This approach dwells upon the inter-relationship of the individuals within the society and talks about the welfare of people.

The Justice Approach

Aristotle talked about the concept that all equals should be treated equally. This is an indication of fair standards and equality in the society. Today we might put a defensible argument to counter inequality but the truth is that justice should be equal for all and should not be weighing as per ones circumstances.

The Utilitarian Approach

This approach is based on providing a balance of good deeds over bad. The approach also measures the least harms that ethical actions can bring in. This is more of an objective study that deals with consequences and stresses upon more good to be done and reduce the ways to harm someone.

Ethics are nothing but an individuals parameters to choose good over bad in any circumstance and not biased of judgments and perceptions.