ETHICS

enjoy this movie then visit brainpop.com for much more you say what dear robot ethicist mr. Anderson pays me six dollars an hour to mow his lawn it usually takes me two hours but last week I got it done 30 minutes faster he already paid me in advance is it ethical for me to keep the money from amber you're the papers new ethics columnist okay let's see your response dear amber ethical ethical just live in the moment best Moby do you even know what ethics is all right how should I begin if you've ever watched a nature video you may have noticed that animals behave a little selfishly they act on their urges without much regard for other creatures people are a little different we care about how our actions will affect others but we are part of the animal kingdom so we still struggle with selfish urges we want stuff for ourselves whether it's food and money or more complex things like love and popularity can you imagine what would happen if everyone acted on these desires yep total breakdown in society fortunately we've evolved a sense of morality or right and wrong this sense guides us to believe in certain values lying is wrong kindness is good that sort of thing values in turn help us make ethical decisions choices that we feel good about so you can think of ethics as a set of guidelines for behaving morally well let's take this first letter of yours if you take $12 for mowing the lawn in 90 minutes your wage will be $8 an hour that's deceptive because you agreed to work for $6 an hour and lying is morally wrong why well our inner moral sense tells us it is that's why so many ethical systems forbid it most religions and philosophies frown on dishonesty and our legal codes prohibit certain kinds of lying too it's a crime to make false statements to the police or in a court of law and if you're in business it's illegal to make false claims to the public it might help amber to imagine herself in mr. Anderson's place no one likes being lied to mr. Anderson might not trust her to mow his lawn again if he finds out amber should admit that it only took 90 minutes to mow the lawn and offer to give $3.00 back she might lose a couple bucks but her reputation is more important than money anyway that was an easy one what else have you got dear robot ethicist yesterday I caught my friend Steve cheating off my test he's never done it before and he begged me to keep it secret if his parents find out he'll be grounded for weeks what should I do from Anthony hmm this one's a bit trickier we know that cheating is wrong and every school has rules against it on the other hand friendship carries its own ethical obligations friends should be loyal and try to help each other out by telling your teacher you'd be betraying Steve yep it looks like we've got an ethical dilemma a situation with no clear-cut right answer it may seem silly but making a list of arguments for each action can be super helpful the School Code prohibits cheating and you could get in trouble if your teacher finds out but your friend will fail the test and get grounded if you say something still friendship cuts both ways it wasn't fair for Steve to put you in this position hmm there are definitely more reasons to speak up than stay quiet unfortunately there is no formula for acting ethically you have to judge by the individual situation ask yourself what solution is fairest to all the people involved maybe you and Steve could go to your teacher together and tell her about the situation Steve could ask for a makeup test or promise to do extra credit to keep his grades up that way he won't get away with cheating and you won't betray his trust nope I was happy to help but it wouldn't be ethical for me to answer all your letters you're gonna have to rely on your own moral compass for the rest of these [Music] this explains so many things visit us at brainpop.com for more on this topic and hundreds of others you'll find movies games quizzes and activities learn more about the difference BrainPOP can make

Channel: BrainPOP

Views: 304,786

Rating: 4.7250409 out of 5

Keywords: BrainPOP, Education, Animation, Moby

Id: zPsoFhUDLuU

Length: 5min 5sec (305 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 23 2017