By Maggie Pohl

When I was reading “A Framework for Ethical Thinking” I was immediately reminded of the article “Thinking Ethically.”

“A Framework for Ethical Thinking” outlines the six ethical lenses and defines them as the rights lens, the justice lens, the utilitarian lens, the common good lens, the virtue lens, and the care ethics lens. This directly correlates to the five approaches discussed in “Thinking Ethically” consisting of the rights approach, the common good approach, the virtue approach, the utilitarian approach, and the fairness or justice approach. The only lens that differs from the approaches laid out in “Thinking Ethically” is the cares ethics lens, which prioritizes the need to listen and respond to individuals in their specific circumstances. This is a lens that I feel should be included when making an ethical decision. This is the only lens that I see that allows for a user to take into consideration the specific circumstances. My biggest concern with the approach laid out in “Thinking Ethically” was the reality of the environments that these approaches are being used. By including the care ethics lens to an ethical discussion it allows for managers to analysis the impact of their decision in terms of humanity and care for the people affected.

Sources:

Thinking Ethically. Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Aug. 1, 2015. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

A Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Nov 8, 2021. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/