Think of this assignment as chapter two and three of your research paper. Only submit the Literature review and Proposal (Do not include your Introduction and methodology - especially the references for those sections).

7/13/2016

ELI Ethical Lens Inventory

Relationship and Reputation Feng Cai

You balance your reasoning skills (rationality) and your intuition (sensibility) to determine what processes, systems, character traits and virtues will best serve the community by assuring fairness and justice for all (equality).

Core Values: Equality and Rationality/Sensibility

You prioritize the value of equality over autonomy. Your primary concern is the well-being of the whole community and you believe that assuring the community's well-being is the best way to assure that individuals are treated fairly. You value rationality and sensibility equally. You believe that while there are universal principles, each situation is unique and not all exceptions can be categorized. For you the best solution is both consistent and flexible.

Classical Virtues: Justice and Fortitude

You value the social that is achieved through loyalty and consistency in dealings among members of the community. In your mind, a predictable system that assures the well-being of all, especially those without power, is a just system.You also demonstrate courage and steadiness in the face of obstacles. You tend to avoid rash actions while at the same time charting an untested course.

Key Phrase: “I make fair and virtuous choices.”

Because you equally value rationality and sensibility, along with equality, you tend to assume that the best ethical result is achieved when everyone lives out the positive character traits required by their role within a just system.

Determining What Is Ethical: Being fair and Living out Role Responsibilities

You define an ethical person as one with sound character traits and habits of thoughtful reflection who seeks justice and fundamental fairness in the community. For you, those who demonstrate strong leadership in their roles and give everyone in the community, especially those without power, a chance to succeed exemplify ethical behavior.

Analytical Tool: Authority and Tradition

You tend to think through a problem carefully and research options. You pay particular attention to the experts on the subject and what others in your role have said or done. Your goal is to make a fully informed decision and to meet the needs of the community, without harming the least advantaged. Although you consider what others you respect have done in similar situations, you remain flexible and can craft a unique or novel solution when necessary.

Gift: Advocacy and Compassion

Because you are concerned with fairness, when you are at your best you work for what is just for all, i.e., what keeps people connected to others in the community. You assure that systems and processes are coherent, uniformly followed, and they protect the least advantaged without creating undue burdens for the rest. You are also able to "tell the story" of each member of your community.

Blind Spot: Overconfidence in process or Unrealistic Role Expectations

Because you believe that a consistent process results in a just outcome for all, you sometimes trust the process too much. You forget that unequal access gives rise to unjust outcomes, even when the process itself is fair. At other times, you develop unrealistic role expectations, forgetting that individuals are fallible regardless of their role.

Risk: Being authoritarian or Self-Righteous

Sometimes you require deference to power concentrated in a hierarchical authority. Because you have thought carefully about what is right in a given situation, you tend to assume that your way is best. You may then abuse power as you impose your will on others for their own good. On the other hand, when your compassion fails, you come to believe that the perks and privileges of your role belong to you because you are better than others.

Double Standard: Exemption and Entitlement

As you seek justice for all, you are sometimes tempted to exempt yourself and leaders you trust from the rules or to believe that you have a right to special privileges because of your role. You'll convince yourself that the rules were meant for other people or that the action you want to take really is just for everyone - even though your "Fair Self" tells you otherwise. You will persuade yourself that your role gives you rights inconsistent with good character.

Vice: Becoming an ambitious elitist or Hard-hearted

W hen your personal ambition overpowers your concern for justice, you overlook abuses of power by those in leadership positions. This will be especially true when the leaders are part of your group, and they claim to be protecting the rights of those who cannot protect themselves. If your compassion fails and you become hard-hearted, you may apply capricious and inappropriate solutions.

Crisis: Isolation, guilt and confusion

Unless you develop the practice of mindfulness and reflection, at some point you will become isolated. No one can always guarantee justice, or even a

fair process. You will also feel guilty if you begin to resent that so few people you help seem grateful. At some point you will also confront the loss of your center, especially if you lose the role with which you have become identified. If you find you have few friends, it could be because your obsession with justice or your role responsibilities drives everyone away.

Seeing Clearly: Consider the claims of individuals

To see more clearly, consider the claims of individuals in the group, not just the group as a whole. Although you do a god job of making sure your head and your heart agree, you do tend to focus on the well-being of the community at the expense of individual rights. As you consider what is fair and what character traits are necessary for the community, remember to temper your actions with concern for individuals. Look for ways to assure that individual rights are protected. As you learn to consider the perspectives of individuals in your decision making process, you will live out the best of your ideals with compassion and care for all.