Running head: 6 MAJOR ETHIC SYSTEMS
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6 Major Ethic Systems
Jennifer Martini
Liberty University
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Ethical systems refer to a set of moral principles whose aim is to govern the behaviour of
people in a society, institution, or organization. This principle encourages the members of the
society to grow up knowing the importance of good morals. Besides, it encourages them to strive
hard to enhance ethical development in the society. This paper focuses on giving a reflection on
six major ethical systems namely antinomianism, unqualified absolutism, generalism, conflicting
absolutism, situationism, and graded absolutism.
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is an ethical system that brings insights of behaviour based on Biblical
teachings but ends up giving unbiblical conclusions. It holds that God does not expect Christians
to obey any moral laws. This systems also goes against laws and is also against the social,
religious, and moral norms. This system is contradictory when it comes to Bible teachings.
According to the Bible, the Christians need to observe love, morality, and integrity in their day to
day life. Despite the fact that the Christians should not follow moral laws, it is important to
overcome sin and act in a righteous way. I believe that this system is inappropriate since the
society needs to follow laws in order to foster good morals as revealed by Koslowski (2011).
Situationism
Situationism is an ethics system that focuses on taking an account of something instead of
making a judgment with regards to the moral standards. It observes matters according to the
situation in hand that helps one to develop a fair basis in judgment by looking at the ideals of an
individual instead of following a rigid code of conduct. Therefore, it encourages individuals to
make decisions that are subject to the underlying circumstances to foster fairness instead of
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strictly following a fixed law in judgment. This ethics system develop a platform through which
individuals can make amendments to the code of conduct based on situations (Koslowski, 2011).
Generalism
Generalism is an ethics system that views moral thoughts and judgment as a result of
moral principles. In other words, it follows the provisions of moral principles in all its
applications. It supports the identification of moral principles and encourages the application of
the same as the best way of determining the best actions, situations, responses, and
communications. These systems encourage the individuals to develop moral principles that
would mold them to become responsible in the society. In so doing, generalism ethics put the
members of the society in a common ground where the moral principles need to be followed by
each member. However, this ethics fails to hold issues as per the given circumstance or situation.
Unqualified absolutism
Unqualified absolutism is an ethical system that believes that there exist several moral
laws that should be followed to the later. It goes against the teachings of antinomianism ethic
system. Besides, it also believes that all truth in all undertakings arises from created law or laws.
This implies that every individual should ever be ready to offer the absolute truth at all the times
despite the consequences that may follow. Above all, it believes that truth is based on absolute
morals which cannot be broken under any circumstance. Unqualified absolutism goes against the
provisions of situationism where judgment is subject to the circumstance in hand. It is rigid since
it believes that the laws must hold at all the times irrespective of whether breaking them brings
desirable results or not (Rydenfelt, 2005)
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Conflicting Absolutism
Conflicting absolutism is an ethics system that believes that the world is full of evil hence
conflict in a society or the world may where the moral laws exist may be inevitable. The
conflicting absolutism borrows some of its tenets or beliefs from the situationism ethics system.
For instance, it believes that although there exist moral principles, sometimes they may not apply
since the world is evil implying that situations arise that may hinder an individual from following
the moral laws as provided by the situationism ethics. In other words, it reveals that sometimes it
is necessary to break the lesser laws and repent.
Graded Absolutism
Graded Absolutism is a moral ethics that believe that moral absolutes and conflict must
exist in the society. This implies that this ethics at times the moral laws will apply depending on
the situation at hand. However, sometimes it will be necessary to bend the laws to accommodate
the underlying circumstance. To some extent, the tenets of this ethics are in line with the
situationism ethics.
I have chosen situationism ethics system because it believes that decision making should
be subject to the underlying circumstances. The world today is dynamic implying that it is
difficult to follow fixed morals to the letter. At moments, situations will arise in which the
desired result will not be dependent on the fixed moral principles. In the Christian worldview of
ethics, individuals need to do what is the right and avoid what is wrong. This implies that the
individuals should always strive to do what is right irrespective of the situation at hand. This
implies that the situationism ethics system may not comply with the Christian worldview ethics.
Especially when individuals have to bend laws to get the desired results. However, the Christian
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worldview ethics also support repenting as a way of overcoming the breaking of laws which can
be applied in the case of situationism ethics (Oakley, 2004).
In conclusion, I believe that it is important for the society to follow the moral principles
to foster success in all their doings.
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References
Koslowski, P. (2011). Ethical Economy, Economic Ethics, Business Ethics: Foundations of
Finance Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics The Ethics of Banking, 3-13.
Oakley, N. (2004). Book Review: Choosing the Good: Christian Ethics in a Complex
World. Studies In Christian Ethics, 17(3), 65-67.
Rydenfelt, H. (2015). Emotional interpretants and ethical inquiry. Sign Systems Studies, 43(4),
501.
