Motivation

Why Be Ethical?

People have lots of reasons for being ethical:

There is inner benefit. Virtue is its own reward.

There is personal advantage. It is prudent to be ethical. It's good business.

There is approval. Being ethical leads to self-esteem, the admiration of loved ones and the respect of peers.

There is religion. Good behavior can please or help serve a deity.

There is habit. Ethical actions can fit in with upbringing or training.

There are obstacles to being ethical, which include:

The ethics of self-interest. When the motivation for ethical behavior is self-interest, decision-making is reduced to risk-reward calculations. If the risks from ethical behavior are high -- or the risks from unethical behavior are low and the reward is high -- moral principles succumb to expediency. This is not a small problem: many people cheat on exams, lie on resumes, and distort or falsify facts at work. The real test of our ethics is whether we are willing to do the right thing even when it is not in our self-interest.

The pursuit of happiness. Enlightenment philosophers and the American Founding Fathers enshrined the pursuit of happiness as a basic right of free men. But is this pursuit a moral end in itself? It depends on how one defines happiness. Our values, what we prize and desire, determine what we think will make us happy. We are free to pursue material goals and physical sensations, but that alone rarely (if ever) leads to enduring happiness. It more often results in a lonely, disconnected, meaningless existence. The morally mature individual finds happiness in grander pursuits than money, status, sex and mood-altering substances. A deeper satisfaction lies in honoring universal ethical values, that is, values that people everywhere believe should inform behavior. That unity between principled belief and honorable behavior is the foundation for real happiness.

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