HUMN 330 Assignment: Personal Reflection on Values and Ethics

Embry-Riddle Aero University

HUMN 330

HUMN 330 Values and Ethics

Personal Reflection on Values and Ethics

Assignment Guidelines:

Erik Erikson, one of the most influential psychoanalysts of the 20th century, proposed an eight stage

theory of growth as a model for how we live, think, learn and change throughout our

lifetimes. What we value, our character and psyche are determined as a result of the

developmental tasks we face in each stage. For more information on his stages see:

http://swppr.org/Textbook/Ch%209%20Erikson.pdf

Erikson’s last stage is sometimes referred to as late adulthood, maturity, or old age (Erikson’s

term is Ego Integrity vs. Despair), and begins around the age of 60 or when we typically retire.

According to his theory, during this final stage of life we take a deep inventory of our lives and

our sense of usefulness. The basic question most people grapple with at this stage is: did our

life have meaning? However, we do not need to wait until the latter part of our life to answer this

question. We can do it now!

Some people become preoccupied with the past, their failures, regrets, and the bad decisions

they made, knowing they do not have the time or the vigor to reverse how they lived and treated

others. Sometimes this results in people becoming depressed, vindictive, resentful and spiteful

in old age. They often wish that they had lived a life that was different, more positive and had

deeper meaning. Conversely, others look back and accept the choices they made, realizing they

did their best given the choices they had and the circumstances they faced. If you were dying

now, into which category would you place yourself?

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While most of us are not dying, we do know that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. In fact, we

cannot even be sure we will live through the day. Yet, in the face of the one certainty in life we

all share—that everything outside of the imminent moments in which we live and breathe—

Western society continues to deny the presence and possibilities of death. This is true even

when we are directly confronted with it—witness, for example, the lengths to which we will go to

live longer even when those measures vastly deteriorate the quality of our lives. Rather, as the

essential, defining element of life itself, death should be embraced as a means of learning how

to live a full and truly meaningful life. So, perhaps now is a good time to reflect and take an

inventory of how we have lived.

Our personal values, morals and ethical code serve as a basis for distinguishing between right

and wrong, and thereby have a direct effect upon our thoughts, behavior and emotions. Of

course our family, upbringing, peers, and education play a critical role in the development of our

core values and ethics as well, but as you learned in this course, there are many other variables

that shape our character and values.

The objective of this assignment is for you to relate the material from the textbook

readings and course discussions to the experiences in your life so that you can assess

its meaning. As we reflect on acknowledging our mortality, can we start to bring a greater

meaning to our lives while still living? We can if we are honest with ourselves and take the time

to do so.

So, how do we go about determining what our values and ethics are? Perhaps the best

approach is to start with developing a statement that encompasses an overall picture of your

values and ethics. This opening part of your paper needs to be general in nature and should

reflect your beliefs, and not necessarily a statement of fact. Are your values based on family,

health, achievements, wealth, job success, happiness, faith, love, or anything else that you hold

in great esteem, that perhaps you would be willing to even die for? Think of your value

statement as what defines you as a person. You took a similar inventory in Module 2, so your

answer might be similar. However, after reading the material in this course, you may have

changed your perspectives on some of these items. If so, explain. Certainly, you now have a

theoretical framework in which to place these values, so make sure you add that information.

Once you determine what you value, then you can transition to formulating a personal ethics

statement. How have your values informed your decisions and shaped the way you live? This

part of the paper would include your personal view of ethics. In addition, consider how this code

was instilled in you from the time you were born until now. What personality traits do you

consider to be closely related to ethical and unethical behavior? Why? How do you see your

development according to Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

(http://web.missouri.edu/~segerti/capstone/kohlberg.pdf)?

The next step in the process is to think about your values and ethics from the different ethical

perspectives covered in the course. This will require you to think critically, synthesize and apply

theory to your life. You might try to address as many ethical theories as possible, but you can

also focus on just applying one or two if that is what you prefer to do. For example, you could

use a deontological perspective to represent how a duty/rule-based approach was used by your

parents, family, faith or religion (how were the principles of respect of others, honesty, hardwork,

success, altruism, morality, excellence or the opposites, etc. taught as morally wrong or

right regardless of the outcomes achieve?). Or maybe you would like to apply a utilitarian

approach in which an assessment of the overall outcomes of consequences (greatest benefit

and overall happiness vs. greatest harm and unhappiness) was used mainly to determine right

and wrong? You could also take consider the influence of egoism, personhood and rights or

virtue-based ethics on other aspects or issues in your life. In this section, make sure you use

the text as evidence.

In your concluding paragraph describe the person you are today and maybe address the person

you want to become. Are they the same person or different? As a result of this reflection, do you

have areas in your life that you want to change or work on? What would you most like to change

about yourself? Can you do it? If you were dying right now, what is the most important thing you

might say to your best friend about life and how to live it? You may want to consider the

chapters on virtue theory. Which of these virtues is most important to you? Why? How might

you work on developing it?

Again, the overriding theme of this paper is to critically think about the meaning of your life

relative to your self-interests, personal values and code of ethics. This is an about you and for

you, but it will be heavily informed by the readings and discussions from this course.

Your paper must have an APA-formatted title page. The paper should be at least 1500 words in

length (not including the cover page and references). It should be grammatically sound and free

of spelling errors. You must integrate the ethical theories discussed in the readings and

class as they relate goal of this assignment. Be sure to include in-text citations and a

reference page for this material. Outside sources are not required, but any use of such

material should be cited.

This paper will be submitted in Module 9, but begin this process early so you can address any

concerns with your instructor.HUMN 330 Assignment: Personal Reflection on Values and Ethics