Chapter Four: Ethical Living

Society, in general, feels the need to organize itself in ways to make itself worthy of a harmonious existence; and ethics, some believe, could very well provide the means to do so.

The literature on Ethics and many of its tenets, however, is immensely vast and inexhaustible; and although there are several ways to expound the issue, the term itself could conjure multiple meanings for each individual.

The foregoing article on ethics, A Framework for Thinking Ethically, in this case, provides useful and noteworthy guidelines on how to behave in the world of business by suggesting five different sources of ethical standards we should use; namely, the Utilitarian approach, the Rights approach, the Fairness or justice approach, the Common Good approach, and finally the Virtue approach (Ethics, cited in Markulla Ethics, 1988).

While each approach provides a much philosophical view of what ethics is or not, each holds ethics is not based on feelings, religion, law, accepted social practice, or science. Still, each of the approaches help us determine what standards of behavior could  be considered ethical in contexts where each individual is found or situated. 

A medical doctor, for instance, is expected to use language endemic to his profession while considering his surroundings (e.g., the hospital). The doctor is also expected to use language appropriate for each type of individual who must also consider his background when interacting with the medical practitioner. This example, at last, gives us important information how ethics determines or defines a particular circumstance. And much more often than not, different approaches used in various circumstances do lead to similar answers and ideal reactions from interlocutors who are involved in a situation.

Linguists, on the other hand, provide a more specific ethical recommendation. Ethics, from a linguistic point of view, is divided into two main groups, Group 1 Ethics and Group 2 Ethics.

Group 1 ethics, in this case, involves the foregoing discussion on business ethics, which is a constituent of ethics. The group also encompasses ethics relegated to action or actions used in daily living (i.e., Dining or Eating, Social Events or Gatherings, and etc.). This group is the domain of the infamous Miss Manner’s Etiquette where social norms are detailed and provided for those who intend to refine their social graces and etiquette. Finally, this group approaches ethics from a sociological standpoint.

Meanwhile, Group 2 Ethics is firmly grounded on language or linguistics. Incorporating favorable social and behavioral traits in language, in this case, considers politeness as its arena. Politeness in language–  that is, consideration, courtesy, and tact – is expected among all members of many societies regardless of age, gender, or position because it is basic to the production of social order and human cooperation. (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Penelope Brown and Stephen J. Levinson (1987), further defined politeness as a redressive action taken to counter-balance the disruptive effects of Face-Threatening Acts or FTAs.

Here, the notion of ‘face’ is defined by Erving Goffman (1967), as a speaker’s sense of linguistic and social identity and may refer to the respect that an individual has for himself or herself, and maintaining "self-esteem" in public or in private situations (Goffman, 1967). Usually, a person tries to avoid embarrassing the other person, or making him or her feel uncomfortable by using politeness strategies that could benefit both speaker and hearer. Any speech act may impose on this sense, and is therefore “face-threatening” and speakers have strategies for lessening the threat (Chemnitz, 2004).

However, since speech is quite a broad area to study, linguistic politeness, may have more social implications to the development of a mature and ethical individual living in a society where benevolence is held as a premier commodity. Thus, this writer seeks to find answers to the following questions for a final analysis toward the end of the term.

1.         What politeness strategies are needed in business?
2.         Which of these strategies is more pronounced?

This may interest the professional who is constantly interacting in business and in society in general because they could be useful in discovering the different strategies of interaction among them. A benefit, moreover, could be the promotion of social awareness and the harmony among individuals of a country who is faced with an endless barrage of crises and problems

Finally, making good ethical decisions that requires sensitivity to ethical issues, as suggested by the referent article, is absolutely essential. Because when practiced regularly, a careful exploration of the problems beset by the lack of ethics or etiquette we could make good ethical choices in such situations (Ethics, cited in Markulla Ethics, 1988).

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.

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