Reference no: EM133492947

Problem

An ethical problem solving exercise:

Here are the facts of the scenario for this assignment:

You are a prison counselor at a correctional facility. You are a good employee, well liked by both the inmates and the guards. Sometimes you go out to eat and have drinks with coworkers. You get along well with everyone, and you like and respect everyone you work with at the facility. You have noticed that recently one of your coworkers, Gabby, seems distracted and upset. She is normally very outgoing and friendly, but recently she seems withdrawn and isolated. You cross paths with Gabby after work in the parking lot one night and ask her how she is doing. She confides in you that she is in love with an inmate. She knows it is against policy, but she says they had instant chemistry and she has never felt this kind of connection before in her life. She gives him love notes, and he has also been writing to her. You tell her that she has to stop the relationship or quit her job, because she cannot legally continue to work at the prison and have a relationship with an inmate. She tearfully tells you that she can't let him go, she needs her job, and you've got to keep quiet or you'll get her fired. What would you do in this situation?

Okay, those are the facts of the situation you are going to address in the email. You cannot change those facts, you have to deal with them as is. How would you frame the issue in this scenario? What is the ethical situation? Identify the ethical issue in this case.

Next, outline the possible options that you could choose, if you were actually in this scenario. What are the possible choices? Identify at least three possible choices that are reasonable and within the realm of possibility created by the fact pattern of this hypothetical.
How to "Identify" this discussion?

For example, if the prompt asks you to "identify the core values of American government," then you would compose a post that contained approximately three paragraphs. This is because "identify" prompts in our class require approximately one paragraph to accomplish, per thing being identified. Since there are three core values of American government (liberty, equality, and self-government), it would take three paragraphs to identify the core values of American government (one paragraph per value)**

1. Apply Kant's categorical imperative to this scenario. Identify the rule or maxim that you created to apply to this situation. Be sure to say how this rule complies with the principles of the categorical imperative. Then apply the rule to each of the three options and analyze which option is the most ethical choice, according to the maxim you created. Explain your reasoning for which choice is the best one (the most ethical option per the categorical imperative).

2. Be sure to clearly identify which choice is the most ethical choice (your ultimate conclusion about what to do).

3. What we are doing in this email assignment is applying the formula of resolving an ethical situation to a hypothetical case in the criminal justice system. What I want you to see is how the formula for applying ethics to real life situations is made up of going through or analyzing: the facts, the issue, the options, the theory, the analysis, and the conclusion.

4. What happened? What is the question to be decided? What are the choices? What theory of ethics will be applied? How does the theory apply to each possible option? After that analysis, which choice proved to be the most ethical choice? [These are the questions of each stage of the formula for resolving an ethical scenario. You can use this formula in your own life.]

5. Notice how what I am asking you to either identify or explain in this email (see underlined prompts above) is each of the parts of this formula. Those parts would make for good descriptive headings in your email (hint, hint).

6. Have fun with this exercise. I am less worried with how good you are at coming up with a categorical imperative (a unique maxim or rule), compared to your ability to show that you can apply the formula for resolving an ethical situation to this set of facts.