Personal Connections to the Five Ethical Theories

Utilitarianism: As a basketball team captain, I am responsible for keeping around fifteen guys motivated and happy. What this means however, is that I can not make every single person happy with every decision. With any decision I make, some will like it, some will not. It is very rare to make every single person satisfied. Therefore, I have to use utilitarianism and figure out which option does the most good for the majority of the team. 

Kantianism: There are certain rules that I grew up with that I also will keep when I have a family one day. While these rules are not of extreme importance, they help shape my values and beliefs. One example is no phones at dinner to encourage meaningful conversation and bonding. Another example is no cursing. Cursing can be seen as rude and it is important to teach good habits. These rules were absolute rules that had no exceptions. 

Social Contract Theory: This applies to me when I am at work because when I am faced with decisions to make, I try to make my decision based on what my boss would want me to do. Being inexperienced and young, I may not always make the right decision based on solely my own knowledge, therefore I will make decisions based on what people who have more experience think I should do. 

Virtue Theory: When I was in middle school and high school, my parents never gave me rules for homework or grades. They wanted school to be important to me, not just to them. They wanted me to want to do well in school, not just do well in school because they told me to. They wanted me to develop through my own thoughts and experiences rather than rules.