Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism

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Chamberlain College of Nursing *

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445N

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Philosophy

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Dec 6, 2023

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Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism 1 Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism Nathaniel Franklin Chamberlain University ETHC445N: Principles of ethics Professor Daniel Henke 10/28/2023

Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism 2 Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism Moral ethics play a foundational role in developing our character and decision-making abilities. Two major frameworks of ethics, utilitarianism and virtue ethics, offer unique perspectives as to what constitutes morally sounds actions. I believe we should follow the utilitarian model in the concept of finding the action thar provides the greatest good to the greatest number of people. We can apply virtue ethics to how we carry ourselves and how we execute our action in a morally sound way. The virtues we can practice everyday in all of our actions are honesty, compassion, integrity, and empathy. I chose to utilize virtue ethics and utilitarianism as my own moral ethics guidelines. Utilitarianism guides us to decide what actions need to be taken to be morally right. This is decided by considering what causes “the greatest good for the greatest number of people" (Rachels & Rachels, 2023). Virtue ethics guide us in how to execute these actions in a morally sound way but guide our personal actions. These character traits or virtues such as honesty, integrity, compassion, empathy, and many more are developed individually and are how we decide individually what is the right action. We can apply these ethical frameworks into any situation like the one proposed with Jane Doe. Jane does is a college student who attends university X and is taking an 8-week course titled “introduction to ethics”. Over the 8-week course she takes advantage of the knowledge that her professor does not plagiarism check their work using websites such as Turnitin.com. Often, she elicits outside help from friends or online websites to get papers to turn in instead of writing her own true work. She knows this is wrong for many reasons, it violates every schools’ rules

Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism 3 against plagiarism, her religion’s views on lying and cheating, and she justifies this through her own financial insecurities. If we look at this situation from a utilitarianism point of view, we can evaluate if these actions provide the greatest good to the greatest number of people. The moral soundness of these actions is dependent on the consequences that are generated for themselves, their peers, and the academic community. From a utilitarian viewpoint plagiarism would most likely be seen as an unethical action. Plagiarism undermines the school’s contract with its students to maintain academic integrity. Ultimately, this devalues creating original work and damages the trust among peers and educators. This action negatively impacts the student and their peers who may suffer due to the unfair advantage. These actions would diminish the overall happiness of those involved, making it an unethical choice. Virtue ethics on the other hand, focuses on the development of moral character and personal virtues such as honesty, compassion, integrity, and empathy. Virtue ethics judge an action’s moral rightness by comparing them to these virtues. In the context of plagiarism, we can examine these actions under the understanding of these virtues. Honesty: Plagiarism contradicts the virtue of honesty by presenting another’s work as your own in an act of deception. Compassion: Virtue ethics encourage the use of compassion, plagiarism harms other students who diligently complete their assignment, potentially leading to feelings of injustice. A compassionate student would act to prevent these feelings. Integrity: integrity is maintaining consistency between our actions and values. Plagiarism is inconsistent with these values and reflects a lack of personal integrity. Empathy: Plagiarism contradicts empathy as it fails to

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Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism 4 consider the effort and dedication of their peers. A student who displays empathy would understand the negative impact of their actions on both their peers and educators. The Divine Command theory is the ethical argument that morality is derived from God’s commands of personal character. The morally sound action is the one demanded or commanded by God (Austin, n.d.). According to this theory Janes actions would be wrong because she lied and cheated by plagiarizing her work. She failed to give credit to the original creator and owners of the works she used. As such, this is morally wrong as this goes against her religion and their God’s commanding of character. She could also be argued as greedy, putting her own success and satisfaction above that of her peers. Jane Doe and anyone who plans to go into a career that demands integrity and determination should be cautious to perform these actions. Jane will likely fail to acknowledge her failings in her career, leaving her unsuccessful if she were to fail to maintain her dignity and integrity in her schooling. Jane’s actions would be wholly condemned by the veil of ignorance, a theory of utilitarianism, as it does not improve her education or knowledge, and ultimately will be a detriment to the patients entrusted to her care.

Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism 5 Reference: Austin, M. (n.d.). Divine Command Theory | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/divine-command-theory/ Rachels, S., & Rachels, J. (2019). The elements of moral philosophy (9th ed.). Mcgraw-Hill Education.

Moral Philosophy and Plagiarism

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