4.1 Should I work for the gun, adult entertainment, or the food industry?

Have you ever done something you knew was wrong? Maybe stole candy as a child, or were cruel to a sibling? Of course, we all have, but did you ever ask yourself why you did it? Conversely, have you done something you were particularly proud of? Maybe you stood up for someone who was being bullied? Returned money when you were overpaid? What caused you to do these positive things?

This chapter will investigate the psychological elements and processes that lead us to act ethically or unethically. Similar to the last chapter, this chapter is the only other chapter in the book where the authors have provided an explanatory section that describes basic concepts to help you use this material in assessing your own ethical development. As in the last chapter, this explanatory section should not limit how you read the excerpts that follow. Instead, they should illuminate certain concepts and help you put the readings into an understandable framework.

One of the first readings is Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” a story found in his famous work The Brother’s Karamazov (1880). In it, Dostoevsky uses religion to struggle with concepts of authority and liberty. “The Grand Inquisitor” compels the reader to answer questions about their own understanding of how authority and liberty are interconnected, both to you and the world around you.

The second piece you will read is from Niccolo Machiavelli’s "The Prince." Published in 1532, Machiavelli’s work famously laid bare in textbook fashion how to maneuver the gulf between private morals or conscience and the demands of public leadership. His keen and brutal approach to ruling and governance has earned him an infamous place in history, to the point that “machiavellianism” is a pejorative describing those who mercilessly think only of themselves as they seek to gain power. While many of his ideas are often taken out of historical context, it is important to see how some of these ideas still play a role in the ethical actions and justifications of people today.

William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” is one of the best known pieces of poetry in the Western world. Some of you may have even memorized it in elementary school. Its inspirational verses have given heart to prisoners of war, political dissidents, citizens of London during the bombings in WWII, and famously Nelson Mandela as he was imprisoned in the Robben Island prison. But what is it that is so inspiring about this poem? What does it tell the reader about how to respond to ethical problems?

Finally, the chapter ends with another troubling excerpt. This time, Hannah Arendt provides journalistic observations about the trial of a Nazi leader tried in Israel in Eichmann in Jerusalem. Her dispassionate retelling of the inhumane acts done by seemingly normal people are as chilling as they are thought provoking. The reader is left with the troubling question of what causes “normal” people to do the most inhumane and horrible acts?