Human Values vis

a vis
Social
Justice
Human Values

Are the virtues that guide us to take into account the

human element when we interact with other human
beings.
Example: respect, acceptance, consideration, appreciation,
listening, openness, affection, empathy and love towards
other human beings.
Importance of Human Values

• Values help us to grow and develop.

• They help us to create the future we want to experience.
• The decisions we make are reflection of our values and
beliefs, and they are always directed towards a specific
purpose.
 Universal or Core Ethical Values

1. TRUSTWORTHINESS
• Concerns a variety of behavioral qualities such as honesty, integrity,
reliability, and loyalty.
Honesty – there is no more fundamental ethical value than
honesty. We associate honesty with people of honor, and we
admire and trust those who are honest.
• Honesty in communication is about intent to convey the truth ass
best we know it and to avoid communicating in way likely to
mislead or deceive.
• Honesty in communication has three dimensions:
 Truthfulness - means not intentionally misrepresenting a fact (lying).
Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and truth itself.
Being wrong is not the same thing as being a liar, although honest
mistakes can still damage trust.
 Sincerity/non-deception – a sincere person does not act, say half-
truths, or stay silent with the intention of creating beliefs or leaving
impressions that are untrue or misleading.
 Frankness – in relationship involving trust, honesty may also require
us to volunteer information that another person needs to know.
• Honesty in conduct prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud, and
trickery. Cheating is not only dishonest but takes advantage of
those who are not cheating. It is a violation of trust and
fairness.
Not all lies are unethical, even though all lies are dishonest.
Occasionally dishonesty is ethically justifiable, such as when the
police lie in undercover operations or when one lies to
criminals or terrorists to save lives. But occasions for ethically
sanctioned lying are rare – e.g. saving a life
Integrity – there are differences in the way an ethical
person makes decision from situation to situation – no
difference in a way they act at work, and at home, in
public and alone.
• The person of integrity takes time for self-reflection so
that events, crises and the necessities of the day do not
determine the course of their moral life.
• The person of integrity stay in control.
• The four enemies of integrity are:
 Self-interest – things we want
 Self-protection – things we don’t want
 Self-deception – a refusal to see a situation clearly
 Self-righteousness – an end-justifies-the means
attitude
Reliability – when we make promise or commitment to
people our ethical duties go beyond legal obligations.
The ethical dimensions of promise-keeping imposes the
responsibility of making all reasonable efforts to fulfill
our commitments.
It is also important to:
 Avoid bad-faith excuses – honorable people don’t’
rationalize noncompliance or create justification for
escaping commitments.
 Avoid unwise commitment – before making a promise
consider carefully whether you are willing and unlikely to
keep it. Think about unknown or future events that could
make it difficult, undesirable or impossible to keep your
commitment. Sometimes, all we can do is promise to do
our best.
 Avoid under commitments – since others will expect you
to live up with what they think you have promised to do,
be sure that, when you make a promise, the other person
understands what you are committing to do.
Loyalty – is about promoting and protecting the interests of certain
people, organizations or affiliations. Some relationships – husband-
wife, employer-employee, citizen-country – create an expectation of
loyalty.
• Prioritizing loyalties – because so many individuals and groups
make loyalty claims on us, it is often impossible to honor them all
simultaneously. Consequently, we must rank our loyalty
obligations in some rational fashion. In our personal lives, for
example, it’s perfectly reasonable and ethical, to look out for the
interests of our children, parents and spouses even if we have to
subordinate our obligations to other children, neighbors, or co-
workers in doing so.
• Safeguarding Confidential Information. Loyalty requires us to
keep secrets of information learned in confidence.
• Avoiding Conflict Interests – Employees and public servants
have an additional responsibility to make all professional
decisions on merit not personal interests. Their goal is to
maintain the trust of public.
2. RESPECT
• Respect is about honoring the essential worth and
dignity of all people, including oneself, including
oneself.
• We are morally obligated to treat everyone with
respect, regardless of who they are and what they
have done.
• We have a responsibility to be the best we can be in
all situation, even when dealing with unpleasant
people.
• Respect focuses on:
 Civility, Courtesy and Decency – a respectful person is a
good listener. The respectful person treats other with
consideration, conforming to accepted notions of taste and
propriety, and doesn’t resort to intimidation, coercion, or
violence except in extraordinary and limited situations to
teach discipline, maintain order or achieve social justice.
 Tolerance – an ethical person accepts individual differences
and beliefs and judges others only on their character.
3. RESPONSIBILITY
• Life is full of choices.
• Being responsible means being in charge of our
choices and therefore our lives.
• It means being accountable for what we do and who
we are.
• It also means recognizing that what we do, nd what we
don’t do matters.
Accountability – an accountable person is not a victim and
doesn’t shift blame or claim credit for the work of others.
Pursuit of Excellence – has an ethical dimension when others
rely upon our knowledge, ability or willingness to perform tasks
safely and effectively.
Diligence – responsible people are reliable, careful, prepared and
informed.
Perseverance – responsible people finish what they start,
overcoming rather than surrendering to obstacles and excuses.
Continuous Improvement – responsible people look for
ways to do their work better.
Self-Restraint – responsible people exercise self-control,
restraining passions and appetites (such as lust, hatred,
gluttony, greed and fear). They delay gratification if
necessary and never feel it’s necessary to “win at any
cost.”
4. FAIRNESS
• Is a tricky concept.
• Disagreeing parties tend to maintain that there is only one
fair position – their own.
• But while some situations and decisions are clearly unfair,
fairness usually refers to a range of morally justifiable
outcomes rather than discovery of one fair answer.

Equity – decision should bee unbiased without favoritism or

prejudice.
Process – a fair person uses open and unbiased process for
gathering and evaluating information necessary to make
decisions. Fair people do not wait for the truth to come to
them, they seek out relevant information and conflicting
perspectives before making important decisions.
Equity – it is important not to take advantage of the weakness,
disadvantage or ignorance of others. Fairness requires that an
individual, company, or society correct mistakes, promptly and
voluntarily.
5. CARING
• Caring is the heart of ethics.
• It is scarcely possible to be truly ethical and genuinely
concerned with the welfare of others.
• That is because ethics is ultimately about our
responsibilities toward other people.
• Sometimes we must hurt those we care for and some
decisions, while quite ethical, do cause pain.
• But one should consciously cause no more harm than is
reasonably nexessary.
6. CITIZENSHIP
• The concept of citizenship includes how we ought to behave as
part of a community.
• The good citizen knows the laws and obeys them –but they also
volunteer and stay informed on the issues of the day.
• Citizens do more than their “fair” share to make society work,
now and for future generations.
• Citizenship can have many expressions, such as conserving
resources, recycling, using public transportation and cleaning up
litter.
(Based on Making Ethical Decisions – Josephson Institute of Ethics)
Social Justice

• Is a political and philosophical theory which asserts that

thee are dimensions in the concept of justice beyond
those embodied in the principles of civil or criminal law,
economic supply and demand, or traditional moral
frameworks.
• Social justice is not possible without strong and coherent
redistributive policies conceived and implemented by public
agencies.
• Social justice requires strong and coherent policies in multitude
of areas. Fiscal, monetary and other economic policies, as well as
social policies, incorporate specific objectives but must be all
geared towards the overall social goals of promoting the welfare
of a country’s citizens and increasingly in this age of global
interdependence, the citizens of the world.