Is there a someplace I can get free ethical advice? (other than church)?

Question

Just advice on stuff like what is the most decent thing, or courgeous thing, or fair thing is.

Answer 1

There are certain times in life when we have the liberty and desire to question who we are and how we should behave.  Sometimes how we find the answers is just as important as what we decide, because the questions may change but the process we learn is often repeated.  People are always looking for some kind of answers and there are some who just like to give advice.  Just look at the popularity of this forum.  

There is an adage that "free advice is worth what you pay for it."  The answers here are also not guaranteed to be either correct or accurate.  That is pretty much true with all that we see and hear.   The ancient Greeks had a series of "arguments."  These were basically traps we commonly fall into when deciding things.   One is the argument of authority.  We tend to believe things because an authority says its so.  Think of all the sports figures selling ...everything.  Another is the "argument of the masses"  This says that we believe things that everyone else believes.   Think of the latest fad.  

But it is difficult and dangerous to try and carefully consider every single thing we do.  Some things you will accept on faith while you ponder others.  To help along the way there many sources of aid.  Growing up I can specifically think of 5 mentors who helped me with different things at different times during my teens and early 20's.  Even now I enjoy listening to an opinionated neighbor who speaks with a thick accent and has been retired for many years. I think he has a "good heart."  Besides being a good listener being a good judge of character will help you decide who to listen to.

There are many systems of "ethical conduct" taught for many different trades and professions.  Lawyers are admonished to avoid the "appearance of impropriety" If it looks bad don't do it may be interpreted by some as "don't let anybody who counts see you doing anything bad."  Ethics can be a very tricky subject.

"The Church" has many beliefs and there is more than one church.  Christians have a belief that says you should "turn the other cheek."  Siek philosophy may be to "not turn the other cheek." (Turban's plus sword carrying Hindus)

Other than religious beliefs some have a "philosophy."  You can read philosophy or you can read novels where you will find heroic characters trying to resist pressures dashing against them while others look for an excuse to follow temptation.  Meanwhile you will consider what you would do in the same situation.  

In the end result it is you who will make the decisions.  The person who will listen thoughtfully to your story and point out what you might be missing while allowing you to come to the decisions that feel right in your heart will be doing you the greatest service.  Religions can be less forgiving and more demanding but they often have a very long experience.  Books and philosophy can give many ideas and examples but like life itself it takes time.  

Good luck on your quest.  Try to keep your eyes open for as long as you can .

Answer 2

I'm not one to brag, but, I am a deep person.

Anytime you want to ask me any questions my friend, just  E Mail me.

codyscall @ ymail . com

without spaces.

Or IM me

Answer 3

You could read biographies of people you admire and follow their examples. If you have a library card, that's free.

You could ask here, but we're amateurs and some of us lie.

The Religion and Spirituality sub-category is very active.

Here's a short essay on courage I wrote for 4th graders.

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Sometime in the 1920's, under a bullring in Spain, a matador starts to put on his suit of lights. He will spend the afternoon matching his strength, skill and intelligence against a fighting bull. In the stands of the ring sits a writer, who will later define courage as "grace under pressure".

Sometime in the 1850's, in a lighthouse on a small island off the coast of Maine, a ten-year old girl named Miranda puts on her sweater. Her father has gone to the mainland for supplies, her mother is sick, and there is no one else to clean the lamps and scrape the ice from the lighthouse windows.

One of her grandchildren will grow up to write about her adventure. ("The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter", by Arielle North Olson, illustrated by Elaine Wentworth. At last report, it was out of print, but the Stanislaus Free Library had a copy.) This lady author doesn't come out and say so, but her idea of courage is doing what has to be done, even though you are afraid, or know it will hurt, or don't want to do it.

(Since this story is about courage, consider the child's father.  What do you do if your family is running out of food, there are 30-foot waves and all you have is a 16-foot boat? Miranda's father pointed the boat into the wind and started rowing.)

The matador knows someone crippled the bull by carefully cutting its neck tendons, so it cannot raise its head too far. If the bull does manage to gore the matador, there is an ambulance under the stands, which will race him to the finest hospital in Madrid. The matador earns roughly twice what a popular movie star does for his job. He knows that if he does not go out into the ring, all of his fans will be very disappointed. They have paid good money to watch him perform.

Miranda knows no one has crippled the storm. It has had most of the North Atlantic Ocean to get a running start, and it will not blow out for days. She will have to cling to the catwalk rail at the top of the lighthouse to scrape the ice from the windows. If the storm blows her off the catwalk she will fall a hundred feet onto rocks. The waves will sweep her body into an unmarked grave in a thousand miles of cold blue water.

She knows that during the previous winter, when a lighthouse just down the coast went unlit for a night, two ships crashed on the rocks and sank, one with a hundred passengers.

The matador fights his bull; he is magnificent in the warm afternoon sun, strong yet graceful, now pirouetting, now standing still, his cape making graceful circles over the confused bull's head. When the moment of truth comes, he kills the bull quickly and cleanly. The whole crowd cheers wildly.

Miranda isn't particularly graceful. She wipes her nose on her sleeve as she works, and shivers, partly from fear, partly from cold. Her hands - the one clinging to the icy rail and the one scraping the ice from the windows - are cold and numb. She thinks of giving up, and she thinks of the people in ships who depend on her lighthouse. She keeps working. When she finishes, and the strong yellow light leaps out, warning everyone of the danger, she goes downstairs. Her mother thanks her, calling her "My brave little girl".

Answer 4

In psychology and ethics

Answer 5

I'm not sure.

If you're still in high school you can take a class in it for free....

As long as they offer it at your school.

Otherwise, I don't know.

Try this website:

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/dec...