Decency Ethics

“When the norm is decency, other virtues can thrive: integrity, honesty, compassion, kindness, and trust.” - Raja Krishnamoorthi, US House of Representatives

Most people don’t sit around dwelling on the various schools of ethics. That is unless you’re a philosophy nut like me. However, I think that we owe it to ourselves and society to ponder ethics and how to make ethical decisions.

I’ve always liked situational ethics. It’s practical. The right tool for the right job. However, the problem with situational ethics is that it lacks a guide to help us determine the right tool.

In his book A Decent Life: Morality for the Rest of Us, the philosopher Todd May proposes a framework for ethical behavior. His proposal fills in the gap needed to make situational ethics work. He calls this framework “decency ethics.”

According to May, the goal should be to live a “decent life.” A decent life acknowledges and acts upon the fact that all of us have lives we’re trying to live. I have my life, and you have yours. It strikes a balance between the needs of others and oneself.

I highly recommend A Decent Life: Morality for the Rest of Us by Todd May. You can also learn more about decency ethics and the others schools of thought in my book, The Philosophy of Dark Paganism.