The Ethical issues in the world today Have succeeded in successfully crossing different barriers and becoming more and more present in social spaces such as family nuclei and schools, even to break into the major spheres of politics and the global economy.
With the emergence of new technologies, the advance of science and the constant trend towards consumerism and obtaining material wealth, man has gradually lost his personal, work and above all social ethics.
The way people act with themselves and with those around them, as well as their rights and responsibilities reflect today a great lack of moral conscience.
Ethics encompasses a set of principles, values and beliefs of a moral nature that each human being contains within them and which are responsible for determining their course of action in the different domains of their daily life.
It is ethics that little unconscious voice that points out what is right and wrong and defines each individual how to live a good life.
However, despite the existence of an ethical code of conduct, today there are innumerable many ethical problems presented by global society.
Whether in the personal, academic, political, economic, health, technological and even environmental, ethical problems continue to emerge with great force and the list below is a clear reflection of this.
Main ethical issues around the world
Existence of diverse cultural and moral systems
Commonly called the problem of cultural relativism, it mentions how ethical principles vary from one culture to another.
One of the main ethical problems is that there is no single definition as to what is ethical for each culture.
Just as some societies tend to venerate multiple gods, practice polygamy, and do not consume some animals because they are considered sacred, Western beliefs, for example, have a different perspective of perceiving the world.
Globalization of poverty
The advance of new technologies and globalization have managed to connect to the world as never before, however, they have increased social inequalities and concentrated wealth in the hands of a small part of the population.
Hence, while some have elevated levels of quality of life, others still suffer from basic deficiencies such as lack of potable water, hunger and education.
Today, half the world's population, about 3 billion people, live on less than $ 2.50 a day, while about 22,000 children die daily in situations of extreme poverty, as the United Nations Children's Fund.
Inequality in access to health care
As mentioned by the World Health Organization, every human being should have the right to enjoy the highest level of health that can be achieved and have an environment that allows him to take care of himself physically and mentally.
Hence, inequality in access to health care is seen as a major ethical problem.
According to the Legatum Prosperity Index, the world's best healthcare systems are in Canada, Qatar, France, Norway, New Zealand, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong, Sweden, Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg.
What about the rest? Undoubtedly, lack equity and social justice.
Absence of political freedoms
Although democracy has managed to impose itself as the best system of government at the global level, today many citizens lack freedom of expression and association, security and access to quality public institutions.
In the same way that many governments continue to carry out corrupt practices regardless of the serious ethical and economic consequences that this entails for their citizens.
The latest case of more recent corruption has been reflected in Brazil where bribes, money laundering, thousands of unemployed people and protests testify to the growing lack of ethics in politics.
However, the International Transparency Index of 2016 showed that only Denmark and the United Kingdom, and Uruguay and Chile in Latin America achieved excellent results.
Increase in terrorism and wars
Attempting against the lives of others justifying this continues to be the fundamental premise of terrorist groups and some politicians, where the former base their actions on religious principles, and the latter in the pursuit of global security.
However, hundreds of thousands of citizens continue to be victims of such practices and attacks. The constant loss of civilians has become a serious ethical problem today.
Permanence of the ecological crisis
As Hutt (2016) points out, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 80% since the 1970s, just as atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are higher than ever in history.
This crisis points to the great lack of environmental ethics that citizens currently possess, since all the problems that present the planet today such as pollution, global warming, acid rain, deforestation and the greenhouse effect have been caused by the lifestyle controlling.
The ecological crisis is more latent today than ever, and an ethical conscience that seeks to contribute positively with the environment is necessary.
Discrimination
While much has been achieved in the area of human rights, racism, sexism and xenophobia are still present in society.
Rejection on the basis of race, identity or culture, as well as discrimination based on the preference of certain sexual orientations, or hatred of foreigners, continue to be important ethical problems today.
The refugee crisis in Europe is a good example of this, where the principle of humanitarian assistance has been set aside and ethical principles have been left behind with only national security privileged.
Animal cruelty
Today, despite the long road that the organizations that protect animal rights have traveled, much remains to be done.
Hundreds of animals are used every year for scientific, military and sexual experiments, with most animals being slaughtered or injured.
Although zero-cruelty campaigns have achieved great success, many companies continue to use defenseless animals in inhuman tests.
Ethics and respect for the life of every being, is still an ethical problem that not everyone sees with great relevance.
Bioethics attacks
Although there is already a whole branch of study that analyzes the ethical and moral perspective of medicine and biology, in vitro fertilization and genetic manipulation constitute serious ethical problems today.
The search for the perfect human being and the alteration of their genes with the aim of improving the human species by modifying the genetic heritage of a living being has been seen as a crime against human dignity.
Equally issues such as abortion, birth control or the right to euthanasia are great ethical dilemmas that as science advances more are questioned.
Growing use of artificial intelligence
Technology has managed to open new horizons, just as it has connected thousands of people breaking the border barriers of space.
However, the use of robotics and the incorporation of machines in industries and companies is increasingly being observed in order to make production effective, a fact that is generating job losses and valuable human capital.
The growing use of artificial intelligence is seen as a major ethical problem as the human being has passed into the background and millions of jobs will be lost.
References
- (2014). Ethics: a general introduction. Retrieved on July 6, 2017 from bbc.co.uk
- (2016). The countries that improved the most and made worse in terms of corruption according to Transparency International. Retrieved on July 6, 2017 from bbc.com
- Bossmann, J. (2016). Top 9 ethical issues in artificial intelligence. Retrieved 7 July 2017 from World Economic Forum weforum.org
- Brown, D. (2017). The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Issues. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on July 7, 2017 from amacad.org
- Hutt, R. (2016). What are the 10 biggest global challenges? Retrieved 7 July 2017 from World Economic Forum weforum.org
- Muñoz, A. (2017). These are the best sanitary systems in the world . Retrieved on July 7, 2017 from ticbeat.com
- World Health Organization. (2015). Health and human rights. Retrieved on July 7, 2017 from who.int
- Shah, A. (2013). Poverty Facts and Stats. Retrieved on July 7, 2017 from globalissues.org
- Tepedino, N. (2017). What is ethics? An answer for the classroom. Retrieved on July 6, 2017 from generals.usb.ve
- The Ethics Center. (2017). What is ethics? Retrieved on July 6, 2017 from ethics.org.au
- The Millennium Project. (2009). Global Challenges for Humanity. Retrieved July 7, 2017 from millennium-project.org
- World Health Organization. (2017). Global Health Ethics. Retrieved on July 7, 2017 from who.int.