Consciousness cannot be defined. However, it can be qualified as eternal, immortal, and infinite from the biological perspective. From an ethical standpoint, consciousness is broadly thought to be necessary. For instance, there is one uncontroversial fact in ethics that pleasure is intrinsically good and pain is inherently bad, a fact that is dependent on consciousness (Mukhopadhyay, 2017). This is because one can only experience pain or pleasure when under the capacity of consciousness. Besides, everyone with the capacity for awareness has moral standing. Besides, some researchers define self-awareness as the consciousness of what one is good at while also acknowledging one's weaknesses. This makes leaders seek a second opinion in the things they are not sure about. They appreciate that while they may be good at what they do, they still have a lot to learn from others.
Implications in Issues Related to Ethics
Consciousness matters in a way that central topics in political philosophy and ethics matter. Since it confers value to those who possess it, it should be a central topic in ethics. In applied and normative ethics, consciousness or its lack is always invoked in discussions. Ethical issues arise at the beginning and at the end of life and are often held on whether the organism is conscious (Levy, 2014). For example, the moral value of a fetus is held to be greater when it is conscious than when it is not yet conscious. Therefore, in discussions about permissibility abortion, this extra value must be taken into account.
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Moreover, consciousness is applied in ethics in that when the question about permissibility for the pursuit of further treatment or switching off life support for those near the end of life arises, the presence or absence of consciousness is held to make a difference. For instance, in cases of traumatic brain injury, the patient may enter a vegetative state where he is unresponsive to any stimuli even after waking from coma. These stimuli could include touch, their name, and sometimes are even unable to recognize their external environment despite them being awake. If this situation of “unconsciousness” persists for more than three weeks, the chances for meaningful recovery are low (Levy, 2014). However, there are new technologies that will allow professionals to measure consciousness more correctly to avoid misdiagnosis for ethical purposes.
Implications in Issues Related to Social Responsibility
Self-deception may happen when one is forced to avoid a change of behavior. Hence, self-consciousness can be said to deal more productively and ethically with themselves, their peers, and the world they interact with. Besides, consciousness enables leaders to fulfill a duty to themselves by acknowledging how vulnerable they can be when they are unable or are unwilling to address the incongruity in their lives.
As a result, people lose the sense of seeing things, themselves, others, and the world more realistically hence missing a lot. Besides, when things go wrong, it is easier to blame others than to think of the problem as originating within ourselves. People feel sorry for themselves, leading to deterioration rather than problem-solving. This happens mainly when the downturn follows a period of denial and comes as a surprise for the involved party.
Self-awareness enables leaders to acknowledge when they do not know something and seek others' opinions (Mukhopadhyay, 2017). Besides, it allows them to take responsibility for the things they don't know, and for the things they do wrong. This is because self-conscious leaders acknowledge and own-up to their mistakes instead of blaming it on others. As a result, they benefit the organization by succeeding more in their social responsibility role compared to leaders who think that they know everything. Also, since on is aware of his or her weaknesses, it can increase credibility among people, thus boosting the effectiveness of their leadership.
Implications in Diversity
Consciousness allow individuals to be involved in the society since every individual has the same rights to be involved and to articulate themselves. Moreover, consciousness allows for respect and acceptance and hence diversity. Moreover, people who are conscious understand that people have individual differences and that each person is unique. This can be based on gender, ethnicity, race, religious believes, sexual orientation, age, political believes, socioeconomic status or other ideologies. Therefore, with this understanding, consciousness allows individuals to embrace, move beyond tolerance and celebrate the rich dimensions of diversity that can be seen in each individual.
Implications in Issues Related to Justice
Also, conscious leaders stand up for what they believe in to ensure social justice. They acknowledge that while this can be a challenging and dangerous path to follow, it is their social responsibility as leaders to ensure social justice, especially within their jurisdiction. This is because self-conscious leaders have a wider social aspiration compared to their unconscious leaders. Also, consciousness allows leaders to acknowledge what is appropriate for a situation and what is wrong. Hence, making it easier to stand against and discriminate against the wrong in society. The benefits are more significant within the framework of an organization since it reduces various aspects of crimes, social injustices, and unethicality.
When a leader is self-aware, he can be perceptively in tune with his emotions and have a sound-situational awareness. Thus, it is a powerful tool for leadership. As a result, consciousness allows leaders to develop a more exceptional El as it makes them more cognizant of their biases, emotions, and actions (Mukhopadhyay, 2017). There are also ethical duties to one’s self as implications of consciousness. For instance, one may deny responsibility to himself or herself through self-deception.
References
Levy, N. (2014). The value of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies , 21 (1-2), 127-138.
Mukhopadhyay, A. K. (2017). Cracking the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
