Do Motives Determine If Behavior Is Ethical?

This is an old Zoltar Speaks! blog post.

I once posed the question; Is the perception of behavior what makes the behavior ethical, or is it the motives behind the behavior that makes the behavior ethical, or does it take both?

I have come to a personal realization that only the perception of the behavior is what makes it ethical to those that observe the behavior regardless of the motives; however, even if the perception is that the behavior is ethical the motives, whether ethical or unethical, are what the person conducting the behavior has to live with. Furthermore; if the behavior truly has unethical motives then the truth will eventually be revealed and the perceived character of the person with unethical motives will be forever tarnished in the eyes of those that know the real truth.

I believe it’s Mark Twain that is credited with saying, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”; I think the same general thing can be said about portraying truthful behavior. I really don’t remember where this came from but here it is anyway: natural behavior to an individual will also be recurring behavior, it’s almost impossible to completely conceal one’s innermost character traits; I think I must have pulled that one out from some of my reading of all my Mother’s college psychology books in my teen’s.