Ethics Position Questionnaire

The EPQ measures two dimensions of moral thought: idealism and relativism...

Individuals who have high scores on the idealism scale express a fundamental concern for the welfare of others, and those who have high scores on the relativism scale reject the importance of such universal ethical rules as "Thou shalt not lie." When these two dimensions are dichotomized and crossed, they yield a 2 X 2 classification system.

Situationists emphasized risks relative to benefits and the potential for subject harm. Absolutists based their judgments on the costs created for participating subjects and the riskiness of the procedures. Subjectivists' judgments were associated with the harmfulness, legitimacy, and invasiveness of the procedures. Exceptionists emphasized the consequentiality of the research, as well as scientific legitimacy, magnitude of costs, and deception.

Via Reason's Ronald Bailey. I scored 43 on the Idealism scale and 68 on the Relativism scale; even as I answered the questions I felt pretty wishy-washy. That makes me an Exceptionist, who retains moral rules to guide judgments, but remains open to exceptions to these rules.