Ethics: Applied vs. Normative and Key Theories

Autonomy

Free self-direction; responsibility

Beautiful

The state of what God gave us, and is an adjective that is different for and on everyone

Conceptual Framework of Action - Y.A

The conceptual framework of action is a framework designed to understand human actions. The agent is the one who performs the action. The action is what the agent does. The motive is the reason as to why the agent did the action. The action is affected by the method used by the agent to perform the action, with or against whom the action was made, and the context and outcome of that action.

Deontological Ethics

One of Immanuel Kant's three branches of normative ethics that emphasizes the duty that we have to act in a way that makes society better (for the good of others). There are three areas of interest: God, Freedom and Immorality.

Desire

A commitment to action. A strong feeling of wanting to have something

Determinism

Your actions can be explained by what you have undergone at the hands of others. You are not free because you are the product of what others have done to you.

Duty

Suggests that we should only act in ways that we would want everyone else in the same situation to act

Empiricism

A theory that says knowledge comes from experience, or from evidence that can be perceived by the senses

Ethics

The 'goodness' of human life.

Freedom

Is the human potential, power to act, and capacity to choose

Free Will

You can't see 'free will', can't hear it or touch it. One of St. Augustine's saying about free will.

Good

The good is infinite and cannot be confined or measured by a definable quantity.

Infinite

Never ending & never starting; boundless endless something that cannot be counted, measured by a definable quantity

Intention

That which motivates someone to act values. The reason for doing something that appears, at least to the individual, as a good

Logical Positivism

Logical positivists believed physics were the only real science, and had trouble with the premise of 'free will' because you can't see, hear, or touch it

Motive

A motive is a reason for an action.

Morality

The good that humans can attain such as rules, laws, or commandments which we experience as a duty or obligation to follow

Naturalism

A belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are excluded or discounted

Objective

Recognition and acceptance of the fact that sensory experience represents reality, facts, data that are outside the self. These exist independently from individual thought and are perceptible by all observers.

Obligation

Obligation is the feeling of being obliged to obey a rule/law. That connects to your personal ethical view. Something obligates you to do something.

Passion

Feelings, desires or emotions.

Predestination

Predestination is God's influence on events and actions, eliminating human freedom and ethics as independent factors.

Providence

God's influence upon events and actions (the belief that God saves can only be maintained if you believe that He can achieve the salvation of the world)

Response

The urge to not think, but to act. It is a deeply felt, almost automatic, claim made upon you to do something.

Responsibility

Being morally accountable for one's actions. Responsibility presumes knowledge, freedom, and the ability to choose and to act.

Revelation

The ways that God makes Himself known to humankind.

Subjective

Relating to a person's own perception and understanding of a reality; arising from the individual's own mind, feelings, perceptions.

Teleological Ethics

The study of goals, ends purposes and destinies.

Applied Ethics

Known as practical ethics, is the application of ethics to real-world problems.

Normative Ethics

Deals with the THEORY behind the decision-making.

Deontology

Focuses on the intention behind actions.

Virtue Ethics

Focuses on the principle/character of the actor/doer.

Consequentialism

Focuses on the outcome of actions.

Kant's Theory

Moral duty and obligation is an expression of the good will.

God (Kant)

Humans cannot out of their own power achieve supreme good; God exists to allow us to achieve the supreme good.

Freedom (Kant)

To have the duty to do something, we MUST be able to do it & to choose to do it.

Immortality (Kant)

Achieving the supreme good is an immense task, impossible to obtain completely in this life.

Aristotle's Theory

Happiness is the main idea of the good life.

Teleo

Means to perform; to complete; to fulfill.

Bentham's Consequentialism

An ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are.

Utilitarianism

Judges consequences by a 'greatest good for the greatest number' standard.

The Scream! - PERSONAL RESPONSE

An automatic reaction/response, not a decision that someone makes.

The Beggar -

All face-to-face encounters are ethical because they remind us of our responsibility for the other.

I have To

Your ethical side urges something in you to follow the law, or do what is considered the right thing to do.

This is Intolerable?

Contrasts terrible events with what you expect from your fellow humans, leading to losing faith in humanity.

Levinas Theory

The ethical impact of the face of the other is a trace of the Good, or God.

Made Responsible by the Face (Levinas)

The face makes you responsible by making you aware that you are not as innocent as you thought you were.