Week 1 - Introduction to Ethics

Legal

Whether an action complies with the law or not.

Ethical

Actions used to accomplish a moral, e.g. therapy.

Moral

Ends or goals people are aiming towards. These could be considered good or bad.

A Priori

What about an action affects the moral or ethical status. These are considered before the context of a situation. Some examples include Deontology and Natural Law.

A Posteriori

When the contextualization impacts the moral or ethical status of an action. Typically, these actions are neutral on the own. One example of this is lying could be used for either good or bad reasonings. Utility falls under this classification.

Agent Relative

When a relationship is concerned with an action. Some examples include Deontology and Utility.

Agent Neutral

When a relationship is not concerned with an action or duty. One example of this is Virtue.

Metaethics

Asks the question, “can we possess ethical knowledge?“ or “is it possible for us to know right and wrong?“

Metaethical Motivivism

An emotional response to a statement. Some argue that knowledge is not possible with this idea. In contrast, this can be thought as having a moral compass.

Metaethical Relativism

The idea that moral or ethical knowledge is impossible. Also, spreads the idea that opinions cannot be fully justified alone, due to the nature of misinformation or bias.

Temporal Relativism

Ideas are prone to change as time goes on (“as time is changing, we are changing our ideas and beliefs“).

Objective Relativism

This is considered at ethical realism. This has the idea of that “it is possible for humans to know right from wrong.“

Psychological Egoism

The tendency for an individual to do thing for their own self-interest.

Philosophical Egoism

We ought to only to do things for ourselves. This often leads to the unethical idea of doing anything it takes to be achieve our own self interests.

Psychological Altruism

The tendency to gravitate towards people with shared interests.

Innate Altruism

The tendency to show more compassion to other people who show similar characteristics or interests as you (in-group). This concerns with group health and benefit.

Formal Norm

The overarching principle on what to do and what not to do. This is considered to be a very general idea and is not useful on its own.

Material Norm

Gives guidance on what rules to follow based on previous context.

Teleological Theory

This asks the question of “Why are we doing what we are doing?” and “What goals are we trying to obtain?”