ETHICS VOCABULARY FLASHCARDS

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on ethics, morality, and non-moral standards.

MORAL STANDARDS

Principles that guide actions and decisions about what is right or wrong, often based on personal beliefs, cultural values, and religious teachings.

NON-MORAL STANDARDS

Rules unrelated to moral or ethical considerations; guides of etiquette, social norms, and good manners (folkways in sociology).

RULES

A set of guidelines accepted in a community to guide and monitor human interactions.

LAWS

Formal rules with authority that regulate behavior to ensure fairness, safety, and respect; they organize relations among individuals and society.

ETHOS

From Greek origin meaning customs or character; a root concept related to the moral framework guiding a group; connected to the study of morality.

MORALITY

The study of good or evil; what makes actions obligatory or wrongful in moral terms.

ETHICS

A system of moral principles that guides decisions and conduct, shaping what is good for individuals and society.

NORMATIVE ETHICS

The branch that develops moral theories and principles to guide behavior, addressing what is right to do and which virtues apply.

DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS

Describes what people actually do and what they believe is right or wrong; studies moral beliefs and practices.

CONSCIENCE

The inner sense of right and wrong; helps individuals recognize duties and obligations to society.

ACTS OF MAN

Unconscious or involuntary actions carried out without full awareness or free will (e.g., breathing, digestion).

HUMAN ACTS

Actions performed by a person with full knowledge and through free will.

WILLINGNESS, AWARENESS, FREEDOM (W-A-F)

Key components that characterize a human act: voluntary willingness, conscious awareness, and freedom to act.

TELEOLOGY / CONSEQUENTIALISM

Ethical theory judging rightness of an action based on its consequences or end results.

DEONTOLOGY

Ethics based on duty, natural law, virtue, and situational considerations; the end does not justify the means.

NATURAL LAW

The view that moral law is God’s law revealed through reason; the rule to do good and avoid evil, often described as 'written in the hearts of men.'

VIRTUE ETHICS

Morality centered on virtuous character; what a virtuous person would do, attained by actualizing one’s potential toward happiness with balance.

SITUATION ETHICS

The rightness or wrongness of an act depends on the specific situation, allowing exceptions to general rules.

FOLKWAYS

Non-moral social norms that guide everyday behavior; informal rules about etiquette and manners.

DRESS CODE

Dress guidelines used in schools, workplaces, or events; based on social norms rather than moral principles.

ETIQUETTE RULES

Rules governing polite social behavior; important for relationships but not grounded in morality.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Conduct standards for professionals (e.g., doctors, lawyers); essential for quality and public trust, but not necessarily based on moral principles.