ESP Reviewer

ETHICS

• derived from the greek word ethos which is translated to “character”

• is the study of a person's character, emphasizing the decisions they make and how those choices shape who they become.

• understanding, analyzing and distinguishing matters of right and wrong, good and bad

Immorality

• is acting against what ethics declares as wrong.

Amoral

• actions that can normally be judged as moral/immoral but are done with lack of concern for good behavior

Nonmoral

• if moral standards essentially don’t apply to acts

Unethical

• ethics in its negative form

• contrary to admirable traits or the code of conduct

• code of ethics is a set of guidelines or rules that outline the moral principles and standards of behavior expected from members of a particular group, profession, or organization.

TYPES OF ETHICAL INQUIRY

1. Normative Ethics

• “norm” - usual

• prescribes values or actions; determine values, behaviors, and ways of being regarded as right or wrong, good or bad.

• what should be done in different situations, and the qualities individuals should strive to embody.

• example: parents telling their children to sleep early.

2. Meta-ethics

• focuses on understanding the language of morality by analyzing ethically related concepts and theories.

  • language - terms used in morality:

  • Examples include words like justice, honesty, responsibility, fairness, rights, wrongdoing, and virtue.

• addresses questions such as:

  • “When kindness is claimed to be good, are we declaring a fact or merely expressing a feeling?”

  • is the term “good” universal?

3. Descriptive Ethics

• to describe what people think and feel about morality or when they want to describe how people actually behave

• describes how people think about morality and reflects on actual behaviors.

Ethical Theories

Theories - can provide individuals with guidance in moral thinking and reasoning, as well as provide justification for moral actions / guides you in defending or judging moral ground or status

Virtue Ethics

• concerned with the character of a person/what sort of person you want to be rather than focusing solely on duties or consequences.

• not concerned with actions good or bad; virtue must be habitual

    commission : when you do something; “in what I have done”

    omission : when you fail to do something; “in what I have failed to do”

Natural Law Theory

• the idea that moral rules are built into human nature and the world, based on reason, not just laws made by governments or societies.

• known to man through intellect reason; figuring out what is wrong through reasoning

    Basic Principles of Nature Law:

        “Do good and avoid evil” summarized idea by St. Thomas Aquinas. 

1. Preserve life - don’t harm yourself or others

2. Raise a family - reproduce

3. Seek knowledge, truth & justice

4. live in community - relationship

5. Worship God

Deontology

• “the study of duty” is an approach to ethics that is focused on duties and rules.

• Kantian Deontology (by Immanuel Kant) argues that ethical actions stem solely from a sense of duty, disregarding outcomes.

Categorical Imperative

• applied to all/universal

• questions such as “will it be okay if everyone does something”

• examples: will it be okay if everyone if sleeps in class or smokes?

Relativism

• moral standards do not apply to everyone, everyone has their own respective standards; it is subjective

Threat to study of ethics:

• for relativists, morality is not the subject that can be debated (has no place in the study of ethics), they believe moral discussions have no absolute truth because each person or culture has different moral codes

Why is Relativism appealing?

• no science = no knowledge

  • if science cannot deal with the issue, then it is just merely a matter of opinion

• circumstances make a difference

Why is relativism wrong?

• it self contradicts, meaning it claims all moral truths are relative, but that claim itself would have to be absolutely true—making the idea inconsistent.