Common Ethical Theories and Ethics

Ethics, also called moral philosophy, the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles.

Ethics deals with questions like;  "How should we live?", "Shall we aim at happiness or at knowledge, virtue or the creation of beautiful objects?", "If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all?", "Is it right to be dishonest in a good cause?". Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong (Encyclopedia Britannica)Links to an external site..

The study of ethics dates back to ancient Greek times through the philosopher Socrates, who believed that the chief aim of education and philosophy is the pursuit of and love of the good itself, rather than any particular good thing. Through the years, many philosophers have introduced different ethical theories.

Ethical Theories

We can think of ethical theory as a decision model. The critical element in morality is the need to make decisions regarding fairly difficult issues. What we need is a well reasoned method for taking the facts and making the best decision we can in terms of our moral principles. This often involves the process of judgment. An ethical theory should provide guidance, by pointing the way on questions where we don’t have clear rules already.

Before we introduce common ethical theories, it is important to understand what they have in common, these are:

• They identify what it means to do the right thing.

• They assume that people have free choice to make their own rational decisions.

• Their goal is to generally contribute to the well-being of humanity.

• They distinguish obligations and responsibilities from choice and personal preference.

I. Relativism

Relativism is the theory that there is no universal moral norm of right and wrong. According to this theory different individuals or groups of people can have completely opposite views or  moral problem, and both can be right. It suggests that different environment spawn different ethics. Two particular kind of relativism are subjective relativism and cultural relativism.

I.1 Subjective Relativism holds that each person decides right and wrong for himself/herself. This notion is captured in the popular expression “What’s right for you may not right for me.” e.g. Reproductive Health Bill

Case Against Subjective Relativism

• Well-meaning and intelligent people disagree on moral issues (e.g. taxation and wealth disparity)

  • Ethical debates are disagreeable and often leads nowhere.

  • People are good at rationalizing bad behavior.

  • No moral distinction between actions.

I.2  Cultural Relativism is the ethical theory that the meaning of “right” and “wrong” rests with a society’s actual moral guidelines. These guidelines vary widely from place to place and from time to time.  Particular action may be wrong in a society at one time and wrong in another society or in another time. e.g.  Capital punishment

Case Against Cultural Relativism

• It doesn't explain how moral guidelines are determined.

  • Cultural norms may not be accepted across the board.

  • It provides no way out for cultures in conflict.

  • Existence of many acceptable practices does not imply all practices are acceptable.

  • Just because two societies do have different moral views , doesn't mean they ought to have different views.

II. Divine Command Theory

The divine command theory is based on the idea that good actions are those aligned with the will of God and bad actions are those contrary to the will of God. Since the Holy Book contains God’s directions, we can use the Holy Book as moral decision-making guides. Fundamentalists are more likely to consider Holy Book authentic and authoritative. Most sects within these religious traditions augment Holy Books with other sources when developing their moral codes.

The divine command theory is based on obedience, not reason. If good means “willed by God,” and if religious texts contains everything we need to know about what God wills, then there is no room left for collecting and analyzing facts. Hence, the divine command theory is not based on reaching sound conclusions from premises through logical reasoning. There is no need for a person to question a commandment. The instruction is right because it is commanded by God, period. We cannot question the sovereignty of God.

Case Against Divine Theory

• Base on obedience not reason.

  • Society is multicultural and secular.

  • Different Holy books disagree.

  • Some moral problems are not addressed in the scriptures

III. Consequentialism

“The end will justify the means.”  In consequentialism, the consequence of an action justifies the moral acceptability of the means taken to reach that end. It is the consequence of an action which determines whether or not the action is moral. The results of the action prevail over any other consideration. It holds that evaluating results, is more important than evaluating the actions. Thus rightness or wrongness of actions is definable in terms of the goodness or badness of the result.

III.1 Ethical egoism is the philosophy that each person should focus exclusively on his or her self interest. In other words, according to ethical egoism, the morally right action for a person to take in a particular situation is the action that will provide that person with the maximum long-term benefit.

Ethical egoism does not prohibit acting to help someone else, but assisting another is the right thing to do if and only if it is the helper’s own long-term best interest.

Can you think of acts which will NOT benefit the doers? You may say:

1. If there is only one bread for a mother and her child, the mother may deprive herself of the bread and allows her child to consume the bread;

   • The father will always work overtime just to provide the needs of his family;

   • One of the siblings may volunteer to stop studying so that his other siblings may continue studying because their parents cannot afford to send them to school simultaneously.

III.2 Utilitarianism is the philosophy that the right action is the one that produces the most intrinsic good for everyone affected. It believes in "the greatest happiness for the greatest number". Utility equates to happiness, which depending on the context may mean an advantage, a benefit, good, pleasure or profit. The principle of utility is known as the Greatest Happiness Principle.

Critique of Utilitarianism

• Could result in harming some for the sake of the majority.

  • Adding up consequences requires that we calculate them all in the same units of measurement.

  • Ignores innate sense of duty.