Lecture 5 : Ethics Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is ethics?
A set of fundamental moral principles that guide human behavior
What is the Greek origin of the term ‘ethics’?
The Greek word ethos, meaning customary practices, habitual tendencies, personal character, and inherent disposition
What are some key ethics dilemmas?
- How to live a good life
- Our rights and responsibilities
- The language of right and wrong
- Moral decisions: What is good and what is bad?
What are the four areas of ethics according to modern philosophers?
- Meta-ethics
- Normative ethics
- Applied ethics
- Virtue ethics
What does meta-ethics study?
Examines fundamental nature of moral concepts and their validaty
The origins and semantics of our moral values, language, and principles
eg : “rape is immoral “ - examines if true or not
eg : philosphy behind cooking
What is the focus of normative ethics?
Examining the ethical principles that govern appropriate and inappropriate behavior
assessing the beliefs of people, and how this affects their behaviour
What is consequentialism?
An ethical theory where the morality of an act depends on its consequences
Choose option with most favourable outcome,
eg : you lie at a police officer to save an innocent person, so innocent person does not go to jail
What is utilitarianism?
A form of consequentialism where an act is morally right if it maximizes the good
the right action produces the greatest type of happiness for the greatest amount of people
school or hospital ? - utilarist would choose hospital
What does classical utilitarianism consider as intrinsic good and bad?
- Pleasure is the only intrinsic good
- Pain is the only intrinsic bad
What is deontology?
Assesses the morality of acts based on their adherence to rules, regardless of consequences/outcome
eg : the bible says “do not lie”, but you pass an exam cause you lied. the end is not justified, because it does follow an ethical rule.
What is the focus of applied ethics?
Utilizing philosophical methodologies to scrutinize controversial issues and offer pragmatic resolutions to ethical dilemmas
What does virtue ethics involve?
Theoretical inquiries regarding the concepts of value and goodness in various forms
What is moral absolutism?
The belief that there are universal moral rules that apply to everyone, regardless of circumstances
What is moral relativism?
The belief that moral standards are shaped by cultural or societal factors, considering time and space
Morals are not universal, but relative to particular socities and culture
so if canablism is moral for one sococity its considered right according to moral relativism
Fill in the blank: Meta-ethics focuses on the _______ of our moral values.
origins and semantics
True or False: Deontology evaluates the morality of actions based on their consequences.
False
What is a key characteristic of virtue ethics?
It assesses the worth of entities such as people, concepts, or items
