Ethics
Ethics
Ethics
Ethics
branch of philosophy
systematic questioning
and critical examination
of the underlying
principles of morality
2 General
Approaches of Ethics
Normative ethics
- to give an answer to the
question
Meta-ethics
- beyond the concepts
According to Sumner
Notion of what is right
is known as “folkway”
From these folkways,
emerge the mores
According to Sumner
2 factors of Emergence
of Morality: the point of
view of the society
together its customs,
social rules and sanctions
According to Sumner
2. The individual has
unconsciously developed
habits to follow social
norms established by
society
FREEDOM
Assumes thatone is a free
moral agent
According to John Mothershead
2 necessary conditions for
morality to occur
1.Freedom – taking full
2 necessary conditions
for morality to occur
2. Obligation –
construed one’s duty to
himself to exercise this
freedom as a rational
moral being
CONDUCT
refers to deliberate
human action
Pre-reflective morality
attributed to animals
According to John
Mothershead
Only humans are moral
in so far as a human
person capable of
deliberate human action.
Value Experience
of our
side-taking part
experience
Accdg. to Mothershead, a
value can become a moral
values if they become
unlimited priorities in their
scope of relevance in life
MORAL DECISION
most important class
of moral judgments
because it has refe-
rence to the judge’s
own future action
Deontological Ethics or
reasoning
Is ethics based on
duty
Greek word DEIN
means DUTY
Deontological Ethics or
reasoning
Recognizes that there are
moral principles that we
follow which we consider
as universally correct and
should be applicable to all
humanity
Deontological Ethics or
reasoning
This fundamental
moral principle is known
as the “Categorical
Imperative” or the law of
morality
Teleology
“Telos” = END, GOAL,
PURPOSE
Teleologist believes that
the end or goal or purpose
of an action must be based
on its consequences
Teleology
DICTUM is the most
common form of
consequentialism
Dictum – the end justifies
the means
As against Deontological
ethics which looks at the
nature or intrinsic value of
the act itself, teleological or
consequentialist ethics aims
to examine the instrumental
value of the act or its
consequences or purpose
Approaches to Moral
Reasoning
Common mistakes in
moral reasoning:
a.Failure to recognize
the vagueness of
moral concepts
Approaches to Moral
Reasoning
Common mistakes in moral reasoning:
f. rationalization
g. dismissal of a moral
position on the basis of
their origin
One should be wary
of them in order to
avoid committing
these mistakes in
proposing a moral
argument