Definitions

PHIL 12 - ETHICS

 

ethics - the branch of philosophy that tries to determine the good and right thing to do; choices regarding right & wrong, good & evil; questions of obligation and value; {Thiroux: Greek ethos meaning character; in philosophy ethics means the study of morality; 2 approaches: scientific, or descriptive, as used by the social sciences (for example, psychological egoism), and philosophical, which includes the normative, or prescriptive, and metaethics; when used in its ordinary sense, however, ethics, like morality, means the values by which human beings live in relation to other human being, nature, God, and/or themselves}

 

morals - refers to the conduct or rule of conduct by which people live, while ethics refers to the study of moral conduct or of the code that one follows; moral problems are specific while ethical problems are more general and theoretical; {Thiroux: that which is good or right; ethical}

 

nonmoral - describes issues that lie outside the sphere of moral concern; {Thiroux: animals, plants, and inanimate objects are essentially nonmoral}

 

amoral - no moral conscience; {Webster: non-moral}; {Thiroux: indifferent to morality; applies only to human beings; no moral education; not knowing the difference between right and wrong}

 

immoral - {Webster: uninfluenced by moral principle; injustice}; {Thiroux: that which is bad or wrong; unethical}

 

normative - the branch of ethics that makes judgments about obligation and value; attempt to determine precisely what moral standards we should follow so that our actions may be morally right or good; {Thiroux: also known as prescriptive ethics because it is interested in setting up norms or value systems that prescribe how human beings ought to behave; all ethical systems, such as ethical egoism, utilitarianism, and Kant’s Duty Ethics, are normative}

 

applied normative ethics - uses general ethical principles in an attempt to resolve specific moral problems.

 

general normative ethics - is the reasoned search for principles of human conduct, including a critical study of the major theories about which things are good, which acts are right or blameworthy; it attempts to determine precisely what moral standards we should follow so that our actions may be morally right or good; two broad categories are teleological and deontological.

 

consequentialist or teleological - theories maintain that the morality of an action depends on the nonmoral consequences that the action brings about; considers the rao of good to evil; the right action is the one that produces, will probably produce, or is intended to produce at least as great a ratio of good to evil as any other action; {Thiroux: Greek telos meaning end or purpose; examples of consequentialist theories are all forms of ethical egoism and utilitarianism}

 

nonconsequentialist or deontological - theories maintain that the morality of an action depends on factors other than consequences; {Thiroux: Greek loosely meaning "ought"; ethical theories based on some other moral standard, usually considered "higher" than consequences; examples of such theories are Kant’s Duty Ethics and the Divine Command Theory}

 

nonnormative ethics - consists of either (1) a factual investigation of moral behavior or (2) an analysis of the meaning of the terms used in moral discourse and an examination of the moral reasoning by which moral beliefs can be shown to be true or false; consists of 2 fields: scientific descriptive study, and metaethics.

 

ethical absolutism - in ethics, the view that affirms the existence of a single correct and universally applicable moral standard; maintains that this same code applies to everyone, everywhere, and at all times, even though not everyone actually follows it; absolutists do not necessarily claim that their code is the true and valid one ( ? ) {Thiroux: absolute - perfect in quality and complete; not to be doubted or questioned; positive, certain, unconditional; not limited by restrictions or exceptions; term usually applied to beings (for example, God), but most importantly to truth; there are absolute moral truths that we must adhere to and which particular situations, people, or places do not affect}

 

ethical relativism - any view that denies the existence of a single universally applicable moral standard; morality is relative to one’s society; different from cultural relativism which is a sociological fact: research proves the existence of many obviously different and often contradictory moral codes; whatever a society thinks is right is in fact right; {Thiroux: there are no absolutes in morality but rather that morality is relative to particular cultures, groups, or even individuals, and further that everyone must decide his own values and ethics}

 

metaethics - the study of the meanings of ethical words and of the sentences in which they appear; highly technical discipline investigating the meaning of ethical terms, including a critical study of how ethical statements can be verified; important terms: right, obligation, responsibility; metaethicists would be more concerned with the meanings of such words as good or bad than with what things are good or bad; 3 approaches: naturalism, nonnaturalism, emotivism (noncognitivism); {Thiroux: (Greek meaning "beyond or above ethics") in metaethics, also known as analytic ethics, the language and logic of ethics and ethical systems are studied, defined, and discussed, usually without the intent of setting up any kind of alternative ethical systems or of prescribing human behavior, as in normative ethics}

 

naturalism - a view of ethics that rejects supernatural principles and maintains that morality can be explained only in terms of scientifically verifiable concepts; maintains that ethical statements can be translated into nonethical statements.

 

autobiographical naturalism - contends that an ethical statement simply expresses the approval or disapproval of the speaker.

 

sociological naturalism - holds that an ethical statement simply expresses the approval or disapproval of the majority.

 

theological naturalism - claims that an ethical statement expresses divine approval or disapproval.

 

nonnaturalism - the metaethical position that ethical statements defy translation into nonethical language; at least some ethical words can be defined only in terms of other ethical words; words like good, right, and should are so basic in ethics that there are no other words by means of which to define them; nonnaturalists hold that naturalistic translations are like trying to define hour in other than temporal terms, or inch in other than spatial terms; come close to asserting that ethical statements cannot be verified, that they cannot be determined true or false.

 

emotivism or noncognitivism - claims that ethical statements are used to evoke a predetermined response or to encourage a predetermined behavior; the metaethical position that ethical statements primarily express surprise, shock, or some other emotion, and are used to make someone feel or behave in a certain way; the essential difference between autobiographical naturalism and emotivism is that the former holds that ethical statements are subjective and verifiable, while the latter believes that they are subjective but not verifiable; {Thiroux: cognitive - that aspect of human beings that involves rationality and reason; emotive theory holds that morality is not based on reason; intuitionism}

 

intuitionism - {Thiroux: morality based on feelings or emotions rather than on reason or rules; also known as subjectivism; act nonconsequentialism is the best example}

 

egoism - a consequentialist ethical theory which contends that we act morally when we act in a way that promotes our own best long-term interests; {Thiroux: theory concerned with self-interest}

 

hedonism - the view that pleasure is intrinsically worthwhile and is the human’s good; many egoists are hedonistic; {Thiroux: that an action is moral if it brings the greatest amount of pleasure or happiness with the least amount of pain or unhappiness; a basic tenet of Epicurus (egoism) and Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill (utilitarianism)}

 

psychological egoism - {Thiroux: exemplifies the scientific, or descriptive, approach to morality, describing how human beings are thought to behave}

 

strong psychological egoism - {Thiroux: states that human beings always act in their own self-interest}

 

weak psychological egoism - {Thiroux: states that human beings often act in their own self-interest}

 

ethical egoism - {Thiroux: differs from psychological egoism in that it exemplifies the philosophical-normative approach to ethics}

 

individual ethical egoism - {Thiroux: says, "Everyone ought to act in my self-interest."}

 

personal ethical egoism - {Thiroux: says, "I ought to act in my own self-interest but I make no claim concerning what others should do."

 

universal ethical egoism - {Thiroux: says, everyone ought to act in his own self-interest}