Test Your Reading
Was the basis of the reading focused on environmental ethics? True or False?
TRUE
Can these theories satisfy every situation?
No.
Focuses on establishing moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct
Normative Ethics
The best action is the one that produces the greatest overall happiness or benefit for the most people.
Utilitarianism
You should always act for what benefits you the most.
Ethical egoism
The ethical theories in the reading were mainly metaethics? True or False?
FALSE, it was normative
Name a subfield of ethics.
business ethics
medical ethics
environmental ethics
theological ethics
A researcher surveys 500 college students about whether using AI on homework is acceptable and reports the results without judging them.
Descriptive Ethics
Some immoral actions are morally permissible depending on the situation
Duty Ethics
"Abortion is murder" is just as correct as "abortion isn't murder."
Moral subjectivism
Give a reason ethical egoism is a skeptic is wrong.
- No one person's reason should trump everyone else's.
- Conflicts would be unresolvable
- Justifies crimes like murder and burglary
- Issues would become far worse
Name 1 reason learning about ethical theories benefits us
1. Applied ethics in debates
2. Knowing these theories can provide a framework for natural moral thinking
3. We can reflect more deeply about complicated moral issues
This type of ethics asks questions like, “What do we really mean when we say something is morally ‘wrong’?”
Metaethics
You ask yourself, "what kind of person do I want to be"?
Virtue ethics
"Cannibalism is okay in that part of the world because it is part of their culture."
Moral relativism
What are the other names for duty ethics?
"Kantian ethics" or "deontological ethics"
What is philosophy, and why does it apply to ethics?
The attempt to ask and answer fundamental questions about life, value, meaning, and other important issues. Ethics is a branch of philosophy.
Someone argues lying is always morally wrong, no matter the situation
Normative Ethics
Your homeboy's LIFE is on the line because he said the wrong things to the wrong people, and now someone is at your door asking where he is. You tell the truth because you believe lying is ALWAYS wrong.
Duty ethics
Someone lives in a country where having multiple wives is customary, but they themselves don't believe it is okay. In the eyes of a relativist, are they right or wrong?
They are wrong because in moral relativism the majority is right and the minority is wrong in the society.
There are two different kinds of virtue ethics stated by Bassham. Aristotle believed in a natural goal, or telos. The other kind is a three-step process of a list of goods, a theory of virtue based on goods, and then a right action is taken. What are the names of the two virtue ethics.
1. Eudaimonist virtue ethics
2. Target-centered (or pluralistic) virtue ethics
What is theological ethics?
Addresses moral issues from within a particular faith tradition
Do moral truths objectively exist or are they simply opinions and emotions?
Metaethics
A person helps a stranger because they are naturally kind, even if the action also increases overall happiness
Virtue ethics
I think helping your friend cheat on a test is morally okay because I feel good about helping them. Another person agrees it's okay because everyone else agrees it's okay to help your friend cheat on a test. What is/are the first person's ethical view(s)?
Moral subjectivism. This is because it focuses on the personal rather than the group.