Ethical Systems Flashcards
What is Ethics?
___________ is a branch of philosophy that studies the systems of morality wherein one can either defend, recommend, or augment right or wrong conduct.
Ethics
The word “ethics” is derived from the Ancient Greek word, “___________,” referring to the customs and practices of a certain group of people or society.
ethos
_____________ is a concept that has strong ties with the idea of morality.
Ethics
_____________ is something that we practice everyday– an application of philosophy
e.g. culture and norms that people practice.
Ethics
The goal of ethics is to ___________, ___________, ________________, and _____________ morality.
study, scrutinize, recommend, and modify
While mostly used interchangeably with ethics, morality is often assigned to the ____________ taken by human subjects.
actual action
While mostly used interchangeably with ethics, _____________ is often assigned to the actual action taken by human subjects.
morality
The fact that humans have ____________ and __________ makes the study of ethics challenging and interesting.
freewill; autonomy
_______________ is the actual practice or action taken by human agents.
Morality
Morality and ethics
__________ and __________ is a much more accurate term to use in the case of an actual act performed.
Morals and morality
All human actions find its derivation from society, and these acts can either lead to ____________________________.
good or bad consequences.
The importance of the study of ethics lies in the possible effects of _______________ to society.
human agency
What is ethics? cont.
The study of ethics is motivated by the fact that people are agents of their ____________________, and their actions have _________________ that can affect society.
own actions; consequences
Humans are subject to the influence of ___________ or _____________ that are responsible for integrating them to society. However, they are also subject to the call and beckon of their autonomy and freewill that might be contrary to established norms and customs.
norms or customs
Humans have a certain degree of autonomy, _________. Will they follow or deviate from the norm?
freewill
Ethics must account for instances wherein _______________________ are violated for a certain goal. Perhaps in ethics, it is possible to study violations of moral norms in order to understand the context and limitations of existing _______________________.
moral norms; moral norms
There are certain moral norms that are revised because of the positive contributions that it can possibly provide to society.
E.g. LGBTQIA+ community
In ethics, it is possible to study violations of moral norms to understand the context of existing norms.
Ex: use of recreational of drugs
Poverty might not be an excuse for crime, but it can certainly tell us why people are reduced to the life of crime just for the sake of fulfilling certain ends.
It’s sad to think that there are people in society who have to commit crimes for the sake of survival, necessity.
IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS
__________________ is both the source of problems and solutions in any discourse in ethics.
Autonomy
We are all __________________ to a certain degree, despite the belief that there is an “influence” in what we choose to do, choosing what to “do” is a matter of selectivity.
autonomous
There is always an ____________. (the decision is usually difficult).
option
In the study of ethical systems, it would be wise to avoid generalizations or “universalizations” of values without establishing proper context.
The idea of a universalized system of values is problematic because it creates a very mechanical approach towards the understanding of ethics.
It’s not just a good or bad, bad or good decision.
While it is possible to say that there is indeed an objective value for any ethical system, it will be difficult to prove that there is an all-encompassing rule or law that can guide human subjects.
COURSE PROCEDURES
Context of the theory/ethical system
e.g. Studying Plato– where are they coming from? What was their society like? How will we apply it on our own?
Normative principles advanced by the theory/ethical system.
e.g. what kind of ethical systems?
Greeks - how to fit in the system?
Issues, implications, and problematique of the theory/ethical system.
How will we apply these ethical systems in our own circumstances?
CLASSIFICATION AND TYPES
Normative and Non-normative ethics
Ethical systems can be classified as either normative or non-normative.
Normative ethics is responsible for setting and determining moral standards to follow so that human actions can be aligned towards moral good. It follows two areas: general and applied ethics.
_________________ is a technical discipline investigating the meaning of ethical terms, including a critical study of how ethical statements can be verified.
It is concerned with the meaning of terms like right, obligation, responsibility, etc.
Meta ethics
The meta-ethicist would be concerned about the _________________________, good and bad, that what we think is good and bad, or what we mean when we say right or wrong.
meaning of the term
_______________ is concerned with how certain ethical positions are justified and what concepts that they employ for this justification.
Meta-ethics
Tries to provide an explanation/ contextual outlook why a certain society thinks this action is right or wrong.
Non-normative ethics
Observe certain practices and culture, and how certain cultures make their moral decisions.
How do people do? In fact, how do they behave?
Scientific
The __________________ or descriptive study of morality involves the factual investigation of moral behavior. It is concerned with how people do in fact behave.
scientific
Moreover, ___________________ can in turn provide an insight into the context of normative values by looking at the practices that validate its “rightness” or “wrongness”.
non-normative ethics
___________________________ or descriptive ethics deals with establishing the context of an ethical position without producing an ethical judgment as to whether it is right or wrong.
e.g.
Non-normative ethics
__________________: Is a search for principles of human conduct including a critical study of the major theories about what things are good, what acts are right, and what acts are evil.
General Ethics
Is an attempt to explain and justify positions on specific moral problems or issues, like capital punishment, abortion, discrimination, etc.
Applied ethics
The applied ethicist uses the _________________ to resolve a specific moral problem.
general principles
It attempts to determine what moral standards to follow so that our actions may be morally right or good. It tries to defend a system of basic ethical principles that presumably are valid for everyone.
General Ethics
The ethical theories we learn as children.
General Ethics
Ex: Lying is not good, stealing is not good, or we should respect the elderly.
General Ethics
