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What Is Ethics

This document defines ethics and discusses the relationship between ethics and morality. It states that ethics etymologically refers to patterns of human behavior. Ethics is about determining the grounds for values that are significant to human life, and involves matters of right and wrong, good and bad actions. The document notes there is no consensus on distinguishing between the terms "moral" and "ethics" but they will be used interchangeably. It also outlines the main branches of ethics: normative ethics deals with determining correct moral actions, meta-ethics studies the nature of ethics, applied ethics applies theories to real-life scenarios, and descriptive ethics examines human behavior scientifically.

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Juliezel Iringan
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74 views

What Is Ethics

This document defines ethics and discusses the relationship between ethics and morality. It states that ethics etymologically refers to patterns of human behavior. Ethics is about determining the grounds for values that are significant to human life, and involves matters of right and wrong, good and bad actions. The document notes there is no consensus on distinguishing between the terms "moral" and "ethics" but they will be used interchangeably. It also outlines the main branches of ethics: normative ethics deals with determining correct moral actions, meta-ethics studies the nature of ethics, applied ethics applies theories to real-life scenarios, and descriptive ethics examines human behavior scientifically.

Uploaded by

Juliezel Iringan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WHAT IS ETHICS

 The Latin word mos or moris (and its plural mores)from which the


adjective moral is derived is equivalent to ethos.
 Etymologically, ethics is but a survey of patterns of behavior that is
done by the human being in general or a society in particular.
 Ethics,  generally speaking is about matters such as the good thing
that we should pursue and the bad thing that we should avoid; the
right ways in w/c we could or should act and the wrong ways of
acting. It is about what is acceptable and unacceptable in human
behavior. It may involve obligations that we are. Ethics as a subject
for us to study is about determining the grounds for the values w/
particular and special significance to human life.

Morality and Ethics


This discussion of ethics and morals would include cognates such as ethical,
unethical, immoral, amoral, morality, and so on. As we proceed, we should
be careful particularly on the use of the word “not” when applied to the
words “moral” or “ethical” as this can be ambiguous. One might say that
cooking is not ethical, that is, the act of cooking does not belong to a
discussion of ethics; on the other hand, one might say that lying is not
ethical, but the meaning here is that the act of lying would be an unethical
act.
            Let us consider those two words further. The term “morals” may be
used to refer to specific beliefs or attitudes that people have or to describe
acts that people perform. Thus, it is sometimes said that an individual’s
personal conduct is referred to as his morals, and if he falls short of
behaving properly, this can be described as immoral. However, we also have
terms such as “moral judgment” or “moral reasoning”, w/c suggest a more
rational aspect. The term “ethics” can be spoken of as the discipline of
studying and understanding ideal human behavior and ideal ways of
thinking. Thus, ethics is acknowledge as an intellectual discipline belonging
to philosophy.  However, acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are also
generally described as ethical and unethical, respectively. In addition, with
regard to the acceptable and unacceptable ways of behaving in a given field,
we have the term “professional ethics”
Therefore, various thinkers and writers posit a distinction between the
terms “moral” and “ethics” and they may have good reasons for doing so,
but there is no consensus as to how to make that distinction. Ordinary
conversation present as much less rigid distinction between these terms,
and in this book, we will lean in that direction as we do not need to occupy
ourselves here with the question how different thinkers and writers
construe that distinction. So, in this course, we will be using the terms
“ethical” and “moral” (likewise, “ethics” and “morality”) interchangeably
Normative Ethics - The largest branch, it deals with how individuals can figure out the
correct moral action that they should take. Philosophers such as Socrates and John
Stuart Mill are included in this branch of ethics.
Meta-Ethics - This branch seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties and
judgments such as if truth values can be found and the theory behind moral principals.
Applied Ethics - This is the study of applying theories from philosophers regarding ethics
in everyday life. For example, this area of ethics asks questions such as "Is it right to have
an abortion?" and "Should you turn in your friend at your workplace for taking home
office supplies?"
Moral Ethics - This branch questions how individuals develop their morality, why certain
aspects of morality differ between cultures and why certain aspects of morality are
generally universal.
Descriptive Ethics - This branch is more scientific in its approach and focuses on how
juman beings actually operate in the real world, rather than attempt to theorize about
how they should operate.
Knowing how to best resolve difficult moral and ethical dilemmas is never easy especially
when any choice violates the societal and ethical standards by which we have been
taught to govern our lives.

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