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Types of Ethics

This document discusses three main types of ethics: descriptive ethics, which studies people's beliefs about morality; normative ethics, which is concerned with determining what is morally right and wrong; and meta ethics, which addresses fundamental questions about the nature and definitions of ethical concepts. Normative ethics can be further divided into virtue ethics, consequentialism, and deontology.

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Anthony Alagon
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2K views

Types of Ethics

This document discusses three main types of ethics: descriptive ethics, which studies people's beliefs about morality; normative ethics, which is concerned with determining what is morally right and wrong; and meta ethics, which addresses fundamental questions about the nature and definitions of ethical concepts. Normative ethics can be further divided into virtue ethics, consequentialism, and deontology.

Uploaded by

Anthony Alagon
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 PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TYPES OF ETHICS

DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS
•AKA Comparative Ethics
•Studies people’s belief about
morality.
•Describes different Ethical
theories objectives and
compares them.
DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS

•It is an approach used when researchers


or ethicists want to describe what people
think about morality or when they want to
describe how people actually behave-
that is, their morals.
NORMATIVE ETHICS
•Or Prescriptive Ethics
•Concerned with criteria of what is
morally right and wrong.
•It includes the formulation of moral
rules that have direct implications
for what human actions,
institutions, and ways of life should
be like.
NORMATIVE ETHICS CAN BE
SUBDIVIDED INTO:
1. Virtue Ethics: Character based
theory which implies what is the
intention or benefit of the action-
that means choice could be either
and both are considered equally
good.
NORMATIVE ETHICS CAN BE
SUBDIVIDED INTO:
2. Consequentialism:
Outcome based or
teleological theory which
implies you should save as
many lives as possible
CONSEQUENTIALISM INVOLVES:
•Egoism- Self interest
•Eudaemonism- Happiness
•Utilitarianism- General good or
welfare of humankind
•Hedonism- Satisfaction of desires
•Intellectualism- Knowledge is derived
from pure reason
Consequentialist Non-Consequentialist
•Egoism •Natural Law
•Utilitarianism •Respect for person
•Hedonism
•Intellectualism
•Eudaemonism
NORMATIVE ETHICS CAN BE
SUBDIVIDED INTO:
3. Deontology: Rule or
obligation based theory
which implies you should
not kill someone without
their permission
META ETHICS
•Meta- After or beyond
•Addresses questions such as “What is
goodness?” and “How can we tell
what is good from what is bad?”
•Attempts to study fundamental
aspects of normative ethics-what is
the nature of good, what is definition
of goodness.
META ETHICS
•Origin of ethical principles- Divine
or Human
•Whether moral values are eternal
truths or simply human conventions
•What do the words “good”, “bad”,
“right” and “wrong” mean?
EXAMPLE
A burglar plots to break into an old woman’s house on a
Sunday morning, a time when he knows she’s always at
church. So, one Sunday, he creeps up to her back
window, and smashes it with a hammer. But, after he
looks inside, he sees that the old woman isn’t at church.
She’s in there, laying face-down on the floor. The sight of
her body scares the burglar, and he runs away. He was
down for a little bit of burglary, but getting nabbed for
murder was NOT part of his plan. But what the burglar
didn’t know was that the old woman wasn’t dead. She
was unconscious having passed out because of a
carbon monoxide leaked that would have killed her.
When the burglar broke the window,
he let out some of the toxic gas, and
let in fresh air which would allowed her
to regain consciousness. So, the
burglar broke into the house with the
intention of stealing from the woman,
but, inadvertently, he saved her life.
•Descriptive Ethics- What do people
think is right?
•Normative Ethics- How should people
act? What is the correct action?
•Meta Ethics- What is the meaning of
ethical terms, Right, Wrong, Love,
compassion?

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