Ethics

An Introduction
Mufizul Islam Muttakeen
Lecturer
Green University of Bangladesh
Recommended Books and Websites
● Frankena, W. K., Ethics, New Delhi: Prentice-Hall, 1995.
● Lillie, William. An Introduction to Ethics, London, Methuen, 1966.
● Mackenzie, J. S., A Manual of Ethics, London: University Tutorial Press, 1980.
● Tännsjö, Torbjörn. Understanding Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Theory 2nd ed.,
Edinburg University Press, 2008.
● Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/
● Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/
● Ethics: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/

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 Branches of Philosophy
Philosophy

Metaphysics Epistemology Axiology

Ontology Cosmology Source of K Nature of K Validity of K Limits of K Logic Ethics Aesthetics

Formal
Rationalism Idealism Skepticism

Nature of reality Number of the reality Empiricism Realism

Agnosticism Informal

Intuitionism
Idealism Monism Mysticism
Critical theory Self Evidence
Dualism Normative Applied Metaethics
Materialism Coherence
Pluralism Teleology Business Ethics
Correspondence

Pragmatism Deontology Environmental Ethics

Virtue Ethics Bio-medical Ethics

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 Why Study Ethics?
● 'Ethics' is concerned with studying and/or building up a coherent set of rules or principles by which people ought to live.
● In our everyday behavior we do not use systematically examined ethical frameworks; most people instead carry around a
useful set of day-to-day 'rules of thumb' that influence and govern their behaviour; commonly, these include rules such as
'it is wrong to steal', 'it is right to help people in need', and so on.
● But our life is so complex that these simple rules are sometimes put to test. Consider, for example, the idea that it is
wrong to kill. Does this mean that capital punishment is wrong? Is it wrong to kill animals? Is killing in self-defense wrong?
Is the termination of pregnancy wrong? Is euthanasia wrong?
● Our everyday notions of right and wrong do not have straightforward answers to these questions are not always
forthcoming. We need to examine these questions in more detail; and we need theoretical frameworks that can help us to
analyze complex problems and to find rational, coherent solutions to those problems. These are the reasons we need
to study ethics.

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The Word “Ethics”
● "Ethics" originates from a Greek word, "ethica," whose root is "ethos”.
● "Ethos" eventually came to mean "basic orientation or disposition of a person toward life.“
● Ancient Greek philosophers, especially beginning with Socrates, became interested in this question
about how we should fashion our "ethos" in order to best succeed at life.
● The Ancient Romans translated the Greek word "ethos" as mos/moris, from which we get our English
word "morality.“
● "Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing,
defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct as well as
prescriptions for good life.

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Definition of Ethics
● Thomas Nagel: “Ethics is the branch of philosophy that tries to understand a familiar type of
evaluation: the moral evaluation of people's character traits, their conduct, and their institutions. We
speak of good and bad people, the morally right or wrong thing to do, just or unjust regimes or laws,
how things ought and ought not to be, and how we should live.”
● John S. Mackenzie: “Ethics may be defined as the study of what is right or good in conduct. It is the
general theory of conduct and considers the actions of human beings with reference to their rightness
or wrongness, their tendency to good or evil.”
● William Lillie: “We may define ethics as the normative science of the conduct of human beings living
in societies - a science which judges this conduct to be right or wrong, to be good or bad, or in some
similar way.”

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Analysis of the Definitions
● Ethics is a normative science or study; it is not a positive science. As a normative science, ethics
prescribes norms or rules for human activities and show how, according to these norms, a man ought
to direct his/her actions.
● Ethics is the normative science of voluntary actions. Voluntary actions are conscious process of
volitional actions. Voluntary actions may include certain actions, where there may be no conscious
process of willing at all, provided that the doer could have prevented or changed the source of action
by choosing to do so.
● It deals with human beings' conduct, those beings who live in societies.
● "Right" and "Good" are two important concepts in ethics.

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Ethics and Morality
● Everyday Use: Ethics is often used in connection with the activities of organizations
and with professional codes of conduct. For instance, medical and business ethics, with
their exhaustive sets of rule or guidelines stating how employees are expected to
behave in the workplaces. Morality, on the other hand, is more often used in connection
with the ways in which individuals conduct the personal, private lives.
● Philosophical use: Ethics and morals/morality are respectively akin to theory and
practice. Ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good, while morals
indicate their practice. Every person, even the most uncivilized and uncultured, has its
own morality or sum of prescriptions, which govern its moral conduct.

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Ethics, Morality and Law
● Morals are one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong, while the term ethics describes standards or
codes of behavior expected of an individual by a group (nation, organization, profession) to which an
individual belongs. For example, the ethics of the law profession demand that defense attorneys
defend an accused client to the best of their ability, even if they know that the client is guilty of the
most heinous and morally objectionable crime one could imagine.
● Law is a system of rules that tells us what we can and cannot do. Laws are enforced by a set of
institutions (the police, courts, law-making bodies). Legal acts are acts that conform to the law. Moral
acts conform to what an individual believes to be the right thing to do. Laws can proclaim an act as
legal, although many people may consider the act immoral—for example, abortion.

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Meta-ethics
● Meta-ethics: Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature
ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments. Meta-ethical questions:
(1) What is the meaning of moral terms judgments?
(2) What is the nature of moral judgments?
● Some meta-ethical theories that focus on the meaning of moral terms a judgments: (a)
Cognitive theories, such as moral realism, ethical naturalism, ethical non-naturalism,
ethical subjectivism and error theory; (b) Non-cognitive theories include emotivism and
prescriptivism.

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Applied Ethics
● Applied Ethics attempts to deal with real-life situations, with specific realms of human
action and to craft criteria for discussing issues that might arise within those realms.
● The contemporary field of Applied Ethics arouse in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
● In applied ethics, the ethical issue needs to be controversial in the sense that there are
significant groups of people both for and against the issue at hand.
● Secondly, an applied ethical issue must be a distinct moral issue. In other words, applied
ethics uses the normative principles such as principles of benevolence, harm, autonomy,
justice, and lawfulness in its discussion of particular moral problem.

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 Issues in Applied Ethics
● Biomedical ethics deals with such issues as the morality of surrogate mothering, the status of unused frozen
embryos, abortion, patient rights, physician's responsibilities, such as the confidentiality of the patient's records
and the physician’s responsibility to tell the truth to dying patients. Additional issues concern the rights of the
mentally disabled, the morality of physician assisted suicide, and euthanasia.
● Business ethics examines moral controversies relating to the social responsibilities of capitalistic business
practices, deceptive advertising, basic employee rights, job discrimination, and whistle blowing.
● Environmental ethics examines the rights of animals, the morality of animal experiment, pollution control,
management of environmental resources, our obligation to future generations.
● Controversial issues of sexual morality include monogamy versus polygamy, sexual relation without love,
homosexual relations, and extramarital affairs.
● Finally, there are issues of social morality which examine capital punishment, nuclear war control, the
recreational use of drugs, welfare rights, and racism.

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Normative Ethics
● Normative ethics involves arriving at moral standards to regulate right and wrong
conduct. In a sense, it is a litmus paper test of proper behaviour.
● Normative ethics attempts to develop a set of rules or norm governing human conduct.
● The Golden Rule is a classic example of a normative principal- we should do to others
what we want others to do to us.
● The Golden Rule is an example of a normative theory establishes a single principle
against which we judge all action. Other normative theories focus on a set of
foundational principles, or a set of good character traits.

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 Normative Ethics: Teleology
1. Teleological Ethics:

✓ Right actions are equated with those that produce things of values.

✓ Focuses on consequences or results of an action.

✓ Example: Utilitarianism advocated by John Stuart Mill.

Action Result

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Normative Ethics: Deontology
2. Deontological Ethics:

➢ Deontology is the study of duty. It is opposed to

consequentialism.

➢ Determine right or wrong on the basis of action.

➢ Immanuel Kant’s Theory of Good Will, Duty and Categorical

Imperative.

Action Duty

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Normative Ethics: Virtue Ethics
3. Virtue Ethics:

➢ Focuses on traits or character.

➢ Good person knows and does the right things.

➢ Emphasizes what kind of person one should be.

➢ Advocated by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

Character Action

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“The hour of departure has arrived, and
we go our ways, I to die, and you to live.
Which is the better? Only God knows!

—Socrates

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Any question?

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 Thanks!
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