What is Ethics? - PHILO-notes Whiteboard Edition

hello my fila notes friends with our simple whiteboard discussions we hope to help you in understanding the key topics in philosophy in an incredibly easy way in today's whiteboard edition we will address the question what is ethics the term ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which originally means custom or character broadly construed ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies the rightness or wrongness of a human action in particular this branch of philosophy is concerned with questions of how human persons ought to act in the search for a definition of right conduct and the good life it is for this reason that the attempt to seek the good through the aid of reason is the traditional goal of ethicists it must be noted however that there is no single absolute definition of ethics this is because ethics as a discipline is constantly evolving as a result of a change in socio-cultural and political context for example in the Greek tradition ethics was conceived as relating to the concept of the good life thus the ethical inquiry during this time was directed toward discovering the nature of happiness in fact Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics does not only present a theory of happiness but also provides ways in which happiness is attained now centuries later a quite different orientation was introduced by the judeo-christian tradition in this ethical tradition the ideals of righteousness before God and the love of God and neighbor not the happy or pleasant life constitute the substance of ethics indeed if we make an effort to reconcile these views we are faced with a difficult task of defining the relationship between doing what is right and being happy again it is for this reason that we cannot have an absolute definition of ethics the least that we can do in my opinion is to describe the nature and dynamics of ethics based on a specific time and context it is also important to note that ethics is not the same with morality although many philosophers believe that the two terms can be used interchangeably this is because the former denotes the theory of right action and the greater good while the latter indicates practice that is the rightness or wrongness of a human action in other words ethics undertakes the systematic study of the underlying principles of morality hence it is interested primarily in the illustration of a more general problem and the examination of underlying assumptions in the critical evaluation of moral principles morality of the other hand is more prescriptive in nature it tells us what we ought to do and exhorts us to follow the right way according to Terence McConnell morality is characterized as an end governed rational enterprise whose object is to equip people with a body of norms that make for peaceful and collectively satisfying coexistence by facilitating their living together and interacting in a way that is productive for the realization of the general benefit for example a religious leader may ask her followers to be good at all times in this way a moralist may want to keep alive the values she considers to be worthwhile and to improve the moral quality of the community where she belongs hence morality at the very least aims to guide one's action by reason and gives equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one's decision indeed this gives us a picture of what it really means to be a morally upright person and so we may conclude that ethics is the science of morals while morality is the practice of ethics during the mid 20th century according to Sumner a certain theory in the methodology of ethics has gradually become more and more widely accepted at least by British and American moral philosophers according to this position there are two ways of doing ethical inquiry namely normative ethics and meta ethics on the one hand normative ethics is prescriptive in nature as it seeks to set norms or standards that regulate right and wrong or good and bad conduct this may involve articulating the good habits that we should acquire the duties so we should follow are the consequences of our behavior on others hence normative ethics normally attempts to develop guidelines or theories that tell us how we ought to behave for an example immanuel kant's claimed that an act is morally right if it is done for the sake of duty is an example of a normative ethics meta ethics on the other hand is descriptive in nature according to Sumner meta ethics is allegedly constituted at least in part by questions of the meanings of the various ethical terms and functions of ethical etre insists hence if a normative ethical inquiry is evaluative and prescriptive meta ethics is an elliptical and descriptive put simply meta ethics is a type of ethical inquiry that aims to understand the nature and dynamics of ethical principles it asks questions about the nature and origin of moral facts as well as the way in which we learn and acquire moral beliefs thus for example if normative ethics urges us to do good at all times meta ethics asks the question what is good for sure if a moral philosopher attempts to address the questions what is good what is justice why should I be moral then that moral philosopher is doing meta ethics hence when play to propose an answer to the question why should I be moral plato was doing meta ethics indeed Plato raised a meta ethical question in the course of the development of ethics applied ethics became its third major type as its name suggests applied ethics is the actual application of ethical or moral theories for the purpose of deciding which ethical or moral actions are appropriate in a given situation for this reason casuistry adherence of applied ethics are concerned with individual moral problems such as abortion or euthanasia and attempt to resolve the conflicting issues that surround these particular moral problems casuistry also act on some occasions in an advisory capacity such as guiding individuals in their choice of actions for example they may attempt to resolve the conflicting duties of a mother suffering from ectopic pregnancy who has no other option than to abort the fetus applied ethics is usually divided into different fields for example we may talk about business ethics which deals with ethical behavior in the corporate world biomedical and environmental ethics which deal with issues relating to health welfare and the responsibility we have toward people in our environment and social ethics which deals with the principles and guidelines that regulate corporate welfare within societies finally the difference between the three major types of ethics can be illustrated in the following situation a police officer shoots a terrorist who is about to blow up a crowded shopping mall the act of the police officer is morally wrong according to methods because it is always wrong to kill as is well known killing in itself is intrinsically wrong however if the police officer does not shoot the terrorists men innocent people will die or get insured though the police officers act may be wrong the adherence of ignore motive ethics may say that it is the right thing to do in this particular situation because not doing so will result in the death of so many people hence the action might be morally correct finally the kazoo assay that the police officer is just doing his best to fulfill his duty that is to protect as many innocent lives as possible alright that's it for today keep looking forward to our series of daily whiteboard additions as we try to make the learning and understanding of philosophy incredibly easy thanks for joining us today in this edition of our daily whiteboard here at filo notes full transcript of this video is available at feel or notes com to keep you updated of our daily whiteboard additions here at filo notes just click here and subscribe until then thanks take care you [Music]

Channel: PHILO-notes

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Keywords: Types of Ethics, Normative Ethics, Metaethics, Applied Ethics, Business Ethics, Bioethics, Social Ethics, Casuists, Ethicists, Ethics defined, ethics meaning, what is ethics, introduction to ethics, ethics defined utilitarianism, ethics defined deontology, ethics and morality, ethics vs morality, ethics and religion, ethics lecture, intro to ethics, ethics in research, research ethics, ethics defined virtue ethics, intro to ethics philosophy, intro to ethics class

Id: Rr7U49RPpTs

Length: 10min 19sec (619 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 11 2018