Ethics Module 1: Meaning and Scope

Study Notes

Morality refers to the set of standards an individual person or society uses to judge whether an act is good or bad, whether someone is virtuous or not, or whether we ought to do this or that.
Ethics refers to the discipline that examines the moral standards of an individual or society, also known as moral philosophy.

Metaethics: examines the nature, meaning, scope, and foundations of moral values, beliefs, and judgments.
- Examples of metaethical questions: Is morality objective or relative? Is morality based on reason, emotions, intuition, or facts? What are moral persons? What does it mean to be morally accountable?
Normative Ethics: concerned with the formulation of moral standards, rules, or principles to determine right from wrong conduct or ways of life worth pursuing.
- Three considerations: consequences, rules, and character traits.
- Classifications: consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics.
Applied Ethics: examines particular moral issues occurring in personal and social spheres, determining moral permissibility of actions and practices in specific areas like business, medicine, nature, law, sports, and others.
- Examples: business ethics, bioethics, environmental ethics, computer ethics, and social media ethics.

A non-philosophical study of morality that seeks to objectively record and present how people in a certain community make moral judgments or develop their capacity for such.
Can be done in disciplines like sociology, anthropology, and psychology.

Moral standards deal with matters that can seriously harm or benefit human beings (and other moral persons).
Moral standards have universal validity.
Moral standards have a particularly overriding importance, evaluating even the correctness of other normative standards.
Moral standards are not established by the decisions of authoritarian bodies, nor are they determined by appealing to consensus or tradition.

Ethical relativism: the view that all moral principles are valid relative to a particular society or individual.
Distinct from ethical skepticism and ethical objectivism.
Two forms:
- Individual ethical relativism / ethical subjectivism: rightness or wrongness of an action lies on the individual's own commitments and interests.
- Cultural ethical relativism / ethical conventionalism: rightness or wrongness of an action depends on society's norms.

Arguments in support of ethical relativism:
- Diversity argument: moral beliefs and rules vary from culture to culture and within the same culture over time.
- Dependency argument: our perception of things is inescapably culture-bound, so moral beliefs can only be true or valid relative to certain groups.
- Toleration argument: relativism leads to respect, social harmony, and peaceful co-existence among different cultural, religious, and social groups.
Arguments against ethical relativism:
- Moral diversity or disagreement does not establish moral relativism.
- Ethical relativism leads to absurd consequences, undermining our rational nature and moral progress.
- Despite cultural differences, there are still universal moral standards that exist, such as respecting life and promoting truth, justice, and peace.