Normative Ethics

Normative Ethics

• Refers to the practice of guiding human behavior with a scientific method for analyzing types of norms
• Seeks the foundations of norms and values while associating these with critique
• Critique refers to the constant questioning of each assumption

Normative Ethics and Knowledge

• Normative ethics contains pre-philosophical knowledge connected to one's faculty of judgment
• Spontaneous knowledge complements moral knowledge, and is found in all people
• Needs normative ethics to reconstruct and free it from ambiguity

Focus of Normative Ethics

• Focuses on determining the content of moral behavior
• Guides actions and procedures by answering the practical question of what to do
• Unlike societal institutions like state or religion, normative ethics is not subject to society's impositions

The Concept of Norms as Rules

• Rules are established with the purpose of regulating behaviors to maintain a determined order
• Rules are articulated to establish the bases of accepted behavior within a society or organization

Applications of Norms

• Norms are applied in different areas of life and are generally accepted
• Vary depending on the context in which they are applied
• Include religious, legal, moral and social norms
• One begins learning norms from childhood

Social Norms

• Applied in a society when guidelines are required to ensure order for good coexistence
• Represent the largest system of rules in existence

Societal Impact

• Individuals growing up within societies learn good and bad customs, expected and inadequate/improper behaviors
• Customs vary depending on the society, culture, and tradition
• Social norms are not regulated by law, but are patterns that exist consciously and unconsciously
• They are transmitted from generation to generation and non-compliance generates rejection from other members

Legal Norms

• Regulate conduct within a given society to guarantee its correct function and harmony
• Failure to comply leads to sanctions
• Detailed in documents to be known by all members of a society
• Imposed by competent authorities, such as the executive or legislative power of a certain country
• Cannot contradict legal norms, examples include laws, treaties and decrees

Moral Nuances

• While not detailed or subject to sanctions, moral norms establish a series of expected behaviors for individuals
• Morals form the basis of social and legal norms needed to guarantee the harmony within the communitites
• Relate to the moral and ethical values that guarantee integrity
• Relate to relationships with others and the physical environment

Religious Norms

• Regulate the behavior of members of a certain religion/creed
• Transmitted through generations
• Are expressed in holy or sacred books like the Bible or the Torah

Conduct Regulations

• Regulate behaviors and attitudes in public/private life of the religious
• These norms are uncoercive, no individual can force another to fulfill them
• Non-compliance does not imply a specific sanction/punishment
• Followed individually/autonomously:
  • The Ten Commandments
  • Ramadan

Society's Influence

• Moral norms originate from society and are learned by each subject, who exercise them with full will
• Freedom to choose

Consequences of Moral Norms

• Unlike other types of norms, moral norms do not carry effective sanction
• Remorse or rejection from society
• Moral norms may coincide with legal norms
• Moral violations can simultaneously be an immoral act and a crime

Morality's Mutability

• Morality in societies is influenced by historical and cultural factors like religion/social development
• The definition of moral is not definitive and varies among societies and eras
• Concepts of what is moral change generationally

General Characteristics of Moral Norms

• Moral norms encompass ethical and philosophical content
• Do not stem as a rule from consensus but derive from ways of understanding/exercising cultural identity
• All societies have some type of moral norms
• A single society vary its normative standards based on socioeconomic factors or class

Two aspects of moral norms

• Heteronomous: imposed on individuals by the collective
• Autonomous: depend on the ethical character of each the individual
  • Violations can lead to rejection by others/self-mortification

Additional Features

• Not written or documented
• Transmitted through habits, verbal sharing and passed down through the generations
• Do not depend on a legal apparatus for their implementation
• Contribute to social harmony

Concept of Duty

• Duty comes from the Latin "debēre" (to owe) and is related to "debitum" (debt)
• It may be understood as a debt an individual has to pay regarding another or an entity.
• Duties are created by law, custom, morality, religion/ethics
• Failure to comply can lead to sanctions or penalties

Source for Duty

• A duty may arise from the imposition of a law or type of regulation
• Duty also can arise from a moral mandate tied to gratitude/respect
• Gratitude can give rise to duty

Obligations

• Duties are commitments, obligations, and mandates that society imposes within specific contexts for people
• Compliance reinforces the ethical, legal, and moral commitment of individuals to others
• Complement the legal order with rights, so people get certain protections from the law

Cicerón's Origins of Duty

• According to Cicero (106-43 BC), a philosopher and politician from Ancient Rome, duties in society have four potential origins
  • Can originate simply from being human
  • Can originate from a cultural context
  • Can originate from character
  • Can originate from moral expectations for the individual

Function

• Duties are an intrinsic part of the human social organization
• In society, each person must fulfill certain tasks for the benefit of others
• Those others then execute tasks that benefit them
• This exchange of duties allows a well-organized collective existence