Cover Slide - Reference Materials for the topic-
https://ethics.org.au/about/what-is-ethics/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml
Ethics is the process of questioning, discovering and defending our values, principles and purpose. It’s about finding out who we are and staying true to that in the face of temptations, challenges and uncertainty. It’s not always fun and it’s hardly ever easy, but if we commit to it, we set ourselves up to make decisions we can stand by, building a life that’s truly our own and a future we want to be a part of.
At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.
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Philosophers nowadays divides the ethics into three main areas. They are - Meta Ethics, Normative Ethics, and the perfect blend and fusion of Meta ethics and Normative Ethics results in Applied Ethics. The whole study of ethics can be divided into General Ethics (nature of moral activity, norm of morality, foundation of morality, end of morality, etc.) and Special Ethics (applies the principles of general ethics to the various actions of human activity). However, when we consider the ethical theories, philosophers today usually divide them into three general subject areas: meta ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Meta ethics investigates the origin and meaning of ethical concepts. It studies where our ethical principles come from and what they mean. It tries to analyse the underlying principles of ethical values;
Normative ethics tries to arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. It is a more practical task. It is a search for an ideal litmus test of proper behaviour; Applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights, environmental concerns, homosexuality, and so on. In applied ethics, using the conceptual tools of meta ethics and normative ethics, one tries to resolve these controversial issues.
Often the lines of distinction between meta ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are often blurry. For instance, the issue of abortion is an applied ethical topic in as much as it involves a specific type of controversial behaviour. But it is also an issue involving normative principles such as the right of self-rule and the right to life and an issue having meta ethical issues such as, “where do rights come from?” and “what kind of beings have rights?”.
I. Meta Ethics This branch of ethics deals with the nature of moral judgement. It looks at the origins and meaning of ethical principles.
II. Normative Ethics This branch of ethics is concerned with the content of moral judgements and criteria for what is right and what is wrong course of action.
III. Applied Ethics This branch of ethics looks at what person is obligated or permitted to do in a particular situation or in a particular domain of action. It is philosophical methods to identify the morally correct standpoint of particular issues in private and public life which are the matters of moral judgements. It is thus the method to use the philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of everyday life.
Difference between Normative Ethics and Meta Ethics
Normative ethics generally deals with the questions such as, “Which of my actions would be considered as good or bad?” Meta Ethics deals with the questions like, “What is good or bad?”
Regardless of professional life or personal life, ethics is an important part of life. The success or the expected results depends on how an individual handles the situation and deals with them whether ethically or unethically. Ethical way of thinking in any situation is very important. Following are some importance of Ethics,
• Ethical approach allows one to grow and develop in a positive way.
• Being ethical helps in self-improvement and builds the confidence to be always right.
• The right person is he who, despite facing ethical dilemmas, assesses the situations in his best and right way.
• Ethics allows us to make differentiation between what is morally good and bad in order to follow the rules.
Ethics helps in maintaining modesty, self-esteem, and integrity in life. It allows us to feel the satisfaction of doing something right in all the difficult situations. Hence, having moral values and being ethical is very important in life. It makes us confident enough to handle the most complicated situation in the best possible way.
The fundamental principles describes the ethical behaviour and aspects. These principles are the important part of ethics as it explains the core idea behind the ethical values. The five fundamental principles of ethics are as follows,
Integrity - Being straightforward and honest.
Objectivity - Being unbiased.
Professional Competence - Being capable of executing one's responsibilities to expected standards.
Confidentiality - Being careful with trusted communications.
Above are the codes of conduct for the ethics. All the individuals have basic principles of ethics based on the above five criteria.
There are certain values that are positive and constructive. They lead to character traits that are ethical virtues. These values and corresponding virtues will, in fact, be the key to creating a good life – a successful and happy life – academically, personally, and professionally. What we do – what we think – what we want – reflect what we value.
All humans have values and express them through how they behave and what they think and feel. Values are the ideals or standards that people use to direct their behaviour; values are what people strive to realize in their lives. Values are the standards we use in making judgments about what is important in life and what is right or wrong in human behaviour. We judge ourselves and others in terms of our values. Everyone makes judgments about what is important in life through their values. Virtues are character traits or dispositions in a person that embody and express values that are judged desirable or admirable. A person’s virtues define the ethical character of a person. Virtues are values that have become intrinsic to the personal identity and way of life of a person. If a value is practiced enough, it becomes part of the personality – the character – of a person. You become what you do – what you value and aspire toward.
Ethics is a system of principles that helps us tell, identify and distinguish right from wrong, good from bad. Ethics can give real and practical guidance to our lives. It is all about the choices we make. We constantly face choices that affect the quality of our lives. We are aware that the choices that we make have consequences, both for ourselves and others. We are aware of the responsibility we have for our actions.
It is the Pathway to Principle-Based Decision Making.
It guides like maps.
Ethics is all about feeling for others.
It creates the sense of Integrity.
It Builds loyalty, confidence, self-esteem and leads to personality development.
Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character. This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honourable and moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges. So, virtue ethics helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being. And, it gives us a guide for living life without giving us specific rules for resolving ethical dilemmas.
Situational ethics, or situation ethics, is a teleological and consequentialist theory of ethics concerned with the outcome of an action as opposed to an action being intrinsically wrong as in deontological theories. Sometime we put our principles to one side and do the right thing”. Rules or principles aren’t the same thing as doing what is right.
The four working principles of Situational Ethics are as follows,
1. Pragmatism
2. Relativism
3. Positivism
4. Personalism
These are the four most important working principles of situational ethics.
In our analysis of the definition and nature of ethics, we have seen that ethics as a science is concerned with an end or ideal or standard. Most sciences, instead, are concerned with certain uniformities of our experience – with the ways in which certain classes of objects (such as rocks or plants) are found to exist, or with the ways in which certain classes of events (such as phenomena of sound or electricity) are found to occur. These sciences have no direct reference to any end that is to be achieved or to any ideal by reference to which the facts are judged. Ethics is distinguished from the natural sciences, inasmuch as it has a direct reference to an end that human persons desire to attain. Although ethics is sometimes regarded as a practical science, it is not a ‘practical science’ as medicine, engineering or architecture in as much as it is not directed towards the realization of a definite result. Ethics is often said to be the fruit of all the sciences since it ultimately perfects human person, by ordering all other sciences and all things else in respect to an ultimate end that is absolutely supreme.
Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character. This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honourable and moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges. So, virtue ethics helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being. And, it gives us a guide for living life without giving us specific rules for resolving ethical dilemmas.
Michael Huemer defends the view called “Intuitionism (Deontology)” and “Ethical Intuitionism”. This is basically the view that we can perceive moral truths via a faculty called “Ethical intuition.” An ethical intuition is a way that things seem to be, morally. For instance, if we see a child being stabbed, we have an intense internal reaction that what we are seeing is wrong. This is a moral “intuition.” The action seems to be wrong.
This theory is a little different from the above (Intuitionism) theory. As the name itself suggests, consequentialist theories are connected with the consequences of a particular actions or rules, when deciding whether they are good or not. Consequentialism (Utilitarianism) is simply the claim that actions should be morally judged based on their consequences and how exactly we judge the consequences depends on the situations that we encounter.
Consequentialism and intuitionism are the two main theories in ethics. Basically these theories allows one to think, How to behave? What should we do? and What criteria should we apply in some critical situations? The major difference is that, Consequentialism focuses on the consequences or results of an action. One of the most well-known forms of consequentialism is utilitarianism which was first proposed by Jeremy Bentham and his mentee J.S. Mill. This is about comparing the utility of the consequences of an action. J.S. Mill proposes this as "the greatest happiness for the greatest number” as the guiding principle within utilitarianism. Some have argued that this is flawed as it does not allow for one to be able to follow certain moral rules and it concentrates too much on the ends rather than the means. Deontological ethics focuses on how actions follow certain moral rules. So, the action is judged rather than the consequences of the action. The biggest proponent of deontological ethics was Immanuel Kant who said that moral rules should be adhered to if universalising the opposite would make an impossible world. So, "Do not steal" is a rule because if everyone stole as a rule, there would be no concept of private property. Some have argued that deontological ethics is flawed as it is too absolutist - it says that some actions are always good or always bad without any judgement of the context of the action. To make a good, stable and firm decision. One must keep both the aspects in mind. Good balance between intuition based decision and consequence driven decision helps an individual to be smarter and quicker than any other individual.
The advantages of intuitionism are,
• Allows one to understand the problems with a natural property.
• Increases moral values within which helps in recognising the wrongness of a situation and allows to take correct decision on the basis of moral decisions.
• This morality encourages to grow in a positive manner.
• Thought of being correct brings in a lot of confidence.
Above are some of the advantages of Intuitionism. Let us see some of the disadvantages of intuitionism.
DISADVANTAGES OF INTUITIONISM
The disadvantages of Intuitionism are as follows,
• The major drawback is that, one makes the decision based on some instincts within oneself. Intuitions are not always correct because, it is always based on the self-induced
preconceptions.
• The moral values are pre-decided based on intuitions which may seem wrong from others perspective. When it comes to general audience, everyone may not have the same perspective.
Therefore the intuition based decisions change from person to person. Hence, decisions based on intuitions cannot be considered at a general level.
ADVANTAGES OF CONSEQUENTIALISM
Advantages of Consequentialism are,
• The decisions are based on the results that we may occur at, which allows to make decisions in different perspectives.
• Gives clarity over an issue, as it is being analysed by different perceptions.
• Determines the alternative actions based on the consequences.
These are some of the advantages of Consequentialism which are sometimes beneficial.
DISADVANTAGES OF CONSEQUENTIALISM
The disadvantages of consequentialism are,
• Since the decisions are consequence driven,sometimes results in inappropriate decisions.
• Most of the times predictions may not be accurate enough to make decisions.
• Some results of a situation are difficult to measure and some are impossible to measure.
• Mostly unclear about the benefits of the decisions taken.
• The decision remains unclear as the consequences are not in control.
These are some of the disadvantages of Consequentialism which are troublesome in certain situations.
Normative Ethical Theories are general approaches or strategies to moral deliberation and decision- making. They are future oriented as well as past oriented. As future-oriented, they provide us with guidelines for decision-making; as past-oriented,they provide criteria for evaluation of choices or decisions already made. Each normative ethical theory typically includes its own philosophical justification, worked out by its advocates, together with criticisms of alternate approaches for being in some way inadequate. Normative Ethical Theories are generally divided into two groups: Consequentialist Theories and Non-Consequentialist Theories. Non-Consequentialist Theories always reach decisions or evaluations on the basis of something other than, or in addition to, the sum total or net aggregate of the consequences of choices. Non-Consequentialist Theories do not always ignore consequences. For example, some of Ross's prima facie duties (non-injury and beneficence, for instance) are directly related to promoting good consequences or minimizing bad ones, but others (fidelity, gratitude, justice) are not. Non-consequentialism is a type of normative ethical theory that denies that the rightness or wrongness of our conduct is determined solely by the goodness or badness of the consequences of our acts or of the rules to which those acts conform. It does not deny that consequences can be a factor in determining the rightness of an act. It does insist that even when the consequences of two acts or act-types are the same, one might be wrong and the other right. Hence, non- consequentialist theory denies the truth of both act and rule consequentialism, which are understood as holding that the right act or system of rules is the one that maximizes the balance of good consequences over bad ones as determined by an impartial calculation of goods and bads.
Virtue Ethics is included under Non- Consequentialism simply because the focus of virtue ethics is on the creation or expression of character traits and not on production of the greatest net aggregate of consequences.
The other types of Non-Consequentialist theories share the feature of being clearly rule oriented. Duties can obviously be stated in terms of rules. Rights can be stated in terms of duties, which can in turn be stated in terms of rules. And theories of justice endorse principles of justice, which logically imply duties or rights that can be stated in terms of rules.
MORALITY OF ACTIONS
Actions speak louder than words. We hear these sorts of unpleasant proverbs all the time. Clearly, we put a lot of emphasis on how people act, and many of us judge right or wrong by actions as well. Well, there's actually a deep philosophical precedent for this. The philosophy that morals are determined by actions is called normative ethics. This is actually pretty prevalent in our society - just look at the justice system. We judge actions, not intentions. So, normative ethics evaluates the morality of actions, but there's more to it than that. This is philosophy; there's always another layer to explore. And it's time to take action, specifically, taking a look at the competing theories of consequentialism and non-consequentialism.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CONSEQUENTIALIST AND NON- CONSEQUENTIALIST THEORY
The Consequentialist Theories are completely based on the results. The decision making happens only based on the consequences. The Non-Consequentialist Theories always reach decisions or evaluations on the basis of something other than, or in addition to, the sum total or net aggregate of the consequences of choices. These theories do not always ignore consequences. For example, some of Ross's prima facie duties (non-injury and beneficence, for instance) are directly related to promoting good consequences or minimizing bad ones, but others (fidelity, gratitude, justice) are not. Consequentialism or teleological ethics is based on the premise that the morality of an action is contingent with the outcome of that action. This implies that morally right action produces good outcome and morally wrong produces bad outcome. The consequences are the effects caused by an action and the quality of these consequences depend on how much good they contain. Motives are the causes and the consequences are the effect. The consequences are defined by various theories such as Utilitarianism (an action is right if it leads to the most happiness for greatest number of people); hedonism {pleasure is the most important pursuit of the humankind so individuals should strive to maximise the total pleasure (net of sufferings and pains)}; egoism (an action is right if it maximises the good for the self. In other words, Egoism gives a license to actions which are good to one individual but may be detrimental to others); asceticism (abstinence from egoistic pleasures to achieve spiritual goals); altruism (to live for others and not caring for self).
The non-consequentialist approach or deontological approach or the duty ethics focuses on the rightness and wrongness of the actions themselves and not the consequences of those actions. There are several variants of non-consequentialist approach such as Divine Command Theory; Natural Rights Theory etc. Divine Command Theory says that an action is right if it has been sanctioned / decreed by God that it is right. Thus, the moral obligations arise from the command of the God. Natural Rights Theory, much developed by John Locke and Thomas Hobbe says that absolute and natural rights which are inherent in the nature of ethics and are not contingent upon the human actions. This theory developed into the Human Rights later.
Integrity is the qualifications of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. It is generally a personal choice to hold oneself to consistent moral and ethical standards. In ethics, integrity is regarded by many as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy, in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs. The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.
In every human person there is a deep desire for good. Human being by nature tend to good – Summum Bonum. Each man/woman desires what is best for himself/herself. The ethical principles and moral practices help one to attain what is best. It helps a person to perfect himself/herself as a moral being. Morality has to do more with one’s interior self than the practice of some customs or set rules. Viewed from this point, morality is a deep down desire in human person and is something to do with the very nature of human person. The rational nature of human person makes him/her aware of certain fundamental principles of logical and moral reasoning. This means that there is not only a subjective aspect to every human action but also an objective one that prompts human person to base himself/herself on certain common principles. We also find that for the functioning of any society we need certain rules and regulations. The conditions of a satisfactory human life for people living in groups could hardly obtain otherwise (neither a “state of nature” nor a “totalitarian state”). The institutions which are designed to make life easier and better for humankind, cannot function without certain moral principles.
Morality is a lot like nutrition. Most of us have never had a course in nutrition or even read much about it. Yet many of us do have some general knowledge of the field, of what we need to eat and what not. However, we also make mistakes about these things. Often thinking of the good a particular diet can do in the long run for our health, we may go for it although it may bring no immediate satisfaction. So too is our moral life. While nutrition focuses on our physical health, morality is concerned about our moral health. It seeks to help us determine what will nourish our moral life and what will poison it. It seeks to enhance our lives, to help us to live better lives. Morality aims to provide us with a common point of view from which we can come to agreement about what all of us ought to do. It tries to discover a more objective standpoint of evaluation than that of purely personal preference.
Some folks think their poor behaviour is acceptable. But, it’s not. They’re willing to turn a deaf ear to their wrongdoings. The truth is, when you think you’re fooling the world, you’re only kidding yourself. A life of honour offers abundant rewards; a life of dishonour comes at a very steep price. Your conscience should be your guiding force every day.
Here are a few reasons for why people ignore their conscience.
• Poor nurturing.
• Toxic peer pressure.
• Instant gratification.
• Impulsive behaviour.
• No Consequences.
• Everybody does it.
• Repeat offender.
• Sense of entitlement.
• End justifies the means.
• Lie to yourself.
These are the general reasons because of which people ignore their conscience.
Listening to one’s own conscience is very important. This not only allows an individual to enhance his/her personal conduct. There are some advantages of listening one’s own conscience. They are,
• Make yourself proud.
• Live without regrets.
• You can become a role model.
• It’s always a good business.
• You can build a solid reputation.
• Get a good night’s sleep and stay healthy.
Therefore listening to conscience is always good to get real. We have one life to live. We get to choose the path we take. We can take the high ground and live our life with honour and integrity. Hence, listening to our own conscience is the best way to be correct with all respects.
In an ideal society, there wouldn’t have been any need of writing on the topic, because everybody wouldn’t have been governed by their conscience and not regressive society laws and prejudices propagated by certain narrow-minded people and followed by a large number of non-thinking proletariat. By this introduction you might have gauged my dislike for such mob mentality. The acceptance of certain societal norms without weighing its significance and characteristics in your own mind seems a really futile use of having grey cells. Every time you see something morally wrong happen around you, and look the other way thinking this is none of your business, it makes you a part of the crime. You could have taken a stand, shout, fight, or even saved a life if you tried, but no! You choose to be a mute spectator, hence encouraging such monsters to perpetuating the horror through generations, eventually endangering your children. You see what goes around comes back around, so you better nip it in the bud (or whenever you are faced with it). Standing up for what you believe in not only makes your character stronger, but also, saves you from being dependent on others for your own survival needs. How would you feel if you have to wait for getting a spoilt book replaced till somebody else asks for it? You’d ask for it yourself, right? It goes the same with moral values and beliefs. The society won’t change on its own till you try to change it yourself.
Following are some of the interesting things that we get from taking right decisions in every situation.
• It gives you freedom.
• Handling complicated situations will be easy and taking stand for right makes you brave.
• You get a chance to create something which none has even thought of.
• You can be a role model for your peers and kids.
• It gives you a sense of being and increases your self-confidence.
• Inspire others by your deeds and own it up.
These are a few benefits of standing up for right and taking correct decisions. Helps a lot in the situations where ethical dilemma occurs. Standing up for right makes one brave and allows the individual to look ahead for ethically correct things.
Having ethical values in oneself helps to win the trust of others. Builds self-confidence, everything becomes positive and nothing left negative. This attitude helps one to adapt the changes quickly. This leads to proper decision making. Ultimately, one becomes extremely productive and efficient. Intuitionism and its morality allows one to build a strong personality. Helps to grow in a positive way at an individual level. Encourages one to make firm decisions based on some pre-decided set of rules. Consequentialism always allows an individual to make quick overview of a situation. Allows one to take decisions, based on some predicted outcomes. Alternative actions can be taken on the basis of results. To make a good, stable and firm decision. One must keep both the aspects in mind. Good balance between intuition based decision and consequence driven decision helps an individual to be smarter and quicker than any other individual.
