This document provides an overview of ethical theories, including descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. It discusses consequentialist theories like ethical egoism, ethical altruism, and utilitarianism, which focus on the outcomes of actions. It also covers non-consequentialist theories like deontological theories and virtue ethics, which emphasize duties and virtues rather than consequences. The document is intended as a module on lifeskills and ethics presented by an assistant professor at a technical institute in India.

1. L I F E S K I L L S
S 4 E E E , E C , C I V I L
K T U
M O D U L E - 4
R I Z A E T A B D U L R A H I M
A S S T. P R O F E S S O R ( M B A D E P T )
S R E E N A R AYA N A I N S T I T U T E O F
T E C H N O LO G Y, A D O O R

2. • ETHICS= MORALS + VALUES
• MORALS- the principles of right and wrong in human behavior, mostly based on one’s
conscience.
• VALUES-Values are principles that reflect one’s judgements of what is important in life.
• ETHICS-Ethics is the set of codes of conduct or moral principles with which behaviour
can be analyzed as good or bad or right or wrong

3. ETHICAL THEORIES
• DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS-COMPARATIVE ETHICS
• NORMATIVE ETHICS-PRESCRIPTIVE ETHICS/ THEORIES OF RIGHT ACTION
• APPLIED ETHICS- ETHICS IN PRACTICE
• META ETHICS- ABSTRACT AND PROBING THEORIES TO ETHICS

4. NORMATIVE ETHICAL
THEORIES
Consequential
Theories/Teleological Theories
Non-Consequential Theories

5. CONSEQUENTIAL AND NON-CONSEQUENTIAL THEORIES
CONSEQUENTIAL
ETHICAL EGOISM
ETHICAL
ALTRUISM
UTILITARIANISM
NON-
CONSEQUENTIAL
DEONTOLOGICAL
THEORIESS
VIRTUE ETHICS

6. Consequentialist Theories
• Consequentialism is the view that morality of an action is solely a
function of the goodness or badness of its outcomes. Consequentialist
theories are otherwise called teleological theories, origin of the term
from a Greek word “telos” which means end, since the end result is
considered the only criterion for moral judgement.
These theories are about good intentions than following any rigid rule
there are dilemmas like “being good to whom?” and “best consequences
to whom?”. Various categories of consequentialist theories are given
below.

7. 1. Ethical Egoism This theory takes the view that an action is morally right if its
consequence is good for the agent performing the action. In other words, it is always
moral to do something if it promotes one’s own good or self interest regardless of its
impacts on others.
2. Ethical Altruism This takes the view that an action is morally right if its
consequence is good for individuals other than the agent who performs the action. It is
something like self sacrifice. Here the moral value of an action solely depends on the
impact on others regardless of its effect on oneself.
3. Utilitarianism It holds the view that right actions are those that maximize total
utility, that is, the greatest good for greatest number. Instead of self promotion or self
sacrifice, this approach makes a cost benefit analysis of consequences affected by all
parties concerned and choosing an action that results in maximum happiness of all.

8. Non Consequentialist Theories
Virtue Theory/Virtue Ethics
Virtue theory/Virtue ethics recognizes the virtue of mind and character as the most
important elements of ethics and moral philosophy. Individual’s virtues are emphasized
rather than doing one’s duty or acting to bring about good consequences.
Duty or Deontological Theories
Deontological (duty based theories) are of the view that morality of an action is solely
dependent on the quality of the action.

9. • ANY DOUBTS……PLEASE CONTACT……