Ethics

• Ethics may be described as a critical reflection on various life situations or as an inquiry into some standard that guides one's action.
• Ethics suggests that besides action, theory is needed to make one's engagement in life more meaningful and understandable.
• Early Greek natural scientists/philosophers sought to understand the inner workings of nature through theoretical experiments.
• Thales of Miletus believed that primal matter is water.
• Anaximander believed that primal matter is unidentifiable “Apeiron” unlimited or boundless.
• Anaximander also believed that air is the primal substance.
• Anaxagoras believed that all natural movements is the tie ordering power of a cosmic mind or “nous”.
• Astomist believed in atom and voidness.
• Despite the varying views about the primal substance of nature, the early scientist/philosophers have one thing in common: their motivation to inquire and understand the underlying principle of reality as they knew it.
• Normative Ethics examines the ethical quality of particular cases.
• Normative ethics may involve articulating the good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we should follow.
• Normative ethics questions as “what should one do?” and “what is the good or bad of an action?”.
• Normative ethics is about the practical means of determining a moral course of action.
• Meta-ethics is not a normative system of ethics, it does not tell us what we can and can’t do.
• Meta-ethics is concerned with what we mean when we use words like ‘good’ ‘bad’ ‘right’ ‘wrong’.
• Blackburn’s 7 threats to ethics include Death of God, Relativism, Egoism, Evolutionary theory, Determinism and futility, Unreasonable demands, and False consciousness.
• His ability to think is the ultimate expression of freedom.
• Meta-ethics is a study that deals with the question of whether or not ethics or ethical theory exists.
• Philosophy, according to Phytagoras, is a love of wisdom.
• Philosophy, in a classical description, is a search for ultimate reality in the light of reason.
• Socrates shifted the practice of inquiry from outside of man to man himself, from being inquiring to being who is the subject of inquiry.
• Socrates is known for his "Socratic method" of questioning, his "Socratic life" of contemplation, and his admonition to "Know thyself".
• Plato is known for his dialogues, particularly "The Form", "The Allegory of the cave", "The republic", "The souls", and his belief that a moral life is a political life.
• Ethics involves a question of goodness.
• Thomas Hobbes' concept of "Leviathan" involves immense power and propensity to impose itself.
• The questions, "who am i?" and "what am i to do with my life?" are all questions to understand oneself to use them as guides for his/her action.
• The Panoptic Effect of Foucault refers to the voice that dispenses instructions, monitors, behavior, and controls the interactions of his subjects.
• Thomas Hobbes' concept of "Leviathan" suggests that humans will live their lives according to their own determination.
• Thomas Hobbes' concept of "Man is a wolf to man" and "Leviathan" are examples of ethics in a changing society.
• A philosophical reflection on the realities of life for a fuller and more meaningful human experience.
• Ethics is changeable, while morality is unchangeable.
• Thomas Hobbes' concept of "Leviathan" suggests that if all actions, intentions, and affections are reduced to instances of subservience to the will of another claiming to be superior, what will be left of humanity?
• Aristotle defines "Totality of the task activity" as a key concept in ethics.
• Aristotle's concept of "Life in moderation" is achieved through phronesis, leading to "Eudaimonia" or happiness.
• Ethics is philosophical because it emerges from our basic desire to make sense of the complexities of the human condition.
• Ethics is relative and morality is absolute/ universal.
• George Orwell's novel 1984 and the concept of "Big Brother" are examples of ethics in a changing society.
• Morality Ethic involves confronting every situation regardless of time and space.
• According to Aristotle, ethics is not merely an act of a particular task or acquiring certain objects but also knowing what these are for.
• Ethics involves confronting a situation at hand (time and space).