ETHICS

• Ethics


  Matters such as the good thing that we should pursue and the bad thing that we should avoid; the right ways in which we could or should act and the wrong ways of acting. It is about what is acceptable and unacceptable in human behavior.
• Aesthetics


  Judgments of personal approval or disapproval that we make about what we see, hear, smell, or taste.
• Etiquette


  Concerned with right and wrong actions, but those which might be considered not quite grave enough to belong to a discussion on ethics.
• Morals


  Specific beliefs or attitudes that people have or to describe acts that people perform.
• Ethics


  The discipline of studying and understanding ideal human behavior and ideal ways of thinking.
• Descriptive study of ethics


  Reports how people, particularly groups, make their moral valuations without making any judgment either for or against these valuations.
• Normative study of ethics


  Engages the question: What could or should be considered as the right way of acting? It prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases for moral valuation.
• Moral issue


  A situation that calls for moral valuation.
• Moral decision


  When one is placed in a situation and confronted by the choice of what act to perform.
• Moral judgment


  When a person is an observer who makes an assessment on the actions or behavior of someone.
• Moral dilemma


  A more complicated situation wherein one is torn between choosing one of two goods or choosing between the lesser of two evils.
• A person's fear of punishment or desire for reward can provide him a reason for acting in a certain way. But this way of thinking seems to be a shallow way of understanding reason because it does not show any true understanding of why a certain way of acting is right or wrong.
• A moral theory is a systematic attempt to establish the validity of maintaining certain moral principles. Insofar as a theory is a system of thought or of ideas, it can also be referred to as a framework.
• By studying these frameworks, we can reconsider, clarify, modify, and ultimately strengthen our principles, thereby informing better both our moral judgments and moral decisions.
• In The Apology of Socrates written by Plato, Socrates makes the claim that it is the greatest good for a person to spend time thinking about and discussing with others these questions on goodness and virtue.
• Several common ways of thinking about ethics are based on the idea that the standards of valuation are imposed by a higher authority that commands our obedience.
• Positive law


  The different rules and regulations that are posited or put forward by an authority figure that require compliance
• The law does not tell us what we should do; it works by constraining us from performing acts that we should not do. The law cannot tell us what to pursue, only what to avoid.
• The divine command theory claims that one is obliged to obey her God in all things.
• There are problems with using religion as the basis of ethics, such as the presence of a multiplicity of religions with conflicting ethical standards, and the need to clarify the connection between ethics and the Divine.
• Plato's dialogue Euthyphro raises the question of whether something is holy because it is loved by the gods, or if it is loved by the gods because it is holy.
• This relates to the question of whether something is right only because God commanded it, or if it is right in itself and that is why God commanded it.
• Divine command theory


  The view that something is right or wrong solely because God commanded or prohibited it
• If we accept that killing is wrong only because God commanded it, then there is nothing inherently wrong with killing
• If we accept that killing is wrong in itself, then there are standards of right and wrong independent of God
• The divine command theory demands that the entire sense of right and wrong be identified with what religion dictates
• Questioning the divine command theory is not a challenge to one's faith, but an invitation to consider more creative ways of seeing the connection between faith and ethics
• Cultural relativism is the view that what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is relative to or dependent on one's culture
• Cultural relativism seems to conform to the reality of differences in how cultures make their ethical valuations
• Cultural relativism teaches us to be tolerant of others from different cultures, as we realize we are in no position to judge their ethical thought or practice
• Cultural relativism implies that we cannot judge the practices of another culture, even if they seem to call for genocide or oppression
• Cultural relativism implies that we cannot call our own culture into question, even if we are not satisfied with certain aspects of it
• In an increasingly globalized world, the notion of a static and well-defined culture gives way to greater flexibility and integration, making cultural relativism problematic
• Cultural relativism tends to deprive us of our use of critical thought, as it forces us to simply accept whatever our culture gives us
• Subjectivism is the view that the individual is the sole determinant of what is morally good or bad, right or wrong
• Subjectivism is problematic because it takes the fact that I am the subject making the valuation and uses this as the basis for that valuation, without any other basis to look toward
• Psychological egoism


  The view that all human actions are ultimately motivated by self-interest
• "It is good if I say that it is good.": 'Subjectivist view on values'
• Subjectivism is an untenable view for someone interested in ethics
• Psychological egoism


  A theory that describes the underlying dynamic behind all human actions as being motivated by self-interest