GEDC1009: ETHICS LONG QUIZ

• Meta-ethics


  The branch of ethics that studies the nature of morality. It talks about the meaning, reference, and truth values of moral judgments. It also explains what goodness and wickedness mean and how we know about them.
• Basic theories as frameworks in ethics

  • Cognitivism
  • Non-cognitivism
• Cognitivism


  States that moral judgments convey propositions; that is, they are "truth bearers," or they are either true or false.
• Non-cognitivism


  Denies that moral judgments are either true or false. It claims that ethical sentences do not convey authentic propositions, hence are neither true nor false.
• Cognitivism

  • Moral realism
  • Ethical subjectivism
• Moral realism


  Claims that the existence of moral facts and the truth (or falsity) of moral judgments are independent of people's thoughts and perceptions.
• Ethical subjectivism


  Holds that the truth (or falsity) of ethical propositions is dependent on the attitudes or standards of a person or group of persons.
• Emotivism


  The most popular form of non-cognitivist theory. It submits that moral judgments are mere expressions of our emotions and feelings.
• Basic theories as frameworks in ethics


  • Moral universalism
  • Moral relativism
• Moral universalism


  Theorizes that moral facts and principles apply to everybody in all places.
• Moral relativism


  Submits that different moral facts and principles apply to different persons or groups of individuals.
• Basic theories as frameworks in ethics

  • Moral empiricism
  • Moral rationalism
  • Moral institutionalism
• Moral empiricism


  States that moral facts are known through observation and experience.
• Moral rationalism


  Contends that moral facts and principles are knowable a priori, that is, by reason alone and without reference to experience.
• Moral institutionalism


  States that moral truths are knowable by an institution, that is, by direct, intuitive knowledge without reference to experience.
• Normative ethics


  Studies how humans ought to act, morally speaking. It examines ethical norms, that is, those guidelines about what is right, worthwhile, virtuous, or just.
• Classifications of normative ethical theories

  • Deontology
  • Teleology
• Deontology


  An ethical system that bases morality on independent moral rules or duties.
• Teleology


  Refers to a moral system that determines the moral value of actions by their outcomes or results.
• Virtue ethics


  A moral philosophy that teaches an action is right if it is an action that a virtuous person would perform in the same situations.
• Applied ethics


  Philosophically examines specific, controversial moral issues.
• Applied ethical subfields

  • Bioethics
  • Environmental ethics
  • Business ethics
  • Sexual ethics
• Bioethics


  Concerns ethical issues about life, biomedical researches, medicines, health care, and the medical profession.
• Environmental ethics


  Deals with moral issues concerning nature, ecosystem, and its non-human contents. This includes topics such as animal rights, animal experimentation, endangered species preservation, pollution control, and sustainable development.
• Business ethics


  Examines moral principles concerning the business environment, which involves issues about corporate practices, policies, business behaviors, and the conduct and relationships of individuals in the organizations.
• Sexual ethics


  Studies moral issues about sexuality and human sexual behavior.
• Social ethics


  Deals with what is right for a society to do and how it should act as a whole.
• Aristotle's works mainly concerning morality

  • Eudemian Ethics
  • Nicomachean Ethics
• Eudemian Ethics


  Focuses on happiness (eudaimonia) and how to obtain it.
• Nicomachean Ethics


  Mostly on what we should do, virtue ethics is interested basically in what we should be, that is, the character or the sort of person we should struggle to become.
• Telos


  An end or purpose. Aristotle believed that the essence or essential nature of beings, including humans, lay not at their cause (or beginning) but their end ("telos").
• Thomas Aquinas' Ethics


  Also called the Angelic Doctor and the Prince of Scholastics, is an Italian philosopher and theologian who ranks among the most critical thinkers of the medieval period.
• The Natural Law


  Means an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by someone who has care of the community.
• Four primary types of law

  • Eternal law
  • Natural law
  • Human law
  • Divine law
• Eternal law


  Refers to the rational plan of God by which all creation is ordered.
• Natural law


  Aspect of the eternal law which is accessible to human reason.
• Human law


  Refers to the positive laws.
• Divine law


  Serves to complement the other types of law. It is a law of revelation, disclosed through sacred text or Scriptures and the Church which is also directed toward human's eternal end.
• Kantian Ethics


  Kant categorically rejects that ethical judgments are based on feelings. His ethical theory instead bases moral judgments on reason alone.
• Rights Theory

  is the notion that for a society to be productive, the government must approach the making and enforcement of laws with the right intentions with respect to the end goals of the society that it governs.