Chapter 1

• 3 Defining Features of Moral Standards

  1. They concern behaviour that seriously affects human well-being
  2. Take priority over other standards
  3. Their legitimacy depends on the reason that support them
• Standards of Etiquette

  • Norms of correct conduct
  • Change over time and differ from place to place
  • Don't obviously share any of the characteristic features of moral norms
  • However, sometimes violating these standards have moral implications
• Legal Standards

  • An action can be illegal but morally right
  • An action that is legal can be morally wrong (ex: capital punishment)
  • Nonetheless, there is an overlap between moral and legal norms (hard to separate)
• Professional Code of Ethics

  • Like legal norms, there's a fair amount of overlap between professional and moral norms
  • We have a prima facie obligation to live up to our professional responsibilities
  • Nonetheless, we also have a standing moral obligation to question them
• Organizational (business) Norms Promote:

  • Conformity (groupthink)
  • Diffusion of Responsibility (bystander effect)
• Moral Standards


  Concerned with behaviour that seriously affects human well-being
• 3 Possible Justifications for Moral Standards

  1. Divine Command Theory (based on God)
  2. Ethical Relativism (based on society/culture)
  3. Conscience
• Divine Command Theory

  • The view that an act is morally right because God commands it or that an act is morally wrong because God forbids it
• Ethical Relativism

  • States that what is right, is determined by what a culture or society says is right

  Problem:

  • You wouldn't be able to engage in moral criticism of your own society's views
• Conscience

  Problem:

  • It isn't a reliable guide for moral truth by itself because it can either not bother us when it should, or it might disturb us about something that is perfectly okay