Ethical Systems

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that

studies the systems of morality wherein
one can either defend, recommend, or
augment right or wrong conduct.
The word “ethics” is derived from the
What is Ancient Greek word, “ethos,” referring
to the customs and practices of a
Ethics? certain group of people or society.
Ethics is a concept that has strong ties
with the idea of morality. Morality is the
actual practice or action taken by
human agents.
 • The goal of ethics is to study, scrutinize,
recommend, and modify morality.
What is • While mostly used interchangeably with ethics,
morality is often assigned to the actual action
ethics? taken by human subjects.
• Ethics is the study of moral acts or the
codes/reasons behind such conducts and act.
What is ethics?
• While mostly used
interchangeably with
ethics, morality is often
assigned to the actual
action taken by human
subjects.
• The fact that humans have
freewill and autonomy,
makes the study of ethics
challenging and
interesting.
Morality and ethics
• Morals or morality is a much • The study of these moral acts or
more accurate term to use in the the codes/reasons behind moral
case of an actual act performed. acts is delegated to ethics.
 • The study of ethics is motivated by the fact that
people are agents of their own actions, and
their actions have consequences that can affect
society.
• Humans are subject to the influence of norms
What is or customs that are responsible for integrating
them to society. However, they are also subject
ethics? to the call and beckon of their autonomy and
freewill that might be contrary to established
norms and customs.
• This relationship permeates every facet of life
that we experience on a day to day basis.
What is ethics?

• Crime for example,

might be a violation of
ethical norms, but a
crime is often
committed in
circumstances wherein
norms are violated for
the sake of fulfilling an
end or goal. (i.e. to eat
or to survive)
 What is ethics?

• Ethics must account for

instances wherein moral norms
are violated for a certain goal.
• Perhaps in ethics, it is possible to
study violations of moral norms
in order to understand the
context and limitations of Poverty might not be an excuse for crime, but it can certainly
Tell us why people are reduced to the life of crime just for the
existing moral norms. Sake of fulfilling certain ends.
Importance of ethics
• Autonomy is both the source of
problem and solutions in any
discourse in ethics.
• We are all autonomous to a
certain degree, despite the
belief that there is an
“influence” in what we choose
to do, choosing what to “do” is a
matter of selectivity.
• The importance of the study of
ethics lies in the possible effects
of human agency to society as a
whole.
• All human actions find its
derivation from society, and
these acts can either lead to
good or bad consequences.
• For example, Martin
Shkreli, CEO of Turing
Pharmaceuticals, raised
the prices of anti-retroviral
drugs from 13.50USD to
750USD.
• He claims that he made
this decision to increase
research into AIDS
medication.
 • In the study of ethical systems, it would be wise
to avoid generalizations or “universalizations” of
values without establishing proper context.
• The idea of a universalized system of values is
problematic because it creates a very
A word of mechanical approach towards the
understanding of ethics.
caution • While it is possible to say that there is indeed an
objective value for any ethical system, it will be
difficult to prove that there is an all-
encompassing rule or law that can guide human
subjects.
Course procedures

To guide the
discussions in this
2. Normative 3. Issues,
course, I have
1. Context of the principles implications, and
prepared three
theory/ethical advanced by the problematique of
criteria that we
system theory/ethical the theory/ethical
will follow in the
system system
discussion of
ethical systems:
Classification and types
 • Ethical systems can be classified as either
Normative normative or non-normative.
and Non- • Normative ethics is responsible for setting and
determining moral standards to follow so that
normative human actions can be aligned towards moral
good. It follows two areas: general and applied
ethics ethics.
 Is a search for principles of human
conduct including a critical study of the
major theories about what things are
good, what acts are right, and what acts
are evil. It attempts to determine what
moral standards to follow so that our
actions may be morally right or good.
General
ethics
It tries to defend a system of basic
ethical principles that presumably are
valid for everyone.
 • Is an attempt to explain and justify positions
on specific moral problems or issues, like
capital punishment, abortion,
Applied ethics discrimination, etc. The applied ethicist uses
the general principles in an attempt to
resolve a specific moral problem.
Non-normative ethics
01
Non-normative ethics or
descriptive ethics deals with
establishing the context of
an ethical position without
producing an ethical
judgment as to whether it is
right or wrong.
02 03
Moreover, non-normative Non-normative ethics can
ethics can in turn provide an be categorized as either
insight into the context of scientific or meta-ethical.
normative values by looking
at the practices that validate
its “rightness” or
“wrongness.”
 • The scientific or descriptive study of morality
involves the factual investigation of moral
behavior. It is concerned with how people do in
fact behave.
• Anthropologists and sociologists, for example,
Scientific investigate and describe moral attitudes, they
report on how moral attitudes and codes differ
from society to society, and investigating and
describing the values and behaviors of different
societies.
Meta ethics
• Meta ethics is a technical discipline investigating the meaning of
ethical terms, including a critical study of how ethical statements can
be verified.
• It is concerned with the meaning of terms like right, obligation,
responsibility, etc.
• The meta-ethicist would be concerned about the meaning of the term
good and bad, that what we think is good and bad, or what we mean
when we say right or wrong.
• Meta-ethics is concerned with how certain ethical positions are
justified and what concepts that they employ for this justification.