BASIC CONCEPTS OF

ETHICS
 TO START WITH…
Let us ponder this thought:

“ I am Right and you are Wrong!”

“ I am Wrong and you are Right!”

Are you the type of person who usually ‘does the right thing’?
How do you know what the ‘right thing’ is?
 WHAT ETHICS IS…

 The branch of philosophical study

that is concerned with studying
and/or building up a coherent set
of ‘rules’ or principles by which
people ought to live.
 The theoretical study of ethics is
not normally something that many
people would regard as being
necessary in order for them to
conduct their everyday activities.
In place of systematically examined “it is right to help
people in need”
ethical frameworks, most people instead
carry around a useful set of day-to-day
‘rules of thumb’ that influence and
govern their behaviour.

“It is wrong to steal”

‘But sometimes the vicissitudes and complexities of life mean that these simple rules are
sometimes put to the test…’

• Is it wrong to kill
If we try to apply our everyday notions of right and wrong to these
animals? questions, straightforward answers are not always forthcoming. We
• Is killing in self defense need to examine these questions in more detail; and we need
wrong? theoretical frameworks that can help us to analyze complex
• Is the lying wrong? problems and to find rational, coherent solutions to those problems.
• Is cheating wrong Whilst some people attempt to do this work individually, for
themselves, philosophers attempt to find general answers that can be
used by everyone in society
 ‘I should do the
best thing for my
Think about a significant decision that you have made that
life whatever it
had an effect(either for good or bad) on the lives of other
people. This could be a decision about changing a job or a
costs’
profession, moving home, responding to a dilemma, helping
somebody who was in difficulty, etc.How did you arrive at
your decision? Was your decision based explicitly on ideas of
what was right and wrong? Try to examine and record
‘I should precisely the justifications for your decision. Can you identify
always help any underlying principles or rules which you used to reach ‘It is OK to tell
your decision? Examples of such underlying principles or someone a lie if it
someone in
rules might include: prevents someone
difficulty.’
from being hurt by
the truth.’
The branch of philosophy
called ‘ethics’ is concerned
with questions concerning
how human beings ought to
live their lives, and about
what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
 ETHICS AND MORALITY
The terms ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ are not
always used consistently and precisely in
everyday contexts, and their ordinary
meanings do not always correspond with
philosophers’ use of the terms
 Ethics is often used in connection with the activities of  Morality is more often used in connection
organizations and with professional codes of conduct:
with the ways in which individuals
Example: medical, environmental, and business ethics conduct their personal, private lives, often
 are often formalized in terms of exhaustive sets of in relation to personal financial probity,
rules or guidelines stating how employees are expected lawful conduct and acceptable standards
to behave in their workplaces (such as in respect of a
of interpersonal behaviour
duty of care or confidentiality that health-care workers
owe to their patients; or the medical ethical principles  Example: truthfulness, honesty, and sexual
of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for
propriety, justice, fairness.
autonomy, and justice)
Areas of Ethical Study

A. Meta-ethics, which focuses on the Meta-ethics is therefore concerned

meaning of ethical terms themselves (for
instance, ‘what is goodness?’), and on
questions of how ethical knowledge is
obtained (for instance, ‘how can I distinguish
what is good from what is bad?’),
rather than on the more applied question of
‘what should I do in a particular situation?
with the nature of ethical properties,
statements, attitudes and judgments.
Meta-ethics examines such themes as
what moral questions mean, and on
what basis people can know what is
‘true’ or ‘false’.
B. Normative ethics, in contrast, is the
study of ethical acts. It therefore focuses
explicitly on questions of ‘what is the
right thing to do?’ in general. Normative
ethics is concerned with questions of
what people ought to do, and on how
people can decide what the ‘correct’
moral actions to take are.
C. Applied ethics, which is concerned
with how people can achieve moral
outcomes in specific situations. Therefore,
it is concerned with the philosophical
examination of particular – and often
complex – issues that involve moral
judgments. Areas such as bioethics,
environmental ethics, development ethics
and business/corporate ethics may be
regarded as areas of applied ethics.
D. Comparative ethics, also called Comparative ethics, in contrast to
Descriptive Ethics, the empirical normative ethics, is thus the proper
(observational) study of the moral beliefs subject matter of the social sciences
and practices of different peoples and
(e.g., anthropology, history,
cultures in various places and times. It
aims not only to elaborate such beliefs sociology, and psychology).
and practices but also to understand them
insofar as they are causally conditioned
by social, economic, and geographic
circumstances.
 Normative ethics focuses on
Meta ethics focuses on the Content of Morality
the Nature of morality

To Sum Up

Applied ethics focuses on Descriptive ethics

how the morality is achieved focuses on how
in a specific situations people behave
MORAL STANDARD vs NON-MORAL
STANDARD
 What falls outside the sphere of Morality is Non-
Morality Standards
Example: eating when hungry, sleeping when feels asleep etc.

 Moral standards are different because they concern

behavior that is of serious consequence to human
welfare, that can profoundly injure or benefit peoples
Example The conventional moral norms against lying, stealing and murdering deals with
actions that can hurt people.

 And the moral principle that human beings should

be treated with dignity and respect uplifts the
human personality.
 Moral standards take priority over other
standards, including self interest
 Their soundness depends on the adequacy of the
reasons that support or justify them
 MORAL STANDARDS VS ETIQUETTE
Etiquettes refers to any special code
of behavior or courtesy e.g. It is
usually considered bad etiquettes to
chew with one’s mouth open
 If we violate the rules of etiquettes
that we have read in the books then
we rightly considered as ill-
mannered, impolite or even un-
civilized but not necessary immoral
Rules of etiquettes are generally non
moral in nature:
Example: “Push your chair back into
place upon leaving a dinner table.“
But violation of etiquette can have
moral implications . The male boss
who refers to female subordinates as
“honey” or “doll” shows bad
manners
MORAL STANDARD VS LAW

Peoples sometimes confused legality and
morality, but they are different things. On
one hand, breaking law is not always or
necessarily immoral. On the other hand, the
legality of an action does not guarantee that
it is morally right.
Example: An action can be illegal but morally
right e.g. Helping a Jewish family to hide from the
Nazis was against German Law 1939, but it would
have been a morally admirable thing to have done
An action that is legal can be morally
wrong e.g. It may have been perfectly
legal for the chairman of a profitable
company to layoff 125 workers and use
three- quarters of the money saved to
boost his pay and that of the company’s
other top manager, but morality of his
doing is so open to debate
Not all our actions Sources of Morality Following and not
are under the realm are those that following the
of Morality (Non- promote its standard standards of Morality
Standard) will either make us a
moral person or an
immoral person

To Sum Up!
 Dilemmas are situations in which moral
reasons come into conflict, or in which the
MORAL application of moral values are problems,
and one is not clear of the immediate choice
DILEMM or solution of the problems.

A
Should I lie to Should I steal
save my since I am
relationship? very hungry?
Moral reasons
could be rights,
duties, goods or
obligations.
Reality of Moral Dilemma

These situations do not There are some

mean that things had gone
difficulties in arriving
wrong, but they only
indicate the presence of at the solution to the
moral complexity problems, in
dilemma.

This makes the

decision- making
complex. Which is
the top priority
Three complex situations
leading to moral
dilemmas

1. The problem 2. The problem of

of vagueness conflicting reasons 3. The problem of
disagreement
• One is unable to • One is unable to • There may be two
distinguish choose between or more solutions
between good two good moral and none of them
and bad (right or solutions. One mandatory. These
wrong) principle. has to fix priority, solutions may be
through better or worse in
knowledge or some respects but
value system. not in all aspects.
 1. Identification of the moral factors
and reasons. The clarity to identify
Solving the relevant moral values from
among duties, rights, goods and

Moral obligations is obtained (conceptual

inquiry).

Dilemma 2. Collection of all information, data,

and facts (factual inquiry) relevant
to the situation.
Logical Steps 3. Rank the moral options i.e.,
priority in application through value
system, and also as obligatory, all
right, acceptable, not acceptable,
damaging, and most damaging etc.
 4. Generate alternate courses of
Solving action to resolve the dilemma. Write
down the main options and sub-

Moral options as a matrix or decision tree

to ensure that all options are
included.
Dilemma 5. Discuss with colleagues and obtain
their perspectives, priorities, and
Logical Steps suggestions on various alternatives.
6. Decide upon a final course of
action, based on priority fixed or
assumed. If there is no ideal
solution, we arrive at a partially
satisfactory or ‘satisficing’ solution
 It is defined as, decisions and actions
MORAL exercised on the basis of moral concern
AUTONOMY for other people and recognition of good
moral reasons.
 It can also mean ‘self determinant or
independent’. The autonomous people
hold moral beliefs and attitudes based on
their critical reflection rather than on
passive adoption of the conventions of the
society or profession.
 It may also be defined as a skill and habit
of thinking rationally about the ethical
issues, on the basis of moral concern.