Introduction to Ethics

By Philip H. Troutman, A.B. M.Div.

Adjunct Instructor
Midway College, Midway, Kentucky

Copyright 2008 by Philip H. Troutman. The right of the author to be recognized as creator of this
presentation is fully reserved under all applicable international law.
 Why Study Ethics?
 Guidance for our Decisions. Through a study of
ethics, we learn to make moral decisions based
on values, principles, rather than on personal
preference alone or ─ at random!
 Aid to Self-evaluation ─ Studying ethics helps us
see our own virtues and vices, and to evaluate
our own behavior more objectively.
 Protects us from deception, exploitation ─ The
best protection against being deceived by others
is knowing what you believe, and why you
believe it.
 Etymologies, Definitions
 Ethics ─ fr. Greek ēthikós “moral, ethical.”
 Ethics ─ n. ─ “the discipline dealing with
what is good and bad or right and wrong or
with moral duty and obligation” (MW).
 Moral, morality ─ fr. Latin, moralis
“customary”
 Moral ─ adj. ─ “of or relating to principles or
considerations of right and wrong action or
good and bad character” (MW).
 Definitions
 Norms ─ standards of conduct, principles of
right action, “ought” statements.
 Values ─ principles, qualities, behaviors, etc.,
we view as intrinsically worthy, desirable,
important, or useful.
 Values => Norms ─ Ethical norms express our
fundamental values in concrete prescriptions
for morally acceptable behavior.
 Thoughts to ponder:
 Do we always behave in consonance with our
fundamental values?

 Does our behavior demonstrate what we

truly value?

“Actions speak louder than words.”

 Sub-disciplines of Ethics
 Metaethics ─ (lit. “beyond ethics”) “the study
of the origin and meaning of ethical concepts”
(IEP). Lays the theoretical foundations for …

 Normative ethics ─ develops theories of

morality which set standards of right and
wrong conduct

 Applied ethics ─ examines specific,

controversial ethical issues, seeking a morally
justifiable position (or positions) and ethical
course(s)s of action.
 Approaches to Ethics
 Normative ethics ─ deals with what people
ought to do, with what kind of persons they
ought to be.

 Descriptive ethics ─ describes what a group,

culture or society actually does, what they
actually believe is right and wrong.
 Approaches to Ethics
 Action-based ethics ─ Sees ethics as a matter
of doing right. Key question: “What ought we
to do? What action should we take?”

 Virtue-based ethics ─ Sees ethics as a matter

of being good. Key question: “What sort of
persons ought we to be?”
 Source of Normativity
 Objectivism ─ Views the proper source of
ethical norms as external to human persons,
in the objective features of the world. These
norms apply universally to all moral beings.

 Subjectivism ─ Sees the proper source of

ethical norms as internal to human persons,
in the subjective feelings, beliefs, and
preferences of the person or group. These
norms apply only to the person or group
which formulates them.
 Potential Sources of Normativity
 Religion ─ Most religions specify the nature
of good and evil, what type of person one
should be, and how one should live.
 Natural Law ─ Some ethical systems see right
and wrong as inherent in the nature of the
world and human nature (natural law).
 Culture, Society ─ All societies permit/praise
some actions, and prohibit/blame others.
Some ethicists believe that right and wrong
are determined exclusively by the culture or
social group of which one is a member.
 Potential Sources of Normativity
 Intuition ─ Some ethicists believe that
human beings intuitively know right from
wrong. These ethical standards apply to all
people universally.
 Personal preference ─ Some ethicists feels
that statements about right and wrong are,
ultimately, no more than expressions of
individual preference. Each one’s ethical
standards apply to oneself only.
 Important Ethical Theories
 Divine Command Theory ─ asserts that
guidelines for right conduct have been
revealed to humankind by God, who requires
obedience to them. Morality is what God wills
it to be.
 Natural Law Theory ─ holds that the moral
standards which govern human behavior are
derived from the nature of human beings and
of the world itself.
 Important Ethical Theories
 Consequentialism ─ holds that an action is
morally right if the consequences are more
favorable than unfavorable. For consequentialism,
the end result determines an action’s morality.
• Ethical Egoism ─ an action is moral if its consequences
are more favorable than unfavorable only to the agent
doing the action. “I should do what’s best for me.”
• Ethical Altruism ─ an action is moral if its consequences
are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except
the agent. “I should do what is best for others.”
• Utilitarianism ─ an action is moral if its consequences
are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. “I
should do what’s best for us all.”
 Important Ethical Theories
 Kantian Ethics ─ based on the teachings of
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). He asserted that
truly ethical actions are: 1) motivated by a sense
of duty; and 2) universalizable, i.e. they can be
recommended to all people everywhere.

 Social Contract Theory ─ the view that the

moral and/or political obligations of any
group of people are dependent upon a
contract or agreement between them to form
society and live according to its rules.
 Important Ethical Theories
 Intuitionism ─ holds that certain actions are
intrinsically right or wrong, and that human
beings can (often) intuitively recognize and
distinguish between them. Because humans are
fallible, the intuitive opinion of a group may be
more reliable than that of a single individual.
 Virtue Ethics ─ insists that ethical actions are
those performed by a virtuous person, who
possesses the full range of moral excellence and
virtue, whose only necessary motivation for
action is that, “Such-and-such is intrinsically
right, therefore I must do it.”
 Important Ethical Theories
 Feminist Ethics ─ seeks to rethink and reformulate
those aspects of traditional Western ethics that
depreciate or devalue women's moral experience.
Some feminist ethicists affirm that women may have
moral insights which differ fundamentally from
those of men. They also suggests that women may
make moral decisions based more on an intuitive
grasp of the situation than on considerations of duty
or rules. And it is suggested that in evaluating
possible courses of action, women may place
relatively more emphasis on issues of relationship
and caring than do men.
 Important Ethical Theories
 Moral Relativism ─ the position that there are
no objective, universal moral truths; definitions
of right and wrong are relative to social, cultural,
historical or personal beliefs and circumstances.
Varieties of relativism include cultural relativism,
historicism, and extreme or individual relativism.

 Moral Nihilism (Latin nihil “nothing”) ─ literally,

moral nothingness. This is the (meta-ethical)
view that objective morality does not exist, and
therefore no action is ethically superior or
preferable to any other.