Ethics
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Ethics
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
Ethics (from Greek ethikos) is the branch of axiology - one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic - which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy.
The first social science
Assumptions about ethical underpinnings of human behaviour are reflected in every social science, including: anthropology because of the complexities involved in relating one culture to another, economics because of its role in the distribution of scarce resources, political science because of its role in allocating power, sociology because of its roots in the dynamics of groups, law because of its role in codifying ethical constructs like mercy and punishment, criminology because of its role in rewarding ethical behaviour and discouraging unethical behaviour, and psychology because of its role in defining, understanding, and treating unethical behaviour.
Ethics has also been extended to the hard sciences, such as biology (as bioethics) and ecology (as environmental ethics). As these fields become more complex and deal with more situations, the application of ethics in those fields can also become more complex.
In analytic philosophy, ethics is traditionally divided into three fields: Meta-ethics, Normative_ethics (including value theory and the theory of conduct) and applied ethics - which is seen to be derived, top-down, from normative and thus meta-ethics.
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Normative ethics
Normative ethics (cf. metaethics) is the branch of the philosophical study of ethics concerned with classifying actions as right and wrong without bias, as opposed to descriptive ethics. Normative ethics regards ethics as a set of norms related to actions.
Descriptive ethics deal with what the population believes to be right and wrong, while normative ethics deal with what the population should believe to be right and wrong. "Killing ones parents is wrong," is a normative ethical claim.
Moreover, because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, normative ethics is distinct from metaethics, which studies the nature of moral statements, and from applied ethics, which places normative rules in practical contexts.
Normative Ethical Theories
1 Consequentialism argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the actions outcome or result. Some consequentialist theories include: 1 Utilitarianism which holds that an action is right if it leads to the most pleasure (and least pain) for the greatest number of people. 1 Egoism is the belief that the moral person is the self-interested person. 1 Deontology, on the other hand, ignores the outcome of an action and instead requires acts to be taken that are in accordance with an individuals duty. Examples of deontology include: 1 Kants Categorical_imperative which roots morality in humanitys rational capacity and creates certain inviolable moral laws. 1 The [Contractarianism]] of John Rawls holds that the moral acts are those that we would all agree to if we were unbiased. 1 Philosophers such as John Locke who believe that humans have absolute rights are also considered deontologists. 1 Finally, Aristotle and others argue for virtue ethics which focuses on the inherent character of a person, as opposed to the specific actions they may take.
Applied ethics
Applied ethics takes a theory of ethics, such as utilitarianism, social contract theory, or deontology, and applies its major principles to a particular set of circumstances and practices. Typical examples include applied fields such as medical ethics, legal ethics, environmental ethics, computer ethics, corporate social responsibility, or business ethics. Many considerations of applied ethics also come into play in human rights discussions.
The chief difficulty with formal, applied ethics is the potential for disagreement over what constitutes the proper theory or principles to apply, which is bound to result in solutions to specific problems that are not universally acceptable to all participants. For example, a strict deontological approach would never permit us to deceive a patient about his condition, whereas a utilitarian approach would have us consider the consequences of doing so. A deontologist will often come up with a very different solution than would a utilitarian, given the same facts.
One modern approach attempting to address this is casuistry. Casuistry attempts to establish a plan of action to respond to particular facts - a form of case-based reasoning. By doing so in advance of actual investigation of the facts, it can reduce influence of interest groups. By focusing on action and not the rationale, it increases the possibility of agreement between prior bodies of precedent and explicit moral codes.
Ethics in religion
Ethics is a branch of philosophy dealing with right and wrong in human behaviour. All religions have a moral component, and religious approaches to the problem of ethics historically dominated ethics over secular approaches. From the point of view of theistic religions, to the extent that ethics stems from revealed truth from divine sources, ethics is studied as a branch of theology. Many believe that the Golden_rule, which teaches people to "treat others as you want to be treated", is the common denominator of all moral codes and religions.
* Ethics_in_the_bible * Hindu_ethics * Buddhist_ethics * Chinese_traditional_ethics * Islamic_ethics
Ethics in health care
One of the major areas where ethicists practice is in the field of health care. This includes medicine, nursing, pharmacy, genetics, and allied health professions. Example issues are euthanasia, abortion, medical experiments, vaccine trials, stem cell research, informed consent, truth telling, patient rights and autonomy, rationing of health care (such as triage).
Ethics in psychology
By the 1960s there was increased interest in moral reasoning. Psychologists such as Lawrence Kohlberg developed theories which are based on the idea that moral behaviour is made possible by moral reasoning. Their theories subdivided moral reasoning into so-called stages, which refer to the set of principles or methods that a person uses for ethical judgment. The first and most famous theory of this type was Kohlbergs theory of moral development.
Carol Gilligan, a student of Kohlbergs, argued that women tend to develop through a different set of stages from men. Her studies inspired work on a so-called ethic of care, which particularly defines itself against Rawlsian-type justice- and contract-based approaches.
Another group of influential psychological theories with ethical implications is the humanistic psychology movement. One of the most famous humanistic theories is Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs. Maslow argued that the highest human need is self-actualization, which can be described as fulfilling ones potential, and trying to fix what is wrong in the world. Carl Rogerss work was based on similar assumptions. He thought that in order to be a fully functioning person, one has to be creative and accept ones own feelings and needs. He also emphasized the value of self-actualization. A similar theory was proposed by Fritz Perls, who assumed that taking responsibility of ones own life is an important value.
R.D. Laing developed a broad range of thought on interpersonal psychology. This deals with interactions between people, which he considered important, for an ethical action always occurs between one person and another. In books such as The Politics of Experience, he dealt with issues concerning how we should relate to persons labeled by the psychiatric establishment as "schizophrenic". He came to be seen as a champion for the rights of those considered mentally ill. He spoke out against (and wrote about) practices of psychiatrists which he considered inhumane or barbaric, such as electric shock treatment. Like Wittgenstein, he was frequently concerned with clarifying the use of language in the field -- so, for example, he suggested that the effects of psychiatric drugs (some of which are very deleterious, such as tardive diskensia) be called just that: "effects", and not be referred to by the preferred euphemisms of the drug companies, who prefer to call them "side effects". Laing also did work in establishing true asylums as places of refuge for those who feel disturbed and want a safe place to go through whatever it is they want to explore in themselves, and with others.
A third group of psychological theories that have implications for the nature of ethics are based on evolutionary psychology. These theories are based on the assumption that the behaviour that ethics prescribe can sometimes be seen as an evolutionary adaptation. For instance, altruism towards members of ones own family promotes ones inclusive fitness.
Some concerns have developed recently about ethics in the psychology field itself. In particular there are concerns about the psychotherapy field and how several have reacted to criticism of their science. There has been concern about the behavior of these psychologists on Usenet (in newsgroups). Some of these concerns are voiced through the domain http://cyberper.cnc.net/a_spp_faq.htm
Ethics in politics
Often, such efforts take legal or political form before they are understood as works of normative ethics. The UN Declaration of Universal_human_rights of 1948 and the Global_green_charter of 2001 are two such examples. However, as war and the development of weapon technology continues, it seems clear that no non-violent means of dispute resolution is accepted by all.
The need to redefine and align politics away from ideology and towards dispute resolution was a motive for Bernard Cricks list of political virtues.
Ethics by cases
A common approach in applied ethics is to deal with individual issues on a case-by-case basis.
Casuistry is one such application of case-based reasoning to applied ethics. Almost all American states have tried to discourage dishonest practices by their public employees and elected officials by establishing an Ethics Commission for their state.
Bernard Crick in 1982 offered a socially-centered view, that politics was the only applied ethics, that it was how cases were really resolved, and that "political virtues" were in fact necessary in all matters where human morality and interests were destined to clash. This and other views of modern universals is dealt with below under Global Ethics.
The lines of distinction between meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are often blurry. For example, the issue of abortion is an applied ethical topic since it involves a specific type of controversial behavior. But it also depends on more general normative principles, such as the right of self-rule and the right to life, which are litmus tests for determining the morality of that procedure. The issue also rests on metaethical issues such as, "where do rights come from?" and "what kind of beings have rights?"
Another concept which blurs ethics is moral luck. A drunk driver may safely reach home without injuring anyone, or he might accidentally kill a child who runs out into the street while he is driving home. How bad the action of driving while drunk is in that case depends on chance.
Descriptive ethics
Some philosophers rely on descriptive ethics and choices made and unchallenged by a society or culture to derive categories, which typically vary by context. This leads to situational ethics and situated ethics. These philosophers often view aesthetics and etiquette and arbitration as more fundamental, percolating bottom up to imply, rather than explicitly state, theories of value or of conduct. In these views ethics is not derived from a top-down a priori "philosophy" (many would reject that word) but rather is strictly derived from observations of actual choices made in practice:
* Ethical codes applied by various groups. Some consider aesthetics itself the basis of ethics - and a personal moral core developed through art and storytelling as very influential in ones later ethical choices. * Informal theories of etiquette which tend to be less rigorous and more situational. Some consider etiquette a simple negative ethics, i.e. where can one evade an uncomfortable truth without doing wrong? One notable advocate of this view is Judith Martin ("Miss Manners"). In this view, ethics is more a summary of common sense social decisions. * Practices in arbitration and law, e.g. the claim by Rushworth Kidder that ethics itself is a matter of balancing "right versus right", i.e. putting priorities on two things that are both right, but which must be traded off carefully in each situation. This view many consider to have potential to reform ethics as a practice, but it is not as widely held as the aesthetic or common sense views listed above. * Observed choices made by ordinary people, without expert aid or advice, who vote, buy and decide what is worth fighting about. This is a major concern of sociology, political science and economics.
Those who embrace such descriptive approaches tend to reject overtly normative ones. There are exceptions, such as the movement to more moral purchasing.
The analytic view
The descriptive view of ethics is modern and in many ways more empirical. But because the above are dealt with more deeply in their own articles, the rest of this article will focus on the formal academic categories, which are derived from classical Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle.
First, we need to define an ethical sentence, also called a normative statement. An ethical sentence is one that is used to make either a positive or a negative (moral) evaluation of something. Ethical sentences use words such as "good," "bad," "right," "wrong," "moral," "immoral," and so on.
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See also:
* Moral_absolutism * Deontology * Categorical_imperative * Consequentialism * Universal_prescriptivism * Virtue_ethics * Utilitarianism * Evolutionary_ethics * Divine_command_ethics * Objectivist_ethics * Prima Facie ethics (See W. D. Ross) * Situational_ethics * Ethical_relativism * Ethical_subjectivism * Ethical_nihilism * Ethical_skepticism * Altruism (ethical doctrine) * Altruism_in_animals * Ethical_egoism * Social_contracts * Goodness_and_value_theory * Human_rights * Is-ought problem * Naturalistic_fallacy * The_golden_rule * Morality * Virtue_ethics
-- Main.Geir_thomas_andersen - 13 Feb 2006
