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Week 5 Presentation Normative Ethics

This document outlines the objectives and content of a session on normative ethics. It begins by listing the objectives of understanding normative ethics, its focus on actions and character, and different normative theories. It then defines normative ethics and discusses its focus on actions and character. It proceeds to explain different normative ethical theories like virtue ethics, deontological ethics, consequentialism, ethical intuitionism. It concludes by discussing issues in normative ethics around reconciling the tension between focusing on actions versus character.

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Guzman T. John Wayne
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85 views19 pages

Week 5 Presentation Normative Ethics

This document outlines the objectives and content of a session on normative ethics. It begins by listing the objectives of understanding normative ethics, its focus on actions and character, and different normative theories. It then defines normative ethics and discusses its focus on actions and character. It proceeds to explain different normative ethical theories like virtue ethics, deontological ethics, consequentialism, ethical intuitionism. It concludes by discussing issues in normative ethics around reconciling the tension between focusing on actions versus character.

Uploaded by

Guzman T. John Wayne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Session objectives:

At the end of the session, the students must be


able to:
1. Discuss what is Normative Ethics
2. Explain the foci of normative ethics
3. Describe the different normative ethical
theories
4. Explain the issues in normative ethics.
Normative Ethics Defined

- the study of ethical behavior.


-

- that branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the


questions on how one ought to act, in a moral sense.

- takes its root word from “norm” which indicates some


standard or rule or principle with which moral agents ought
to comply.

- An example of a moral norm is “Thou shall not murder. It


is meant to guide our actions, and to the extent that people
do not comply, we may be judged morally – that is,
morally blamed.”
The foci of normative ethics

 There are two (2) central concepts of normative


ethics:
 the right – the concept tells us “which action we
ought to perform, which it would be wrong not
to perform, and
 the morally good – the concept refers to
“morally good properties of human beings” with
virtous character traits such as “ kindness,
courage, and honesty which are states that are
generally thought to be morally good.” This
aspect deal with character.
The foci of normative ethics is, thus, described as
(1) Action, and (2) Character.

1. Right Action – is an investigation and an attempt to


answer the question: “What ought I to do?”
- The “ought” in this question is to be interpreted as a
moral ought, and may be understood as equivalent to
the question: “What is the right thing to do?”
2. Character – attempts to answer the question: “What
sort of person ought I to be?”
- This is described as virtue ethics which specify the virtue,
that is, traits of character that is good or bad to possess.
The different normative ethical theories
Source: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Normative_ethics

 Virtue Ethics  Consequentialism


 Utilitarianism
 Deontological Ethics  State consequentialism
 Kantianism  Egoism
 Situational Ethics
 Contractualism  Intellectualism
 Natural rights  Welfarism
 Preference Utilitarianism
 Ethical Intuitionsim
 Virtue Ethics.
- this theory begins with an account of ‘virtuous’
character, that is, “offers an account of what states of
character are desirable.”
-

- among the virtue ethicist is Aristotle who argue that “the


right action cannot be understood as conformity of
actions to rules … they tend to emphasize that the
virtuous person is someone who acts rightly in the
situation upon requirements that are unique to the
situation.”

- the virtuous person is, therefore, “someone who is able


to perceive what the situation requires and act
accordingly.”
 Deontological Ethics –argue that decisions should be
made considering the factors of one’s duties and one’s
rights.

 Kantianism
- derived from the works of the German philosopher
Immanuel Kant who has been greatly influential.

- his work revolved around the moral principle he called


“categorical imperative” which he regarded as the
“fundamental principle of morality, from which all our
duties may be derived”.

- “categorical imperative” is basically a principle of


consistency, demanding that we act on reasons which all
rational agents could endorse, that is, universally
acceptable reasons.”
 Deontological Ethics

 Contractualism (John Rawls)

- Holds that the moral acts are those that we all agree to
if we were unbiased behind a “veil of ignorance”
- The "veil of ignorance" is a method of determining the morality
of issues and asks the decision-maker to make a choice about a
social or moral issue and assumes that they have enough
information to know the consequences of their possible decisions
for everyone but would not know, or would not take into
account, which person they are.
- The theory contends that not knowing one's ultimate position in
society would lead to the creation of a just system, as the
decision-maker would not want to make decisions which benefit
a certain group at the expense of another, because the decision-
maker could theoretically end up in either group.[1
 Deontological Ethics

 Natural Rights Theory (John Locke)

- Holds that the human beings have absolute, natural


rights;
- those rights are natural because they are pre-political;
that is to say, that everyone in the state of nature is
entitled to them. Pre-political is the state of nature
which arises before any form of political authority.
 Ethical Intuitionism

- in this theory, according to the author of The


Right and the Good, W.D. Ross, “there are a
number of irreducible moral duties, none of which
takes precedence over any other.”

- Ross thinks that “the right action in a given


situation is determined by a careful weighing of
various moral principles which apply in that
situation.”
 Consequentialism or Teleology –argues that the
morality of an action is contingent on the action’s
outcome or result.

 Utilitarianism
- This used to be the generic term for consequentialism
before that term was adopted in 1958
- this theory says that the right action is that which
produces the greatest of overall happiness.

- This contention claims that happiness is the only


determinant of the rightness of action where classical
utilitarianism supports hedonism as the theory of
value.
 Utilitarianism

- Hedonism is the “ethical theory that pleasure (in the


sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good
and proper aim of human life.”

- This contention, however, has received various


revisions from utilitarian theorists such that what is
endorsed is “the right action depends on the best
consequences overall in view of the principle of
utility, although the best consequences are not
necessarily understood in terms of happiness but more
broadly in terms of valuable states of affairs.”
 State Consequentialism
- Holds that an action is right if it leads to state
welfare, through oder, material wealth, and
population growth
 Egoism
- the belief that the moral person is the self-
interested person, holds that an action is right if it
maximizes good for the self.
 Situational ethics
- Emphasizes the particular context of an act when
evaluating it ethically.
 Intellectualism
- Dictates that the best action is the one that best
fosters and promote knowledge
 Welfarism
- Argues that the best action is the one that most
increases economic well-being or welfare
 Preference utilitarianism
- Holds that the best action is the one that leads to
the most overall preference satisfaction.
Issues in normative ethics.
- The issue that surrounds normative ethics is the
tension that exists between the approaches in dealing
with the two (2) foci of normative ethics – action and
character.

- The Utilitarinists, Kantianists, and Ethical


Intuitionists address the question of action in its
methodological sense by “setting up moral rules and
principles which determine which actions are right.”
Issues in normative ethics.
- Virtue ethicists addressing the question of character begin
with virtuous character.

- It is said that the two approaches criticize each other with the
first group (the Kantians and Utilitarians) saying virtue ethics
is “not being able to tell what moral rules and principles
should be given clear guidance on how to act on specific
circumstances,” and the latter group (the virtue ethicists)
blaming utilitarians and Kantians for inflexibly imposing
rules and principles upon all situations without being able to
appropriately accommodate complex circumstances such as
abortion, euthanasia and cloning where the virtue of wisdom,
for example, might be needed case by case.”
Issues in normative ethics.
In trying to diffuse the tension between the two, it
is suggested that
- we look back at Plato and Aristotle's virtue ethics as
actually grounded in some absolute standard which
could very likely originate rules and principles,
- that absolute standard is something that consists in
“knowledge of eternal truth … that results from
virtues rooted in the Form of Good that pertains to
God.”
End of Material for Week 5
Upcoming for Week 6

1. Applied Ethics
a. What is Applied Ethics
b. The Fields of Applied Ethics
- Business Ethics
- Professional Ethics
- Bioethics
- Moral Standing and Personhood
- Social Ethics, distributive ethics and
environmental ethics

Reporter: Mark Allan Angeles

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