ETHICS DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS

RULES - Refers to set of guidelines. - It is a branch of ethics which tries to answer

- Useful in guiding and monitoring the questions such as ‘What do people think is
interactions of humans in the society. moral?’.
- Prescribed guide for conduct or action. - How individuals or societies define their morals?
- What makes something right or wrong in a
WHAT ARE RULES? specific culture?
1. Rules helps people in many aspects of life. Example:
2. Rules enable people to organize all the
processes correctly (from simple to complex In society A
processes). • Nude sun bathing is permitted on public
3. Rules helps humanity to avoid chaos and many beaches.
problems that may be caused by the lack of • Sexual relation with another person’s spouse is
regulations. permitted.
IMPORTANCE OF RULES In society B
- To protect the weaker class in the society.
• Women must be completely covered to go out in
- To provide a stable environment and human co-
public.
existence in a society which leads to peace and
development.
Rajeev Ranjan – “Nobody is inferior, and nobody is Normative Ethics Descriptive Ethics
superior. One is just oneself, incomparable”. It is study of ethical It is the study of
action. people’s views about
moral beliefs.
Peace and Order – most important thing to Confucius.
Analyses how people Analyses people’s
- Confucius felt that everyone had a proper role in ought to act. moral values,
society, and that if people were willing to accept standards and
their role, and fulfill it, that peace and harmony behavior.
would abound.
Attempts to evaluate Describe how people
or create moral behave and what
NORMATIVE ETHICS standards and types of moral
prescribes how standards they claim
- It is a branch of ethics which tries to answer people ought to act. to follow.
questions such as “What is the right thing to
do?”.
- It is focused on prescribing ‘Right’ and ‘good’
behavior; how one ‘should’, or ‘ought’ to act. ETHICS AND MORALS
- It is focused on exploring what actions are Morals - may be used to refer to specific beliefs or
morally correct or incorrect and how one ought attitudes that people have or to describe acts that people
to conduct themselves in various situations. perform.
Bishai (2021) “Normative Ethics is the branch of
- Own principle.
philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions
that arise when considering how one ought to act, Ethics – can be spoken of as the discipline of studying
morally speaking”. and understanding ideal human behavior and ideal ways
of thinking.
Examples:
- It is acknowledged as an intellectual discipline
1. Helping someone who is lost.
belonging to philosophy.
2. Finding a wallet and turning it in to the lost and
- Refers to the rules that a social system provides
found.
us with.
3. No to bullying because it’s bad.
MORALITY
- Standards that an individual or a group has about what
TYPES OF NORMATIVE ETHICS
is right and wrong, or good and evil.
• Virtue Ethics - places emphasis on character and - Not imposed from the outside, innate and can even be
values. unconscious.
• Deontology - Emphasizes the importance of
following moral Rules. Descriptively – Morality refers to certain codes od
• Consequentialism – Emphasizes the importance of conduct put forward by a society or a group (such as
the consequences of an action. religion).
Normatively – Morality refers to a code of conduct that,
given specified conditions, would be put forward all
rational persons.
 SIX KEY FEATURES OF MORALITY Example:
1. People experience a sense of moral obligation • Saying please and thank you.
and accountability. • Arrive on time.
2. Moral values and moral absolutes exist. • Only consume the food you brought.
3. Moral law does exist. (also known as Law of • Dress appropriately.
Nature) • Do not embarrass others.
4. Moral law is known to human. (Also known as • Put your phone away.
law of nature)
• Listen before speaking.
5. Morality is objective.
• Shut your mouth maximum.
6. Moral judgements must be supported by reasons.

STATUTES – refers to laws enacted by legislative

Absolute
bodies. Congress and state legislatures enact statues.
• Some things are always right and others are Example: A state statute might state that a dog owner is
always wrong. liable for any injury caused if his or her dog bites
• Moral rules would be stuck to, regardless of someone if the owner already knew about the dog’s
consequences. dangerous biting propensity.
• E.g. if it is ‘wrong to lie’ you would always be
honest, even if it hurt someone’s feeling or got PROFESSIONAL CODE OF ETHICS
you into trouble.
• These are the rules that are supposed to govern
MORAL AGENT the conduct members of a given profession.
- It is being capable of acting with reference to -Generally speaking, the members of a profession
right and wrong. are understood to have agreed to abide by those rules
- Is anything that can be held responsible for as a condition of their engaging in that profession.
behavior or decisions.
- is an intelligent who has the power of choosing, - Violation of a professional code may result in the
and scoop to act according to his choice. disapproval of one’s professional peers, and in
- Must be a living creature, as they must be able to serious cases, loss of license to practice that
comprehend abstract moral principles and apply profession.
them to decision making. Example: Professors should not date their students.
MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
Aristotle – He was the first to discuss moral CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL STANDARD
responsibility.
1. Moral Standard involve serious wrongs or
- He stated that it is “sometimes appropriate to significant benefits.
respond to an agent with praise or blame on the
basis of his/her actions and/or dispositional traits • Moral Standards deal with matters which can
of character”. seriously impact, that, injure or benefit beings.
From Aristotle’s perspective, “a decision is a particular Example: Following or violating some basketball rules
kind of desire resulting from deliberation, one that may matter in basketball games but does not necessarily
expresses the agent’s conception of what is good”. affect one’s life or well-being.
Moral agency is not just about which rules to follow, it 2. Moral Standards ought to be preferred to
comes from a way of life which Aristotle called the other values.
virtuous life, which necessities a unison of thought and
feeling. • If moral standard states that a person has the
MORAL STANDARD - Involve the rules people have moral obligation to do something, then he/she is
about the kind of actions they believe are morally right supposed to do that even if it conflicts with other
and wrong, as well as the values they place on the kinds non-moral standards and even with self-interest.
of objects they believe are morally good and morally • Moral Standards are not the only rules or
bad. principles in society, but they take precedence
over other consideration.

NON-MORAL STANDARDS – Govern individual life, 3. Moral Standards are not established by
aspirations and desires and may decide a person’s place authority figures.
in a group.
Example: (Religious rule, traditions. Legal statutes (law • Moral Standards cannot be changed nor nullified
and ordinance)). by the decisions of particular authoritative body.

• One thing about these standards, nonetheless, is

ETIQUETTE – refers to norms or correct conduct in that its validity lies on the soundness or
polite society or, more generally, to any special code of adequacy of the reasons that are considered to
social behavior or courtesy. support of justify them.
Etiquette – it’s a good manner.
4. Moral Standards have the trait of
universalizability.

• Everyone should live up to moral standards.

• Golden rule “Do unto others what you would
want them to do unto you’.
• Universalizability is an extension of the
principle of consistency, that is one ought to be
consistent about one’s value judgements.

5. Moral Standards are based on impartial

considerations.

• Moral standard does not evaluate standards on

the basis of the interest of a certain person or
group, but one that goes beyond personal
interests to a universal standpoint in which each
person’s interests are impartially counted as
equal.

• Impartiality is morality requires that we give

equal and/or adequate consideration to the
interests of all concerned.

6. Moral standards are associated with special

emotions and vocabulary.

• Moral standards are generally put forth as

injunction or imperatives such as ‘DO NOT
KILL’, ‘LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR’. These
principles are proposed for use, to advise, and to
influence to action.

MORAL DILEMMA

• Is a conflict in which you have to choose

between two or more actions and have moral
reasons for choosing each action.

• A Moral Dilemma is a situation where:

1. You are presented with two or more actions, all
of which you have the ability to perform.
2. There are moral reasons for you to choose each
of the actions.
3. You cannot perform all of the actions and have
to choose which action, or action when there are
three or more choices, to perform.