Ethical Theories

Ethical Theories

Learning Objectives

• At the end of the lesson you will be familiar with the key aspects of deontological and teleological approaches to ethics
• At the end of the lesson you will understand how metaethics differs from these approaches
• At the end of the lesson you will have begun to consider different ways of exploring ethical issues and ethical theories

What do you already know about ethical theories?

Introduction to Ethics

• Ethics: the principles by which people live
• Morality: concerned with which actions are right and wrong
• Ethical theory: covers religious and philosophical systems or methods for making moral decisions or analysing moral statements

The Big Questions in Ethics

• Practical (or applied) ethics: focuses on debates about specific dilemmas
• Normative ethics: decides how people ought to act, how moral choices should be made and how the rules apply
• Teleological ethics/teleological thinking: a description applied to utilitarianism. It stresses that an action is right or wrong depending on its purpose/intended outcome
• Deontological/deontological ethics: only concerned with the moral law, or duty, that makes a particular action right or wrong regardless of the consequences

The Big Questions in Ethics

• Practical (or applied) ethics: focuses on debates about specific dilemmas
• Normative ethics: decides how people ought to act, how moral choices should be made and how the rules apply
• Teleological ethics/teleological thinking: a description applied to utilitarianism. It stresses that an action is right or wrong depending on its purpose/intended outcome
• Deontological/deontological ethics: only concerned with the moral law, or duty, that makes a particular action right or wrong regardless of the consequences

Metaethics

• Metaethics: explores the meaning and nature of moral judgments and ethical language

Absolutist Normative Ethics

• Absolutism: the belief that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged
• Relativism: the belief that moral judgments are relative to the individual or society

Non-Cognitivist Theories

• Non-cognitivism: the view that moral statements are neither true nor false, but rather expressions of emotions, preferences, or attitudes

Descriptive Ethics

• Descriptive ethics: the study of people's beliefs about morality and how they actually behave

Summary

• Ethics is concerned with principles of right and wrong
• Major ethical theories include deontological and teleological approaches
• Metaethics explores the meaning and nature of moral judgments
• There are different perspectives on moral absolutism and relativism
• Non-cognitivist theories suggest moral statements are expressions of emotions
• Descriptive ethics studies people's beliefs and actual behavior

Definition List

• Ethics: the principles by which people live
• Morality: concerned with which actions are right and wrong
• Ethical theory: covers religious and philosophical systems or methods for making moral decisions or analysing moral statements
• Practical (or applied) ethics: focuses on debates about specific dilemmas
• Normative ethics: decides how people ought to act, how moral choices should be made and how the rules apply
• Teleological ethics/teleological thinking: a description applied to utilitarianism. It stresses that an action is right or wrong depending on its purpose/intended outcome
• Deontological/deontological ethics: only concerned with the moral law, or duty, that makes a particular action right or wrong regardless of the consequences

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.