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Lesson I
What is Ethics?
A/ Definitions
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Morals: morality is the set of behaviors, attitudes
and values transmited by tradition within a particular
human group and which binds its members.
Ethics: ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves
systematizing, defending and critizicing concepts of
right and wrong behavior, and the oportunity and
convenience of different moral codes.
Politics: politics is the disposition to reflect about
the administration and government of a society and
to act over them using power and authority, it also
consists in analyzing critically ideological principles
from an ethical point of view.
B/ Areas of Ethics
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Meta-Ethics talks about the nature of ethics
and moral reasoning. (Are we free? Are moral
principles relative? Do moral facts exist?)
Normative Ethics is interested in determining
the content of our moral behavior. (What ought I
do? Which actions are good?)
Applied Ethics attemps to deal with specific
realms of human action and to craft criteria for
discussing issues that might arise within those
realms. (For instance: business ethics or
bioethics)
C/ The questions of meta-ethics
1/6
Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is
it holy because it is loved by the gods?
Plato, Eutiphro
Why do we believe that some actions are right and some
actions are wrong? Do we believe they are right because
they are right, or are they right because we believe them
to be so?
Is it a matter of truth or of taste?
Do moral facts exist?
If there are moral facts, what is their origin?
C/ The questions of meta-ethics 2/6
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Moral realism is the view that there
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Moral anti-realism is the view that
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exist moral facts and truths and
that moral judgments express our beliefs about what these
moral facts are and
that we can come to discover what these facts are.
there are no moral facts and
either moral judgments express our personal attitudes
(subjectivism) or
they express dominant social practices (conventionalism)
Moral nihilism is the view that
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there are no moral facts
so moral practice is just an illusion.
C/ The questions of meta-ethics 3/6
We can avoid the realism-antirealism debate
acknowledging that morality is a mutually
adventageous convention which ought to be
enhanced and preserved for the sake of social
welfare but…
Which conventions ought we enhance and
preserve?
Do universal moral standards exist or are they
culturally relative?
Can we reach a universal consensus about how
ought we act?
C/ The questions of meta-ethics 4/6
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Universalism: is the view that some system of
ethics applies universally, to all people
regardless of culture, race, religion, nationality
or sex.
Relativism: is the view which denies that any
single moral code has universal validity, and
asserts that moral truth and justifiability are
relative to (depend on) factors that are
personally, culturally and historically contingent.
C/ The questions of meta-ethics 5/6
Let’s presume that a universal moral consensus
about some moral fundamentals would be
desirable…
What would let us decide which might be those
moral standards?
Is ethics based on reason or on sentiments?
Are moral judgements supported by intuitons?
Can there be any basis for a universal consensus?
C/ The questions of meta-ethics 6/6
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Rationalism: is the view according to which
moral truths or principles are knowable
independently from experience, by reason alone.
Empiricism: is the view that our knowledge of
moral truths or principles depends on
experience, would that be human nature
(naturalism) or individual opinions (subjectivism)
or social conventions (conventionalism).
Skepticism: is the view that there is no moral
knowledge, no moral truths or principles might
be discovered.