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NAME: ADELEGBE BOLANLE MERCY DEPARTMENT: ACOUNTING COURSE: GST113 ETHICS AND HUMAN CONDUCT IN THE SOCIETY The saying that man is a ‘zoon politikon’ which means that man is a political animal by Aristotle in a novel called ‘politics’ was aimed at telling us that man is a social being. This suggest that’s no man can be self-sufficient rather we all need each other in pursuing our main aims. However, a challenge has been thrown up in this saying, the challenge relates to having a code of conduct that will guide everyone on how they interact. Perhaps the lack of such code of conduct which is able to regulate individual tendencies in Thomas Hobbes’s state of nature is the reason why life was bad. thus in order to guide against the situation of ‘’war of all against all’’ as is found in the state of nature, every society has come to a level which it expects every individual under its authority to listen so that it will promote the wellbeing of all in the society. However, the rules in the society are not only concerned about how we should relate with each oother, they are also put in to oversee conducts regarding how people should relate to other things that of value to the society. As such the moral codes tells us how to relate with people, animals and the environment and in some cases it with heavenly beings. The importance of these moral rules has led to the systematic study of what is right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust called ethics. ETHICS AND ITS GOALS What s ethics? Ethics is a part of philosophy where the analytical and critical tools of philosophy are focused on human actions. As a review, it touches every side of life where one can point to one human conduct to another. This is the reason for the existence of an ethics of nearly everything: business ethic, environmental ethics, research ethics, work ethics, Christian ethics, medical ethics, bioethics etc. these different disparities of ethics recognize that there are varied ethical challenges that lurk around different disciplines and facets of life that require effective response that is able to ensure that moral principles are ‘’sustained in the various area of human operations’’. Ethics points the way to how people should conduct themselves ‘’ so as to live a good and happy life- the life of well-being’’ a life in which one is not just at peace with himself but at peace with everyone around him. Ethics ensures social order which is germane for safeguarding the common good. Furthermore, a good knowledge of ethics provide a guide for political leaders, public servants and professionals regarding how to conduct the affairs of a group of person’s. In attaining the ultimate goals of ethics, which, as described above is to supply human beings with standards with which they can make distinction between moral and immoral actions, moral philosophers undertake two task which are: presenting us with better understanding of concepts employed in moral discourse( this is under the sub-branch of ethics called metaethics) and; two, developing theories that people can appeal to in making moral decisions and which serves as justifications for human conduct( this is normative ethics) METAETHICS According to Bodunrin, ‘’ the first step in philosophical reasoning is conceptual analysis’’. This step allow philosophers to explain the concept or idea of being discussed, thereby allowing the philosopher to extract the meaning of his terms and avoid linguistic mess. In ethics , this aim is undertaken in metaethics , a sub-branch of ethics dedicated to producing a better understanding of concepts and terms employed in ethical discourse so thet people are better positioned to interrogate principles of actions in ethical reasoning. NORMATIVE ETHICS There are some actions that everyone will agree is wrong eg stealing, murder, embezzlement etc but there are others that we often find it difficult to get agreement on, eg euthanasia. One can begin to wonder whether there are standards that one can adopt and appeal to as guides when one is faced with making morall decisions. Such standards or norms will specify criteria that make an act moral or immoral and help one make moral judgement ‘’on the right thing to do or the appropriate course of action to take’’. Normative ethics is the sub-branch of philosophy that deals with this issues. the main emphasis of this division of ethics is on determining ‘’ principle that ought to guide human conduct’’ or ‘’the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like. In fulfilling this task, philosophers have made various normative theories that indorse what is meant to be considered in determining whether an action is right or wrong. The first set of theories is called teleological ethical theories. These theories have in common the emphasis placed on the consequences of an action in determining its rightness or wrongness. An action is right if it brings about good results and action is wrong if it brings about bad results. Another theory called the ethical hedonism is an ethical theory that interprets the rightness or wrongness of an actionthis way. The position of ethical hedonist is that pleasure is the only intrinsic good worth seeking and pain the only intrinsic bad that should be avoided. Deontological ethical theories reject the use of the outcome of an action in judging its rightness or wrongness. Moderate deontological theories hold that ‘’consequences do matter but only as one of the factors relevant in determining the moral rightness of an action’’ while extreme deontological theories totally reject the relevance of consequences in determining if an action is morally right or wrong.