Download 29 th october, 2016. ethics and human conduct in the

NAME: AZOGU MIRACLE
DEPARTMENT: MEDICINE AND SURGERY
DATE: 29TH OCTOBER, 2016.
ETHICS AND HUMAN CONDUCT IN THE
SOCIETY.
Aristotle’s, famous book, "politics", had a conception of man as “zoon politikon” which
implies “political animal” which describes human beings as social being. Every individual
needs each other in their aim of achieving their social, political, spiritual, and economic
goals. "HE WHO IS UNABLE TO STAY IN SOCIETY, OR HAS NO INTENTION
BECAUSE HE IS SUFFICIENT FOR HIMSELF MUST EITHER BE A BEAST OR A
GOD". That was a belief that no man could not agree with Aristotle. A challenge was
thrown up by individuals where by having a code of conduct was necessary which would
guide everyone in relating with other persons. The dearth of such code of conduct which is
able to regulate individual proclivities made life to be nasty, brutish, and short based on
state of nature which was said by THOMAS HOBBES, In order to guide again the
situation of "WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL" minimum standards of individual under its
jurisdiction to adhere in order to promote the wellbeing of all within the society. This code
of conduct which every society must adhere to but it is not strictly based on how man
should relate with one another but it talks about how man relates with every other thing
that are of value to the society.
The importance of moral codes to the society has led to the study of what is right or wrong,
good or bad, just or unjust called ethics.
ETHICS AND ITS GOALS
Ethics is fields of philosophy were the analytical and critical tools of philosophy are
focused on human actions.it is an "INQUIRY INTO THE MORAL WORTH OF HUMAN
CONDUCT" which implies every facet of life where one can point to one human conduct
or another. There is existence of an ethics of nearly everything such as environmental
ethics, research ethics, work ethics, medical ethics, bioethics etc. Ethics is a rational
inquiry into the grounds of moral conduct which stands in contrast to revelations, special
intuition mystical insight and order arbitrary means of obtaining answers to moral
questions. It searches for truth, knowledge or the principal of reality which follows
adequate principles concerning the grounds of our moral judgment and beliefs. The most
important aim of ethics is to let individual know "ACTIONS THAT ARE GOOD AND
THOSE THAT ARE BAD,THOSE THAT ARE RIGHT AND THOSE THAT ARE
WRONG,BETWEEN ACCEPTABLE AND NOT ACCEPTABLE AND BETWEEN
THOSE THAT ARE COMMENDABLE AND NOT COMMENDABLE". This categorizes
the good actions as morals and the bad actions as immoral there by giving highlights to
which actions are valuable and thus worthy of pursuit and which act are to be avoided. It
also enlightens individuals on the principle of good behaviour and how they should
interact with one another there by not only bringing peace to oneself but also treat others
equally and live as a whole. In attaining the ultimate goal of ethics, which as described
above, is to finish human beings with standards with which they can make distinctions
between moral and immoral actions. moral philosophers undertake two task with both fall
on the sub-branch of ethics, the first task is Metaethics which implies presenting man with
a better understanding of concerns employed in moral discourse and the second task is
Normative ethics which talks about developing theories that people can appeal to in
making moral decision and which serves as justification for human conduct.
METAETHICS
Metaethics which is a sub-branch of ethics has to do with terms like "right"," wrong",
"good", "bad"," morality"," moral judgment" among others mean. In ethics this aim is
dedicated to engendering a better understanding of concepts and terms employed in ethical
discourse so that people are better positioned to interrogate principles of action in ethical
reasoning. Proponents of emotivism, which is metaethical theory will have us interpret the
statement "STAELING IS WRONG" such a statement is a linguistic act by which the
speaker expresses his attitude towards an action saying stealing or lying, and seeks to
influence the altitude, and in turn the conduct of the listener. Another theory is
prescriptivism which is another metaethic theory that suggests how moral statements
should be understood. Example when one says "STEALING IS WRONG" one should
desist from stealing because it is morally bad and not good. It is like a command "DO NOT
STEAL". The divine command theory which is another metaethical theory which
determines whether an action is right or wrong depends on what God says -if God says it is
wrong therefore such an act is immoral and if god says it is right therefore the act is
morally good. Ethical relativism theory which says that your culture or tradition
determines the rightness or wrongness of an action. Simon blackburn defines ethics as a
study of concepts involved in practical reasoning ethic is a reductionist approach to what
ethics is about but rather generate normative theories that ought to guide moral decision.
NORMATIVE ETHICS
Normative ethics is a principle "THAT OUGHT TO GUIDE HUMAN CONDUCT and
FORMULATES THE MORAL RULES THAT HAVE DIRECT IMPLICATIONS FOR
WHAT HUMAN ACTIONS, INSTITUTIONS AND WAYS OF LIFE SHOULD BE
LIKE". There some normative theories which were recommended by some moral
philosophy which determines where there an action is right or wrong. The first theories are
Teleological theories which talks on the consequences of an action in determining its
rightness or wrongness. An action in its right if it brings good result and wrong if it brings
about bad ones. The normative ethical theory which is called the ethical hedonism which
interprets the rightness or wrongness of an action by saying that pleasure is the only
intrinsic good worth seeking and pains the intrinsic bad that should be avoided.
Eudaemonism in ethics is used to capture the idea that happiness is the chief good.
Teleological ethical theories have shortcomings which require that we foresee the outcome
of our actions, which incidentally is what humans are not totally capable of. There are
some deontological ethics theories which are the moderate deontological theories hold that
"consequences do matter, but only as one of the factors relevant in determining the
rightness of an action", while extreme deontological ethical theories totally reject the
relevance of consequences in determining if the actions is morally right or wrong. An
example of deontological ethnic theories is that of Kant’s Moral theory which believes that
"we are responsible for our motives to do good or bad, and thus it is for this that we are
held morally accountable ". It is determining the rightness or wrongness of an action and
that individuals are under a moral obligation that is to do what is right.
CONCLUSION
Finally, human conduct is being influenced by ethics, and it can be seen in two
dimensions; ensuring that individuals have a better understanding of terms, etc and
making available frameworks of actions in form of normative theories that guides human
actions to enable them act rationally or morally.