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NAME: IHEKA CHINONSO CHIDOZIE DEPARTMENT: LAW COURSE CODE: GST 113 COURSE TITLE: LOGIC, PHILOSOPHY AND HUMAN EXISTENCE ETHICS AND HUMAN CONDUCT IN THE SOCIETY In Aristotle’s book politics, man was referred to as “zoon politikon”, meaning “political animal” and this is aimed at portraying human beings as social beings. The main terms in the topic being discussed should be firstly explained: Ethics are moral principles that guide a person’s behaviour Human Conduct means the array of every physical action and observable emotion associated with individuals, as well as the human race as a whole. Society means the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. However, the rules in the society do not border strictly on how individuals should relate to one another; they are also established to govern conducts regarding how persons should relate to other things that are of value to the society. Thus, this topic is basically inferring that human beings are supposed to inculcate good behaviour in order to meet up with the standards of the people in which they live with. It is an obvious fact that a person is not an island and he has to associate with people in his daily life. If people should live together, there should be a standard towards which they live. That is the reason for rules. They are made in order to govern conducts regarding how people should relate to other things that are of value to the society. Moral principles are of importance to the society in the sense that they lead to the structured study of what is right/wrong, good/bad, just/unjust which is also referred to as “ethics”. Ethics as a field of philosophy emphasises the analytical and critical tools of philosophy which are focused on human actions. It is a rational inquiry that seeks to discover the nature of morality and what the right moral judgment entails. Ethics as a rational enquiry is practised with the belief that human beings are rational, and as rational as they are, they will find efficient reasons that will enable them to make legitimate reasons in relation to their actions in their search to determine the appropriate way of life. The ultimate aim of ethics is to enlighten human beings on the standards of life in which they can choose between what is wrong/right, good/bad or commendable/not commendable. In attaining the ultimate aim of ethics, moral philosophers undertake two tasks which are: Presenting us with better understanding of concepts used in moral discourse and, Developing theories that people can appeal to in making moral decisions and which serve as justifications for human conduct. The first task falls under the sub-branch of ethics referred to as Meta ethics while the second task is undertaken under the rubric of Normative Ethics. META ETHICS Bodunrin stated that, “the first step in philosophical reasoning is conceptual analysis.” This approach allows the philosopher to explicate the concept or idea that is being discussed, thereby allowing the philosopher to uncover the meanings of his terms and avoid linguistic middle. The issues addressed in meta ethics are those pertaining terms such as “right”, “wrong”, “good”, “bad”, “morality”, “moral judgment” among others. The aim here is to engender a better understanding of concepts and terms used in ethical discourse in order to ensure that people are better positioned to interrogate principles of action in ethical reasoning. Metaethics is equally involved with the meaning of ethical statements. There are different Meta ethical theories which attempt to address certain issues concerning moral principles. These include: Emotivism- this deals with the fact that a speaker expresses his attitude towards an action and seeks to influence the attitude and also the conduct, of the listener. Prescriptivism- this suggests how moral statements should be understood. The divine command theory- this theory aims to address issues relating to the origin or justification for moral standards. Proponents of this theory see God as the source from which our moral code derives. Ethical relativism- the proponents of this theory believe that it is the individual, culture that determines the rightness or wrongness of an action. NORMATIVE ETHICS This sub branch of ethics deals with the standards or criteria that make an action moral or immoral and also help one to make moral judgment. The main focus of this branch of ethics is to determine principles that ought to guide human conduct as well as the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like. The first set of theories is called teleological ethical theories. They have in common the emphasis placed on the consequences of an action in determining its rightness or wrongness. The normative ethical theory called ethical hedonism is an ethical theory that interprets the rightness or wrongness of an action in the way that pleasure is the only intrinsic good worth seeking and pain is the only intrinsic bad and should be avoided. Three different normative theories attempt in answering the questions of which happiness or pleasure is meant for. They are: Ethical Egoism- this suggests that the performer of an action should seek to utilise pleasure or happiness to the peak for himself. Ethical Altruism- this interprets that the wellbeing of others has to be met before oneself. Utilitarianism – this theory holds that an action is morally right if it promotes the greatest number of pleasure or happiness for the greatest number of people. It is therefore understood that human conduct has been influenced by ethics in two dimensions which are that it enables people to have better understanding of terms, concepts and statements used in moral reasoning. The second is that it makes available frameworks of action in form of normative theories that can guide human actions and, if conformed to, allow people to act rationally and morally.