We are discussing no small matter, MORAL PHILOSOPY —also called

but how we ought to live. ethical theory—refers to the

SOCRATES, IN PLATO’S REPUBLIC systematic effort to understand moral
concepts and justify moral principles
Ethics is that branch of philosophy and theories. It analyzes key ethical
that deals with how we ought to live, concepts such as “right,” “wrong,” and
with the idea of the Good, and with “permissible.” It explores possible
concepts such as “right” and “wrong.” sources of moral obligation such as
God, human reason, or the desire to
Socrates’ famous statement that “the be happy. It seeks to establish
unexamined life is not worth living,” principles of right behavior that may
serve as action guides for individuals
The main characteristic of philosophy and groups.
is rational argument.
APPLIED ETHICS deals with
The laboratory of the philosopher is controversial moral problems such as
the domain of ideas. abortion, pre-marital sex, capital
punishment, euthanasia, and civil
A word must be said first about the disobedience.
specific terms moral and ethical and
the associated notions of Ethical theory may rid us of simplistic
morals/ethics and extremism and emotionalism—where
morality/ethicality. shouting matches replace arguments.

Both terms derive their meaning from Morality has a distinct action-guiding,
the idea of “custom”—that is, normal or normative, aspect, which it shares
behavior. with other practices such as religion,
law, and etiquette.
Specifically, “moral” comes from the
Latin word mores and “ethical” from NORMATIVE ASPECT
the Greek ethos. 1. Religion
2. Law
The key divisions within the study of 3. Etiquette
ethics are (1) descriptive morality,
(2) moral philosophy (ethical theory),
and (3) applied ethics. Religion
The most important characteristic of
DESCRIPTIVE MORALITY - refers to ethics is its grounding in reason and
actual beliefs, customs, principles, and human experience. To use a spatial
practices of people and cultures. metaphor, secular ethics is horizontal,
Sociologists in particular pay special lacking a vertical or higher dimension;
attention to the concrete moral as such it does not receive its
practices of social groups around the authority from “on high.”
world, and they view them as cultural
“facts,” much like facts about what Law
people in those countries eat or how In a PBS television series, Ethics in
they dress. America, a trial lawyer was asked
what he would do if he discovered
that his client had committed a
murder some years earlier for which purpose of moral philosophy is to
another man had been wrongly secure valid principles of conduct and
convicted and would soon be values that can guide human actions
executed. and produce good character. As such,
it is the most important activity we
In 1908 the dean of Harvard Law know, for it concerns how we are to
School proposed that a person should live.
be required to “save another from
impending death or great bodily TRAITS OF MORAL PRINCIPLE
harm, when he might do so with little A central feature of morality is the
or no moral principle.
inconvenience to himself.” 1. Prescriptivity
2. Universalizability
Vermont and Minnesota have “Good 3. Overridingness
Samaritan” laws, requiring that one
4. Publicity
come to the aid of a person in grave
5. Practicability
physical harm but only to the extent
that the aid “can be rendered without
Prescriptivity - which is the practical, or
danger or peril to himself or without
interference with important duties action-guiding, nature of morality.
owed to others.” Moral principles are generally put forth
as commands or imperatives, such as
In 1351, King “Do not kill,” “Do no unnecessary
Edward of England instituted a law harm,” and “Love your neighbor.” They
against treason that made it a crime are intended for use: to advise people
merely to think homicidal thoughts and influence action.
about the king. But, alas, the law could
not be enforced, for no tribunal can Universalizability - Moral principles
search the heart and discover the must apply to all people who are in a
intentions of the mind. It is true that relevantly similar situation. This trait is
intention, such as malice exemplified in the Golden Rule, “Do to
aforethought, plays a role in others what you would want them to do
determining the legal character of an to you (if you were in their shoes).”
act once the act has been committed. Universalizability applies to all
evaluative judgments.
Etiquette
Etiquette concerns form and style Overridingness - Moral principles have
rather than the essence of social predominant authority and override
existence; it determines what is other kinds of principles. They are not
polite behavior rather than what is
the only principles, but they also take
right behavior in a deeper sense. It
precedence over other considerations
represents society’s decision.
including aesthetic, prudential, and
In summary, morality differs from law legal ones.
and etiquette by going deeper into the
essence of our social existence. It Publicity - Moral principles must be
differs from religion by seeking made public in order to guide our
reasons, rather than authority, to actions. Publicity is necessary because
justify its principles. The central we use principles to prescribe behavior,
give advice, and assign praise and Within the range of permissible acts is
blame. It would be self-defeating to the notion of supererogatory acts, or
keep them a secret. highly altruistic acts. These acts are
neither required nor obligatory, but
Practicability - A moral principle must they exceed what morality requires,
have practicability, which means that it going “beyond the call of duty.”
must be workable and its rules must not 1. Right act (permissible)
lay a heavy burden on us when we a. Obligatory act
follow them. The philosopher John b. Optional act
Rawls speaks of the “strains of (1) Neutral act
commitment” that overly idealistic (2) Supererogatory act
principles may cause in average moral 2. Wrong act (not permissible)
agents.
One important kind of ethical theory
DOMAINS OF ETHICAL ASSESSMENT that emphasizes the nature of the act is
1. Action called deontological (from the Greek
2. Consequences word deon, meaning “duty”). These
3. Character theories hold that something is
4. Motive inherently right or good about such acts
as truth telling and promise keeping and
Action inherently wrong or bad about such acts
The term right has two meanings. as lying and promise breaking. Classical
Sometimes, it means “obligatory” (as in deontological ethical principles include
“the right act”), but it also can mean the Ten Commandments and the
“permissible” (as in “a right act” or “It’s Golden Rule. Perhaps the leading
all right to do that”). Usually, proponent of deontological ethics in
philosophers define right as recent centuries is Immanuel Kant
permissible, including in that category (1724–1804), who defended a principle
what is obligatory: of moral duty that he calls the
1. A right act is an act that is categorical imperative: “Act only on
permissible for you to do. It may be that maxim whereby you can at the
either (a) same time will that it would become a
obligatory or (b) optional. universal law.” Examples for Kant are
a. An obligatory act is one that morality “Never break your promise” and “Never
requires you to do; it is not permissible commit suicide.” What all of these
for you to refrain from doing it. deontological theories and principles
b. An optional act is one that is neither have in common is the view that we
obligatory nor wrong to do. It is not have an inherent duty to perform right
your duty to do it, nor is it your duty not actions and avoid bad actions.
to do it. Neither doing it
nor not doing it would be wrong. Consequences
2. A wrong act is one you have an Another way of ethically assessing
obligation, or a duty, to refrain from situations is to examine the
doing: It is an act you ought not to do; it consequences of an action: If the
is not permissible to do it. consequences are on balance positive,
then the action is right; if negative, then
wrong.
Ethical theories that focus primarily on
consequences in determining moral
rightness and wrongness are called
teleological ethics (from the Greek
telos, meaning “goal directed”). The
most famous of these theories is
utilitarianism, set forth by Jeremy
Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart
Mill (1806–1873), which requires us to
do what is likeliest to have the best
consequences. In Mill’s words, “Actions
are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness; wrong as they tend
to produce the reverse of happiness.”

Character
Whereas some ethical theories
emphasize the nature of actions in
themselves and some emphasize
principles involving the consequences of
actions, other theories emphasize
character, or virtue.

Moral philosophers call such good

character traits virtues and bad traits
vices. Entire theories of morality have
been developed from these notions and
are called virtue theories. The classic
proponent of virtue theory was
Aristotle (384–322 BCE), who
maintained that the development of
virtuous character traits is needed to
ensure that we habitually act rightly.

Motive
Virtually all ethical systems recognize
the importance of motives. For a full
assessment of any action, it is important
to take the agent’s motive into account.
Two acts may appear identical on the
surface, but one may be judged morally
blameworthy and the other excusable.