Ethics

Ethics

Ethics

Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the branch of philosophy concerned with questions of right action, good character, and the good life. Its questions are ancient: Socrates declared that nothing matters more than how one ought to live.

The Three Major Normative Frameworks

1. Virtue Ethics

Focuses on the character of the moral agent rather than on rules or outcomes. The goal is to become a person of excellent character — courageous, just, honest, temperate.

Key figures: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle See: Virtue Ethics

"We become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate acts, brave by performing brave acts." — Aristotle

2. Deontology

Focuses on duties and rules that bind us regardless of consequences. An action is right if it accords with a moral principle; wrong if it violates one.

Key figure: Kant and his Categorical Imperative Core idea: treat persons as ends in themselves, never merely as means.

3. Consequentialism / Utilitarianism

Judges actions by their outcomes — specifically by the amount of well-being they produce or suffering they prevent.

Key figures: Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill See: Utilitarianism

Metaethics

Before asking what is right, metaethics asks: what kind of claim is that?

  • Moral realism — moral facts exist objectively, independent of what anyone thinks
  • Moral anti-realism — moral claims are not objectively true (expressivism, error theory)
  • Naturalism — moral facts are natural facts (e.g., facts about well-being)
  • Non-naturalism — moral facts are sui generis, not reducible to natural facts
  • Relativism — moral truths are relative to cultures or individuals

Applied Ethics

How normative frameworks apply to specific domains:

  • Bioethics — medical decisions, end of life, genetic engineering
  • Environmental ethics — our obligations to non-human nature
  • Business ethics — market behavior, corporate responsibility
  • Political ethics — justice, rights, obligations of citizens and states (see Political Philosophy)

Key Concepts

  • The good (summum bonum) — what is intrinsically valuable
  • Duty (deontological ethics) — moral obligation regardless of consequences
  • Rights — entitlements grounding claims against others
  • Justice — fair distribution of benefits, burdens, and recognition
  • Autonomy — self-governance; central to Kant's ethics
  • Eudaimonia — human flourishing; the goal of Aristotle's ethics

The Challenge of Nietzsche

Nietzsche offered a radical critique: conventional morality — especially Christian morality — is a "slave morality," born of resentment. He called for a "revaluation of all values." See Nietzsche for his alternative.

Connections

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