Theories of Normative and Applied Ethics: Western Perspective –

Chapter 2
By
Dr.Sujata Roy
Department of philosophy
University of Delhi
roysujata18@gmail.com

1. Introduction

Ethics is a branch of philosophy; it is also called moral philosophy because it deals with the idea of
morally right and wrong human behaviour. Human actions and behaviours are analysed, described
and guided from various perspectives and standpoints. The term ethics is derived from the Greek
word "ethos" that basically refers to habit, custom, way of behaviour and so on. The word "moral" is
derived from the Latin word "mores" which also signifies, customs and character. Thus, ethics can be
understood as a methodological study and examination of human behaviour from the standpoint of
their rightfulness and wrongfulness, it is a reflective analysis of what is good and what is bad in
human conduct for which human bear some personal responsibilities.1 Hence, it can be said that ethics
analyses what is good and right along with the way to achieve it and what is wrong or bad and the
ways to avoid it. As a philosophical study, ethics is defined as the critical analysis of the values and
ways in which humans live and act. Rather than just following a custom or tradition, it comprises of
the evaluation and justification of these guidelines and values with reference to some universal
principles. It involves critical and philosophical consideration about morality, moral dilemmas, moral
problems moral conceptions and judgments.2

In order to understand ethics it is important to note that ethics has both theoretical and practical
dimensions, former in the sense of providing fundamental principles as the basis of moral judgments
and the latter in the sense of being concerned about what is to be achieved and how it is to be
achieved. There are multiple definitions of ethics that are further employed in various fields of human
actions but the most famous philosophical theories of ethics are classified into the following three
broad categories –normative ethics, applied ethics and meta-ethics.

It is beyond the scope of this module to discuss every aspect of the concerned issue; however, an
attempt will be made to make it as inclusive as possible.

In analytic philosophy, ethics is distinguished in the following levels:

Ø Meta ethics
Ø Normative ethics
Ø Applied ethics

Generally speaking, normative ethics involves specific positions concerning how to act, what ought
and ought not to be done, what is right and wrong and so on, for instance, is it morally wrong to kill
someone?It attempts to provide universal guidelines governing human actions by regulating the
content of our actions. Further, applied ethics is an attempt to apply the broad moral principles in
particular, complex and often controversial situations such as- abortion, euthanasia, animal rights,
business ethics, medical ethics, media ethics, environmental concerns, infanticide etc. These are some
examples of the areas that come under the field of applied ethics. Anothersignificant branch of ethics
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1
Wilson Jose, “An Introduction to Ethics,” St. John’s College, Kandadaba, 1.
2
Ibid., 1-2.
is meta-ethics, it analyses the nature of ethics and moral judgments as well as moral reasoning, it is
concerned with answering the second order questions, for example when we say killing is always
wrong, it further brings us to the underlying questionwhich is ‘whether ethical principles are relative
or objective?’‘What exactly does the word wrong mean?’ How to define moral concepts such as
"right", "wrong", "good", "bad" and so on. All the above three fields of ethics are differentiated as
well as interrelated with each other and one cannot be understood exclusive of the other.

1.2 Objective of the Module

This module will primarily deal with the ethical theories and present moral dilemmas which we face
in our day to day life. It will try to explore the interaction between moral practices and ethical
reflection. Thus, this module will largely be focusing on applied ethics. In order to trace these views,
this module has been divided into five sections which covers the few important areas of applied ethics
where lot of work is being done presently.

Although, various issues have been dealt upon in this module it is a limited approach to the issues and
justice cannot be done due to limited space. This module works as a mere introduction to these issues.

2. Applied Ethics

Moral problems occur in all areas of life: professional, personal and political. Should banks impose
strict criteria on clients to promote corporate social responsibility? How to allocate fairly the benefits
and burdens of climate change policy options? Is it ethical for us to use biological enhancement
technologies to make us better in some respect? For what purpose is the use of big data morally
permissible? Such problems require careful reflection on the facts – but also on our basic moral
values.

Applied ethics is the branch of ethics which investigates the application of ethicaltheories in actual
life scenario’s. To this end, applied ethics attempts to illuminate the possibility of disagreement about
the way theories and principles should be applied.

Specific areas of applied ethics are:

• Medical ethics
• Bioethics
• Public sector ethics
• Welfare ethics
• Business ethics
• Decision making ethics
• Legal ethics (justice)
• Media ethics
• Environmental ethics
• Computer ethics
• Robot ethics

2.1 Applied ethics and its growth

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Human beings are naturally moral and engaged in social interactions. Their daily routine constitutes
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of making several judgements on moral issues.For instance, a human being often contemplates on
what is right and wrong, what one should do, what is valuable for one-self and othersetc.Now, these
questions are also often contentious and involves dilemma. We rely upon ethics when we start making
moral judgements on these issues. We tend to check whether our moral judgements can be justified
from all the perspectives. Hence, we see ethics is a reflection on morality. In social contexts, lot of
moral judgements are made and a lot of moral acts are performed, such as, in areas of health care,
environmental sustenance, assigning values to non-humans, politics, education, etc. In the domain of
health, moral issues are related to life and death and human well-being. We often raise questions such
as, ‘are all life saving measures acceptable?’. In politics,thereare often judgements concerning value-
conflicts. The decision maker is compelled to choose an alternative. When we reflect on these type of
decision making, we touch upon applied ethics. So applied ethics is concerned with crucial part of
human life and social development.

James Childress, defines applied ethics as follows: The terms "applied ethics" and "practical ethics"
are used interchangeably to indicate the application of ethics to special arenas of human activity,
such as business, politics and medicine, and to particular problems, such as abortions. (Childress
1986).

The field of applied ethics flourished only in 1970’s, prior to this we have seen moral philosophers
concerned only with conceptual and epistemological questions. Normative ethics also didn’t do much
to analyze moral problems in this sense. In a famous expression, philosopher Stephen Toulmin said
that "Medicine saved the life of ethics" (Toulmin 1982). Medicine saved the life of ethics; new and
acute moral problems in medicine that have no ready-to-hand answers are explored by ethicists
pursuing bio-ethics which comes under applied ethics. Also secularization of western world meant
fewer people looked up to church for the answers. Max Weber says “moral heteronomy” gave way to
moral autonomy. Individuals were free to formulate their answers. Secondly development of applied
ethics relates to new moral problems faced by society as a consequence of new technologies and their
impact. No new legal and moral concepts lead to policy vacuum. It’s because of these factors, applied
ethics assumed a very important role and it is an ever expanding field. Medicine and health care were
starting points, and politics and business followed. Now, more and more human activities are assessed
from an ethical point of view: farming, animal breeding, technology, Information and Communication
Technology (ICT)-ethics, politics and ethics, food, environment , media etc.

Does theory always go hand in hand with practice? Are theoretical norms always worthy of
application in real life situations? The Philosophers who come in the realm of ‘applied ethics’ mainly
take interest into these questions. The areas of applied ethics which are most researched are;
environmental ethics and Bio-ethics which encompasses Clinical Medical ethics, media ethics , food
ethics etc. which are also briefly discussed here.

3. Environmental Ethics

From the very beginning of human habitation on this planet, human beings have presumed that all the
resources available in nature are for the sake of meeting their personal needs. The environment has
been over-exploited for carrying out one’s selfish motives and desires without any sense of gratitude
or resolve for its restoration. It is only in the recent years that an awareness and an attempt to protect
the environment has come up. But, the motive behind this awareness is also anthropocentric. Such
awareness can be traced back to the anxiety of depriving the future generations of all the judicious
resources of the planet. Thus, human beings are trying to protect the planet only with the goal of
sustainable development. As opposed to this, the ‘sense’ in which the environmental ethicists argue
for environmental justice differs from the sociologists (human-centric), although the ‘reference’,
which aims at protection of environment in both the cases is the same. Since ethics, which is an
essential domain of philosophy distinguishes between the moral concepts of right and wrong, or
between the meta-ethical concepts of good and evil, based on ascription of values, moral virtues and
imperatives, environmental ethics has prospered as a new domain of philosophy only as a result of
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critiquing anthropocentricism which only ascribes intrinsic value to human beings. The environmental
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ethicists have challenged anthropocentrism by firstly questioning the preconceived moral supremacy
of human beings over the entire ecosystem. They have also dwelled into the prospect of rationally
ascribing ‘non-anthropocentric intrinsic value’ to various species of the ecosystem and also to the
ecosystem as a whole. It is this inquiry of environmental ethicists in determining environmental
justice, on the basis of ascribing intrinsic value or inherent rights to the environment, that constitutes
environmental ethics.

On the basis of ascription of value, there are different positions within environmental ethics;

3.1 Anthropocentrism

The termbasically signifies thathumans must be considered at the centre of and above any other aspect
of reality when it comes to assigning values. This concept can be termed ashuman centrism or human
supremacy. This anthropocentric view is considered to be the central problem for all the present
environmental issues present in the world today. The use of the word “dominion” used in Genesis,
where God purportedly gives man dominion over all creatures is controversial. John Passmore’s
“Man’s Responsibility towards Nature” has been severally criticised by defenders of Deep Ecology.

3.2 Bio-centrism

The entire branch of environmental ethics developed as a reaction to anthropocentrism. Biocentrism

was the one of the first approaches to develop. The term biocentrism comes from Greek word bios
which means life and kentron which means centre. It basically "extends the status of moral object
from human beings to all living things in nature" .Bio centric ethics calls for a change in assessing the
relationship between humans and nature. Bio centrists observe that all species have inherent value,
and that humans are not "superior" to other species in a moral or ethical sense. All living beings are
interdependent and pursue their own “good”. The proponents of this view hold that all biological
species have an inherent value and thus should be given moral consideration by virtue of possessing
these qualities. The advocates of bio centrism also support animal rights, environmental protection
and preservation of diversity. It finds support even by deep ecologist like Arne Naess. This view is
primarily supported by Albert Schweitzer in his work “Reverence for Life”, Peter Singer’s Ethics of
Animal Liberation, Paul Taylor’s View of Bio centric egalitarianism.

3.2 1 Animal Ethics- Peter Singer’s argument from ‘sentience’

Peter Singer’s most significant contribution in the domain of environmental ethics can be defined in
terms of his argument from sentience. Unlike most ethicists Singer does not consent in holding
‘rationality ‘as the basic criterion for moral consideration, as there are a lot of human beings who also
don’t qualify for this criterion. Thus, Singer assets that the criterion of moral consider-ability should
be modified to’ sentience’ which is common to all moral beings. Now, whether a being is sentient or
not can be only determined by his/her capability to suffer or experience pain. Since both humans and
non-human animals have equal capacity of suffering or feeling pain and there is no moral justification
to show that humans suffer more than the animals, they should be given equal moral consideration as
human beings through the act of assigning them with human rights.

3.2.2Tom Regan’s Perspective

Tom Regan is an American moral philosopher and a radical animal ethicist. Tom Regan’s paper “The
case for animal right” is a critique of thinkers who deny the right of animals. The indirect duty view
states that “we owe nothing to the animals and can never do an act which wrong them”. Therefore, we
have indirect duties rather than direct duties towards them. For example, if a person kicks my dog, he
will be harming my property and not the dog. Thus the duty of the man to my dog is indirect. This is
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refused by Regan on the following grounds-

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To justify this view, it has to be ensured that the dog doesn’t feel any pain and is not hurt by the man.
But this statement is false. As animals are conscious beings they experience pain and there is no
justification otherwise. If it is considered that animals do not feel pain by the ethicists, it should also
be accepted that humans too do not feel any pain. Some may also say that both man and dog feel pain
when the dog is kicked but the pain felt by human is the one which matters. This argument is rejected
by Regan and states it as completely irrational. ‘pain is pain and we cannot be rationally discard the
moral significance of pain that animal experience.’ According to Regan every man has some intrinsic
values, these values are not dependent on external factors. As a result, the conscious beings should be
valued for the sake of its own. As animals are also self-conscious they experience subjects which
possess inherent value and thus are obliged to be treated equally. Regan is against the view of where
cosmetic experiments is considered wrong but using them for medical research is acceptable. This
kind of partial attribution is rejected.

3.3.Eco-centric

This term comes from the synthesis of two Greek works Oikos meaning ‘house’ and Kentron meaning
‘centre’. This view extends inherent value to the entirety of the ecosystem and focuses on preservation
of the biosphere as a totality: including species , population, land and ecosystem. The proponents of
this theory believe that the entire universe is integrated into a unified whole. As a result of this, each
and every part of ecology should be given its due respect. This view is in contrast to anthropocentrism
and accommodates animal ethics, bio-centrism, eco-centrism within its own scope and therefore the
most effective from the perspective of environmental ethics. This view was conceived by Aldo
Leopold in his work “A sand county Almanac” written in 1949 where he propounds his theory of
land ethic.

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.
It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

This view was endorsed by Arne Naess and George Session and finds its expression in the first
principle of Deep Ecology.

3.4 Deep Ecology

This movement was born in Scandinavia as aresult of the discussions between Arne Naess, Sigmund
Kvaloy and Nils Faarlund. This theory is inspired by Spinoza’s metaphysics which talks about
rejection of atomistic individualism. The idea that human being is a separate self-possessing essence
different from the rest of the world not only divorces human from the rest of the world but also
induces selfishness towards nature. Naess, contrary to this view suggests that human should adopt
relational “total field image” of the world. According to this view, humans are best understood as
“knots” in the bio spherical net. This view focuses on identification of Human ego with nature.

3.5 Eco-Feminism

This term ecofeminism was first coined by Fraincoise d’Eaubonne in 1974. Feminist theories try to
analyse the reason for women’s oppression, its chief causes and consequences and suggest strategies
for improvement. Few feminist writers suggested that patriarchal mode of thinking encouraged not
only subjugating and colonising women but it extended to people of colour, nature and also animals.
Sheila Collins further adds that male dominated culture is supported by four interlocking pillars of
sexism, racism, class exploitation and ecological destruction. Val Plumwwod an important
ecofeminist thinker understands that oppressive structure which dominate women is one of the many
parallel structures and the common ideological rhetorical device to justify its position of privilege.
The oppressive structure generally creates “value-dualisms”, hierarchical thinking, which only
subjugates female values. The dualistic way of thinking sees the world in polar opposites terms like
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man/women, active /passive, mind/body, reason/ emotion, transcendent/ immanent, human /animal,
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culture/ nature. This kind of duality reflects the inferiority of the lower term. Karren Warren, Ynestra
King, Vandana Shiva are few prominent thinkers who have contributed significantly in this area.

4. Media ethics

Almost everyone across the globe today consent on the fact that media is corrupt and indulges in
unethical practices. Historically media was not expected to be objective in nature. The American
Press in the initial years were never accurate or completely honest in their reporting. It is only post the
civil war and a chain of protests against dishonest journalism in America, that journalists began to
adhere to a ethical code of conduct since that became the need of the hour as everyone wanted to have
a fair idea of both sides of the story. Also, in the beginning of the twentieth century, newspaper
became the most resourceful medium of mass communication. As a result of this, ‘yellow journalism’
was questioned and the public demanded professionalism. Concepts of truth, transparency, objectivity
became part of the code of conduct prescribed for journalists. In the twentieth century, we can once
again see a return of the old unethical practices in journalism. Media is biased and unreliable in their
reporting. Public has lost all the trust it had on media in general. The main issue is that the public is
unable to make a distinction between fact and opinion. Thus today media ethics has developed as a
separate subject in the domain of applied ethics to deal with all the questions pertaining to truth,
minimizing harm, accountability of media etc. to stop this problem from further aggravating.

5. Business Ethics

Business ethics comprises of the basic moral standard every employ should adhere to while he/she is
part of an organisation. It is the ethical code of conduct prescribed for inter personal communication
or transaction between two companies or clients or intra-personal communication or way of working
inside a professional zone. It also pays special attention to the working condition of workers. For
instance, is it ethical for companies put the life of the workers at stake by making them work in
industries manufacturing crackers or drugs etc. thus business ethics is largely essential for the
protection of the rights of the worker. Is a company justified in making its workers work for extra
hours without pay? Is there a criteria required for companies to stick to in determining the salaries of
its workers? These are the ethical questions which are catered to in the domain of business ethics.

6 Clinical Bio-ethics

This area of research deals with the various ethical conflicts which are taking place specifically in the
practice of medicine. It tries to resolve conflicts between the ‘best interest of the physician’ vs the
‘best interest of the patient’, clashes between the autonomy of the physician and patient, it deals with
concepts like,

· Moral consent- this is the most important part of any medical intervention starting from
Euthanasia to organ transplant to abortion.
· Just distribution of medical resources- in cases of organ transplantation, what is the moral
criterion of fair and just distribution of organs. What should be the determining factor when
the demand surpasses the rate of supply. Can age be the criteria? Should the chances of
survival be the determining criteria?
· Conflict of saving life or taking life in cases of abortion- in case of abortion, how to we
morally weigh pro-life over pro-choice. This means, should we respect the autonomy of the
mother more than the life of the foetus or vice-versa.
· Euthanasia – whether voluntary euthanasia is synonymous to killing and therefore unethical.
Whether involuntary and non-voluntary euthanasia is justified in cases where the patient is
incapable of giving consent. in such cases, are parents or family members eligible in taking
this life-taking decision. Also what is the measure to determine whether the doctor’s decision
in unbiased and only in the best interest of the patient.
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7. Food Ethics and Food

It is no secret that food is by far the most essential human need and as a result, the topic of eating food
attracts a certain concern about the ways food is produced and how it is consumed. To put it crudely,
when the question of survival is at stake, there is no other need as necessary as the consumption of
food. There was a time when the relation between food and hunger was a direct stimulus-output one,
where one would eat anything to satiate the hunger one felt and the function of food was to simply
prevent starvation. However, over the past centuries food has also come to mean a number of things.
Some associate food as strengthening social and cultural ties and others consider eating a leisure
activity (implying an activity from which pleasure can be derived). Some have come to view food as a
personal preference; for others it is a product produced to cater to the wants of consumers. In the past,
food was associated very closely with a sense of morality, such that what one ate became the judge of
how spiritual or good a person was. Within certain communities and religious traditions there is a
clear list of food items that are considered permissible and those that are forbidden for consumption.

The talk on food is now structured in accordance with issues prevalent with food itself instead of
being related to other issues like spirituality and character building. This point has also been made in
the introduction to Food and Philosophy by Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe where they say “We
support the thesis that food is, and ought to be, a proper object of philosophical investigation in its
own right”.3

A good question to ask at this point is- ‘What is food ethics?’ The term ‘food ethics’ was coined by
Ben Mepham (1996)4 and as the name suggests that food ethics is a discipline that deals with eating
ethically. To put it simply, food ethics is a new field in applied ethics which is concerned with
developing, analysing and understanding ethical questions in the production (packaging, preparing,
storing, distributing and advertising) as well as consumption of food, in a way that borrows from a
variety of disciplines and areas, giving the discipline an interdisciplinary character.

Lot of work in present is happening in the area of GM modification, production and demand , animal
cloning and commercial production to meet the present needs.

8. Conclusion

Analysis of the Fact- Value relationship:After looking into a detailed account of all the branches of
ethics, we have finally come down to the most intriguing meta-ethical question which in a way
reconciles all the three major approaches of ethics. this question is concerning the fact-value
relationship. Is “what is the case (descriptive) necessarily related to what ought to be the case
(normative and further applied)”? can value judgements be deduced from a set of factual statements.”.
On through research, we find two diametrically opposed views on this issue. One view maintains that,
there is a sharp distinction between factual statements and value judgements such that the latter cannot
be derived from the former. The other view maintains that a sharp distinction between the factual
statements and value judgements does not exist and value judgements can be derived from factual
statements. Philosophers like David Hume believe in the former view. He believes that although we
begin with factual statements which are bereft of any moral predicates such as statements about God.
We are then told that with reference to the current state of affairs, we ought to act in such and such a
way. This according to Hume is not a legitimate argument since the conclusion contains a novel
relation, which is absent in the premises. In contrast to this there are various meta-ethicists such as
Geach, Philipa Foot who admit that factual statements are related to ethical judgments. Geach begins
his analysis with expressions such as 'good' and 'evil'. For him the meaning of 'good' is context -
sensitive and it alters with the changing context. Good is multi-functional in nature. When we say
'good wife' and 'good knife' we naturally do not have the same implication. A good knife is one,
which fulfils the purpose of cutting whereas a good wife is one who takes care of her husband. These
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3
Allhoff and Monroe, Food and Philosophy, 2.
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4
Mepham, Preface to Food Ethics, XI-XII
various on-going irresolvable conflicts have generated scope for further research in ethics and is also
preventing the entire subject from becoming obsolete.

Interest in applied ethics has increased during the last decades. Applied ethics is an academic
discipline analyzing moral problems in different social arenas. Applied ethics is often worked on in
collaboration between philosophers and academics from other disciplines and with professionals who
are affected by a moral problem.

The turn to applied ethics can basically be explained by three factors mainly secularisation,
unquestionable moral authorities no longer exist. Moral decisions are taken autonomously, and, in the
public discussion on moral issues, a demand for expertise in applied ethics exists. Second, due to
advent of technologies, for example, in health care, the consumerist behaviour society faces new and
difficult moral problems. A public awareness is needed on how to handle the new moral dilemmas.
Third, many people are engaged in struggles for social justice, sustainability, animal rights and other
causes. Applied ethics can contribute to the understanding of this type of typical social and political
issues.

Learning Outcomes

This module is meant to discuss the issues related to understanding moral theory, ethics and its
practice in the actual world to the present problems. It aims at achieving the following outcomes:

1. It brings out the main arguments mentioned by various significant ethicists thinkers.
2. Applied Ethics offers an in-depth focus on the interaction between moral practice and ethical
theory, allowing you to explore ethical theories in relation to actual practical dilemmas.
3. It deals with the historical development of the applied ethics which presents how the issue of
the rights and liberties of concerned has been the focal point in the ethical and moral
discourses.
4. This knowledge in area of applied ethics, provides theoretical background in ethics, including
important methods and debates in applied ethics. It enables one to understand and deliberate
in a logical way.
5. The views of different kinds of ethical positions show that there is no one way of looking at
this issue and several efforts have been made to destroy the archaic way of looking at the
people.
6. It will also enable us to understand the implications of legal and political frameworks for
ethical argumentation.
7. The interdisciplinary approach offers one multiple avenues of investigation into applied
ethics. In addition to studying philosophy, one will learn about the contexts in which moral
problems arise and the different types of analysis that may be needed in various contexts. It
will also examine how viewpoints from different disciplines can strengthen ethical reflection
and argumentation.
8. This module is research-driven and focuses on human dignity, environmental ethics, animal
ethics, sustainability ethics, health ethics, bioethics, media ethics and food ethics.
9. This module has tried to present the philosophical discussion over the issue at hand. This
enriches one’s knowledge of how philosophy has contributed significantly in this realm. The
deontological, consequentialist, utilitarian views throw light on how by applying various
philosophical positions, we can understand and analyse the issue of ethical dilemma which
can be handled in a better way.

Bibliography
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Ragen, Tom. The Case for Animal Rights. US: University of California Press, 1983. Print.
Rolston. Holmes. Environmental Ethics. Temple University Press, 1989. Print.

Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. US: HarperCollins, 1975. Print.

Cahen, Harley. “Against the Moral Consider ability of Ecosystems.” in Environment Ethics 10(3):
195-216.
Environmental Ethic,(https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/) , accessed on 23rd
October, 2018
Hargrove, Eugene. “Weak Anthropocentric Intrinsic Value.” in Max Oelschlaeger, ed., Denton:
University of North Texas Press, 1992. 140-69.
Kumar, Arvind. Environmental Pollution and its control.Shree Publishers and Distributers, 2011.
West, R. Henry. An Introduction to Mill’s Utilitarian Ethics. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

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