MAJOR AREAS OF ETHICS

The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts
of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general
subject areas: meta ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
 
What is the meaning of meta-ethics?
Meta ethics is the study of moral thought and moral language. Rather than addressing questions about
what practices are right and wrong, and what our obligations to other people or future generations are
— questions of so-called 'normative' ethics — metaethics asks what morality actually is.
 
Examples of meta-ethical questions include:
 What does it mean to say something is "good"?
 How, if at all, do we know what is right and wrong?
 How do moral attitudes motivate action?
 Are there objective or absolute values?
 What is the source of our values?
 
What are the types of meta-ethics?
Major meta ethical theories include naturalism, non-naturalism (or intuitionism), emotivism, and
prescriptivism. Naturalists and non-naturalists agree that moral language is cognitive— i.e., that moral
claims can be known to be true or false.
 
What do we mean by normative ethics?
Normative ethics, that branch of moral philosophy, or ethics, concerned with criteria of what is morally
right and wrong. It includes the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human
actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like.
 
Normative statements make claims about how institutions should or ought to be designed, how to value
them, which things are good or bad, and which actions are right or wrong. For example, "children should
eat vegetables", and "those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" are normative
claims.
 
Applied ethics is a branch of ethics devoted to the treatment of moral problems, practices, and policies
in personal life, professions, technology, and government.
 
What are examples of applied ethics?
What is applied ethics? Examples: the moral issues regarding... abortion euthanasia giving to the poor
sex before marriage the death penalty gay/lesbian marriage (or other rights) war tactics censorship/ so-
called "white lies" etc.
 
What is applied ethics in contemporary times?
Applied ethics, often interchangeably used with practical ethics, is concerned with ethical inquiries
(based on a certain ethical theory) of the different ambits of human activities, which includes, for
instance, business ethics, bioethics, environmental ethics, and the like. Ethics is by nature a practical
discipline.
 
What is the primary goal of applied ethics?
Definitional Problems. "Applied ethics" has proved difficult to define, but the following is a widely
accepted account: Applied ethics is the application of general ethical theories to moral problems with
the objective of solving the problems
 

Meta-ethics
 
• Meta-ethics is concerned with what we mean when we use words like 'good' 'bad' 'right' 'wrong'.
• It is not a normative system of ethics — it's does not tell us what we can and can't do
 
What is Meta-Ethics
 From the Greek 'meta' (meaning 'beyond') and 'ethikos' (meaning •character' or 'custom').
Meta-ethics is the study of underlying ethical ideas or ethical language.
 Meta-ethics can be contrasted with normative ethics (the attempt to work out which actions are
right/wrong) and descriptive ethics (the attempt to compare and describe moral behaviors)- In
simple terms, meta-ethics is concerned with the question of what is the meaning (if any) of
goodness'?
 The main parts of this A2 topic are the meaning of ethical language (is it natural/non-natural?)
and the explanation of ethics in terms of Emotivism.
 
Normative Ethics
 'Normative ' means something that 'guides' or 'controls'
 Aims to discover what should be the moral standards that are supported by the best reasons
 
In normative ethics there are different theories as to how criteria of moral conduct should be defined.
The three main theories can be sketched as follows:
1. Deontological, i.e. duty theories locate the basis of morality on specific foundational principles
of duty and obligation. These principles are binding regardless of the consequences that acting
on their basis might bring.
2. Consequentialist theories on the other hand determine the value Of an action On the grounds
Of a cost benefit analysis Of its consequences. If the positive consequences outweigh the
negative ones then the action is morally proper.
3. Virtue theories focus on a given set of rules like "do not steal" etc. But instead of defining them
merely as obligatory duties, the emphasis lies on the individual to develop good habits Of
character based on these rules (and avoid vices). Thus virtue theory emphasizes moral
education.
 
Applied ethics
 Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life
situations. The lines of distinction between meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are
often blurry. For example, the issue of abortion can be seen as an applied ethical topic since it
involves a specific type of controversial behavior.
 Applied ethics is used in determining public policy. For example, the following would be
questions of applied ethics: "Is getting an abortion immoral?" "Is euthanasia immoral?" "Is
affirmative action right or wrong?" "What are human rights, and how do we determine them?"
and "Do animals have rights as well?"
 
Applied Ethics (Descriptive Ethics) cont'd
Deals with difficult moral questions and controversial moral issues that people actually face in their lives
• Examples: the moral issues regarding...
• abortion
• euthanasia
• giving to the poor
• sex before marriage
• the death penalty
• gay/lesbian marriage (or other rights)
• corruption
• Drug abuse
• so-called "white lies
• etc.