Learning activity 1

1. Identify and Explain the Introduction to General Ethics and Ethical Values.

Moral realism

Moral realism is predicated on the notion that the universe is governed by actual, objective moral facts or
truths. Statements regarding morality give accurate information about such truths.

Subjectivism

Argues that ethical assertions do not include factual truths about goodness or badness, but rather that
moral judgments are nothing more than declarations of a person's feelings or attitudes.

Emotivism

Regardless of what individuals think or feel—or whether people think or feel about them at all—the
ethical qualities of the world and the objects in it exist and remain the same.

Prescriptivism

Prescriptivists believe that moral guidelines or advice are contained in ethical statements. So, when I say
something is good, I'm urging you to act upon it, and when I say something is bad, I'm cautioning you
against doing so.

Intuitionism

As actual, objective qualities that cannot be dissected into their constituent elements, intuitionists believe
that good and bad are real. Something is good simply because it is good; it does not require justification
or proof.
Consequentialism

Most non-religious persons believe they live by this ethical theory. It based morality on the results of
human behavior rather than the behavior itself.

Non-consequentialism or deontological ethics

Non-consequentialism places more emphasis on the actions than the results. When people discuss a
thing's principle, they do so in terms of theory.

Virtue ethics

Instead than focusing on ethical obligations, rules, or the results of actions, virtue ethics examines virtue
or moral character. In fact, some philosophers from this school disagree that there can be such a thing as
universal ethical norms.

Situation ethics

In place of prescriptive principles, situation ethics contends that each individual's ethical choices should
be decided in light of each specific circumstance.

Ethics and ideology

Some philosophers hold that ethics serves to state, uphold, and preserve specific political ideas and that
ethics is the codification of political ideology.