Virtue ethics Deontological ethics Consequentialism ethics

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Three Distinct
Ethical Theories
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Ethics

 Greek word Ethos- showing moral character

 The theory of right action and the greater good

 A system of moral principles

 provide a framework for judging right or wrong

decisions

 affect how people make decisions and lead their lives

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Ethics

 "How should people act?" (Normative or Prescriptive

Ethics)
 how things should or ought to be

 "How do we take moral knowledge and put it into

practice?" (Applied Ethics)
 apply ethical theory to real-life situations

 "What does 'right' even mean?" (Meta-Ethics)

 meaning of ethical judgements
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Virtue Ethics
 inherent character of a person rather than on the nature or consequences
of specific actions performed

 Analyzes the rightness or wrongness of individual choices

indirectly in terms of the character or dispositions of the agent
making the choices

 Practice is very important to achieve excellence

 Virtue is a product of habit

 Lifetime practice of Virtue leads to happiness and good life

Eudaimonia
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Eudaimonism
 right action as that which leads to the "well-being" of the
individual,
 lifetime of practicing the virtues in one's everyday activities,
subject to the exercise of practical wisdom to resolve
any conflicts or dilemmas which might arise will allow the
individual to flourish and live the good life ("eudaimonia")
 personal happiness and the complete life of an individual at
the center of ethical concern
 Aristotle
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Agent-Based Theories

 Give an account of virtue based on our common-

sense intuitions about which character traits
are admirable which we can identify by looking at
the people we admire, our moral exemplars
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Deontological

 an approach to ethics that focuses on

the rightness or wrongness of actions
themselves

 It argues that decisions should be made

considering the factors of one's
duties and other's rights
 the Greek 'deon' means 'obligation' or 'duty'
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Divine Command Theory

 an action is right if God has decreed that it is

right
 an act is obligatory if and only if it
is commanded by God
 moral obligations arise from God's
commands
 10 Commandments
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Categorical Imperative
 Immanuel Kant

 a moral law that is unconditional or absolute for all agents

 the validity or claim of which does not depend on any

ulterior motive or end

 "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the

same time will that it should become a universal law."

 “So act as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or

in another, always as an end, and never as only a means.”
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Consequentialism

 bases morality on the consequences of human

actions and not on the actions themselves

 people should do whatever produces the greatest

amount of good consequences people should do
whatever produces the greatest amount of good
consequences

 'the greatest good for the greatest number of people’.

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Utilitarianism

 An action is morally right if it results in

the greatest amount of good/happiness
for the greatest amount of people
affected by the action
 The measure of the value of an act is the
amount by which it increases happiness.
 Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart-Mill
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Egoism

 The correct moral action is the one that

meets the self-interest of individuals’
 Self- interest, personal advantage, and
gain
 Henry Sidgwick, Ayn rand, Friedrich
Nietzche
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Hedonism

 Pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind

 individuals should strive to maximise their own total

pleasure
 Attain sense of tranquility
 freedom from fear and absence of pain

 Epicurus, Aristippus of cerene

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References

 https://www.britannica.com/topic/categorical-imperative

 http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5i.htm

 http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_ethics.html

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml