50 Ethics Ideas You Really Need to Know

1. Morality's Foundations: The Good Life and Divine Command

"The good life may be the crowning glory of all the virtues."

The quest for the good life has been central to ethical thinking since ancient Greece. Philosophers have long debated whether the good life is rooted in happiness, virtue, or fulfillment of one's potential. This quest intersects with the question of whether morality stems from divine command or human reason.

Divine command theory posits that what is moral is what God commands. This view faces challenges, such as the Euthyphro dilemma: Is something good because God commands it, or does God command it because it's good? Critics argue this makes morality arbitrary or renders God superfluous.

Secular approaches to ethics, developed during the Enlightenment, seek to ground morality in human reason and experience rather than divine authority. These approaches emphasize:

• Individual autonomy
• Universal principles
• Empirical observation of human nature and society

2. Moral Realism vs. Subjectivism: The Nature of Ethical Truth

"The moral convictions of thoughtful and well-educated people are the data of ethics just as sense-perceptions are the data of natural science."

Moral realism holds that moral facts and properties exist independently of what anyone believes, similar to how scientific facts exist independently of opinion. This view suggests that moral statements can be objectively true or false.

Moral subjectivism, in contrast, argues that moral truths are dependent on the attitudes and feelings of the individual or culture making the judgment. This leads to:

• Emotivism: moral statements are expressions of emotion rather than facts
• Relativism: moral truths vary between cultures or individuals

The debate between these views has profound implications for how we approach ethical disagreements and whether we can claim universal moral truths. Critics of subjectivism argue it leads to moral nihilism, while critics of realism question how we can access objective moral facts.

3. Utilitarianism and Kantian Ethics: Competing Ethical Frameworks

"The end may justify the means so long as there is something that justifies the end."

Utilitarianism, developed by philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, judges the morality of an action based on its consequences. It aims to maximize overall well-being or happiness for the greatest number of people. Key features include:

• Consequentialism: focus on outcomes rather than intentions
• Impartiality: equal consideration of everyone's interests
• Hedonistic calculus: attempt to measure and compare pleasures and pains

Kantian ethics, based on the work of Immanuel Kant, focuses on the inherent rightness or wrongness of actions, regardless of their consequences. Central to this approach is:

• The categorical imperative: act only according to rules you could will to be universal laws
• Respect for rational agents: never treat people merely as means to an end
• Duty-based ethics: emphasizing moral obligations over outcomes

These competing frameworks often lead to different conclusions about specific ethical dilemmas, highlighting the complexity of moral reasoning.

4. Rights, Justice, and Equality: Cornerstones of Ethical Society

"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do."

Rights are entitlements that individuals possess, often seen as inviolable protections against interference or harm. They can be:

• Natural rights: inherent to human beings
• Legal rights: granted and protected by law
• Positive rights: entitlements to receive something
• Negative rights: freedoms from interference

Justice involves the fair distribution of benefits and burdens in society. Key theories include:

• Distributive justice: fair allocation of resources
• Retributive justice: fair punishment for wrongdoing
• Procedural justice: fairness in decision-making processes

Equality is a central value in many ethical and political theories, but its precise meaning is debated:

• Formal equality: equal treatment under the law
• Substantive equality: ensuring equal outcomes or opportunities
• Equality of what? Resources, welfare, capabilities?

These concepts form the backbone of many contemporary discussions about social and political ethics.

5. Personal Ethics: Virtues, Friendship, and Integrity

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

Virtue ethics, rooted in ancient Greek philosophy, focuses on the character of the moral agent rather than rules or consequences. It emphasizes:

• Cultivation of virtues: courage, wisdom, justice, temperance
• Practical wisdom (phronesis): the ability to make good judgments in particular situations
• Eudaimonia: human flourishing as the goal of ethical life

Friendship plays a crucial role in ethical thought, raising questions about:

• The nature of moral obligations to friends vs. strangers
• The role of emotion and partiality in ethics
• The value of close relationships in a good life

Integrity involves maintaining consistent ethical principles and identity across different contexts. It raises issues such as:

• Moral absolutism vs. situational ethics
• The relationship between public and private morality
• The importance of authenticity in ethical behavior

These personal aspects of ethics highlight the lived experience of moral decision-making and the role of character in ethical life.

6. Controversial Issues: Crime, Punishment, and War

"It cannot be a reasonable aim that I … should take as the ideal view of the world … a view from no point of view at all."

Crime and punishment raise fundamental questions about justice, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Key issues include:

• Retributive vs. consequentialist justifications for punishment
• The ethics of capital punishment
• The role of mercy and forgiveness in justice systems

Torture is widely condemned but remains a subject of ethical debate, especially in "ticking time bomb" scenarios. Considerations include:

• Absolute prohibition vs. consequentialist allowances
• The reliability of information obtained through torture
• The impact of torture on the moral character of a society

Just war theory attempts to define when war is morally justifiable. It includes criteria such as:

• Just cause (e.g., self-defense)
• Right intention
• Proper authority and public declaration
• Proportionality
• Last resort

These controversial issues highlight the challenges of applying ethical principles to complex real-world situations.

7. Bioethics: Life, Death, and Genetic Engineering

"The sanctity of life view holds that human life is inviolable."

Beginning of life issues include debates over:

• The moral status of embryos and fetuses
• The ethics of abortion and stem cell research
• Reproductive technologies and their implications

End of life issues raise questions about:

• The definition and determination of death
• The ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide
• Allocation of scarce medical resources

Genetic engineering and enhancement present new ethical challenges:

• The line between therapy and enhancement
• Concerns about "designer babies" and eugenics
• The impact of genetic technologies on human nature and equality

These issues at the frontiers of medical technology force us to reconsider fundamental concepts like personhood, human dignity, and the proper goals of medicine.

8. Global Ethics: Poverty, Environment, and Animal Rights

"Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test … consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals."

Global poverty raises pressing ethical questions:

• The extent of our obligations to those in extreme poverty
• The ethics of international aid and development
• Global economic justice and the distribution of resources

Environmental ethics addresses our relationship with the natural world:

• Anthropocentric vs. ecocentric approaches
• Intergenerational justice and sustainability
• The moral status of non-human nature

Animal rights challenge traditional ethical boundaries:

• The moral status of animals and their capacity for suffering
• The ethics of factory farming and animal experimentation
• Expanding the circle of moral consideration beyond humans

These global issues highlight the interconnectedness of ethical problems in the modern world and the need for expanded moral horizons.

Last updated: August 21, 2024