Normative ethics is the study of ethical behaviour, and is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the questions that arise regarding how one ought to act, in a moral sense. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics in that the former examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, whereas the latter studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts. Likewise, normative ethics is distinct from applied ethics in that the former is more concerned with 'who ought one be' rather than the ethics of a specific issue e. In this context normative ethics is sometimes called prescriptiveas opposed to descriptive ethics.
However, on certain versions of the meta-ethical view of moral realismmoral facts are both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time. Most traditional moral theories rest on principles that determine whether an action is right or wrong. Classical theories in this vein include utilitarianismKantianismand some forms of contractarianism. These theories mainly offered the use of overarching moral principles to resolve difficult moral decisions. There are disagreements about what precisely gives an action, rule, or disposition its ethical force. There are three competing views on how moral questions should be answered, along with hybrid positions that combine some elements of each:. The former focuses on the character of those who are acting. In contrast, both deontological ethics Theories of Socially Acceptable Behaviors Virtue Theories consequentialism focus on the status of the action, rule, or disposition itself, and come in various forms.
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Virtue ethics, advocated by Aristotle with some aspects being supported by Saint Thomas Aquinasfocuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on specific actions. Deontology argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one's duties and one's rights. Some deontological theories include:. Consequentialism argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action's outcome or result. Consequentialist theories, varying in what they consider to be valuable i. It can be unclear what it article source to say that a person "ought to do X because it is moral, whether they like it or not.
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For instance, G. Anscombe worries that "ought" has become "a word of mere mesmeric force. British ethicist Philippa Foot elaborates that morality does not Theories of Socially Acceptable Behaviors Virtue Theories to have any special binding force, and she clarifies that people only behave morally when motivated by other factors. Foot https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/essay/mormon-bank-utah/to-what-extent-can-we-form-our.php "People talk, for instance, about the 'binding force' of morality, but it is not clear what this means if not that we feel ourselves unable to escape. Morality may therefore have no binding force beyond regular human motivations, and people must be motivated to https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/essay/calculus-on-manifolds-amazon/global-strategic-management-and-analysis.php morally.
The question then arises: what role does reason play in motivating moral behaviour? The categorical imperative perspective suggests that proper reason always leads to particular Bwhaviors behaviour. As mentioned above, Foot instead believes that humans are actually motivated by desires. Proper reason, on this view, allows humans to discover actions that get them what they want i. Social structure and motivation can make morality binding in a sense, but only because it makes moral norms feel inescapable, according to Foot. John Stuart Mill adds that external pressures, to please others for instance, also influence this felt binding force, which he calls human " conscience. Mill explains:. This firm foundation is that Sociallj the social feelings of mankind; the desire to be in unity with our fellow creatures, which is already a powerful principle in human nature, and happily one of those which tend to become stronger, even without express inculcation, from the influences of advancing civilisation.
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Mill thus believes that it is important to appreciate that it is feelings that drive moral behavior, but also that they may not be present in some people e. Mill goes on to describe factors that help ensure people develop a conscience and behave morally. Popular texts such as Joseph Daleiden's Accetable Science of Morality: The Individual, Community, and Future Generations describe how societies can use science to figure out how to make people more likely to be good. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Branch of philosophical ethics that examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions.]
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