Ethics

Ethics Study Guide

©2018 Achieve Page 3 of 116 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Ethics and Ethical Reasoning........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 What is Morality?............................................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 What is Ethics?................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Normative Ethics.............................................................................................................................................................................6 1.4 Non-Normative Ethics ..................................................................................................................................................................7 1.5 Moral Judgments, Argumentation, and Reasoning ........................................................................................................... 8 1.6 Argumentation: Basic Terms and Concepts......................................................................................................................... 8 1.7 Chapter One Quiz ......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Ethical Relativism and Meta-ethics............................................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Ethical Relativism ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13 2.2 Support for Ethical Relativism ............................................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Criticisms of Relativism............................................................................................................................................................. 14 2.4 Other Meta-Ethical Theories................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Chapter Two Quiz ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Chapter 3: Egoism, Contractarianism, and Utilitarianism ...................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Egoism .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 3.2 Contractarianism ......................................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Utilitarianism................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 3.4 The Utilitarian Theorists .......................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Subtypes of Utilitarianism........................................................................................................................................................ 23 3.6 Chapter Three Quiz ..................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 4: Deontological Theories ................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1 Deontological Ethics ................................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Immanuel Kant ............................................................................................................................................................................. 27 First Formulation – The Formula of Universal Law and Nature................................................................................. 28 Second Formulation – The Formula of Humanity............................................................................................................. 29 Third Formulation – The Formula of Autonomy and The Formula of the Kingdom of Ends.......................... 29 4.3 Existentialism................................................................................................................................................................................ 30 4.4 Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals .............................................................................................................................. 30 4.5 Chapter Four Quiz........................................................................................................................................................................ 33 Chapter 5: Virtue Ethics, Natural Law Theory, and Communitarianism .......................................................................... 35 5.1 Virtue Ethics................................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Platonic Soul ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 35