Overview of and topical guide to ethics
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ethics.
Ethics (aka moral philosophy) – branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.[1] The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concern matters of value, and thus comprise the branch of philosophy called axiology.[2]
Branches
The following examples of questions that might be considered in each field illustrate the differences between the fields:
Applied ethics
Applied ethics – using philosophical methods, attempts to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life.
Metaethics
- Metaethics or moral epistemology – concerns the nature of moral statements, that is, it studies what ethical terms and theories actually refer to.
- Moral syncretism – the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory moral beliefs, often while melding the ethical
practices of various schools of thought.
Cognitivism
Cognitivism
Non-cognitivism
Non-cognitivism
Normative ethics
Normative ethics – concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong.
- Consequentialism – moral theories that hold that the consequences of one's conduct are the true basis for any judgement about the morality of that conduct. Thus, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a good outcome (the end justifies the means).
- Deontological ethics – approach that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules.
- Moral absolutism – view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless of their circumstances such as their consequences or the intentions behind them. Thus stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done to promote some other good (e.g., stealing food to feed a starving family), and even if it does in the end promote such a good.
- Graded absolutism
- Kantian ethics
- Pragmatic ethics
- Virtue ethics – describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior.
- Aristotelian ethics – the beginning of ethics as a subject, in the form of a systematic study of how individuals should best live. Aristotle believed one's goal should be living well and "eudaimonia", a Greek word often translated as "well-being" or "happiness". This could be achieved by the acquisition of a virtuous character, or in other words having well-chosen excellent habits.
- Eudaimonism – system of ethics that measures happiness in relation to morality.
- Ethics of care – a normative ethical theory
- Living Ethics
- Religious ethics
- Secular ethics
- Biocentrism – an ethical point of view which extends inherent value to non-human species,[1] ecosystems, and processes in nature
- Rights ethics (thought in the American and French Revolutions)
- Feminist ethics
Descriptive ethics
Related areas
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