LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Virtue ethics takes a character-centered approach to morality. Whereas Mohists and utilitarians look to consequences to determine the rightness of an action and deontologists maintain that a…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: The word deontology derives from the Greek words deon, meaning duty, and logos, meaning the study or science of, so that deontology literally means “the study or science of duty.” Unlike…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Most people make at least some decisions based on the likely consequences of their actions. You might, for example, appeal to costs and benefits to justify a…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: This section focuses on the how normative moral theories relate to other branches of ethics, examines the requirements of normative moral theories, and introduces three major types…
Figure 9.1 Moral issues are a common impetus for protests and activism. (credit: modification of work “Hundreds of protesters march in down San Diego, CA in support of transgender rights” by Laurel Wreath of Victors/Wikipedia, CC0 1.0) Chapter Outline 9.1 Requirements of a…
The Fact-Value Distinction The fact-value distinction distinguishes between what is the case (facts) and what we think ought to be the case (values) based on beliefs about what is good, beautiful, important, etc. Descriptive claims are statements about matters of…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Thus far, the chapter has touched on fairly abstract concepts related to value. However, value theory has very concrete applications. Aesthetics is an area of value theory that examines…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Well-being—or flourishing, as it is sometimes called—is a widely discussed topic in value theory because it helps us to understand what we value and why. The things…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Ethics is the broad study of morality and is often divided into metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Normative ethics and applied ethics are covered in separate…
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: People spend much of their time trying to accomplish goals that they deem as “good.” But what do people mean when they say something is “good”? What…