Philosophy (moral) Or Ethics

Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena and often described as MORAL philosophy, for this my primary source was a dictionary of philosophy edited by my undergraduate philosophy teacher Professor Anthony Flew(1979),

TO PARAPHRASE : To the layman ETHICS suggests a set of standards by which a particular group or community decides to regulate i`s behaviour - to distinguish what is legitimate or acceptable in pursuit of their aims from what is not.

In a philosophical context `ethics` has clear connections, though not identical - like all philosophical endeavour it is an investigation into fundamental principles and basic concepts that are or aught to be found in a given field of human activity being philosophical it is theoretical, in this respect it differs from the lay sense such as Christianity in that it is intended as a practical guide. ; ;

We can identify 3 main branches : NORMATIVE ETHICS (morally right or what aught to be), APPLIED ETHICS (examines concrete ethical problems in real world situations - e.g medical or business ethics), META ETHICS (examines underlying assumptions and concepts).

In more detail we can categorise the following ethical types :

 ; DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS : moral theories according to which certain acts must or must not be done, regardless to some extent of the consequence of their performance or non performance. Certain acts are right or wrong in themselves, i.e breaking ; promise is wrong. Problems arise concerning the difference between the RIGHT and the GOOD, examples include Kantian ethics (see below).

AXIOLOGICAL ETHICS : concerned with the VALUES (goodness), concerned with what is worth pursuing or promoting or avoided, along with issues of what questions mean. Presently centres on epistemology (if any) of values or questioning the moral grounds on which we base ethical judgements on, often contrasted with Kantian ethics (see below).

APPLIED ETHICS : dealing with practical or applied questions.

BELIEF ETHICS : a set of rules used in evaluating doxastic states relating to belief as opposed to knowledge or facts (doxa - a Greek word signifying opinions, belief or doubt, conjecture, estimates).

 ;ETHICAL RELATIVISM : moral appraisals (judgements) are essentially dependant upon the standards defined in the moral code being followed.

ETHICAL SUBJECTIVISM and OBJECTIVISM : on a spectrum from OBJECTIVISM, ; moral judgements can be rationally defensible, true or false, that there are moral values that exist independent of the feelings - states of particular times (subjectivism) develop. ;