Ethics Notes
Chapter 1
Morality – the standards that an individual or a group has about what is right and wrong or good and evil.
Moral Standards – the norms about the kinds of actions believed to be morally right and wrong as well as the values placed on what we believe to be morally good and morally bad.
Nonmoral Standards – the standards by which we judge what is good or bad and right or wrong in a nonmoral way. “Conventional” standards and norms include the standards of etiquette by which we judge people’s manners as good or bad, the rules of behavior set by your parents, teachers, or other authorities, the norms we call the law by which we determine what is legally right, the standards of language by which we judge what is grammatically right or wrong…
Moral Norms and Non-moral Norms: * From the age of 3 we can distinguish moral from nonmoral norms. * From the age of 3 we tend to think that moral norms are more serious than nonmoral norms and apply everywhere independent of what authorities say. * The ability to distinguish moral from nonmoral is innate and universal.
Six Characteristics of Moral Standards: 1. Involve serious wrongs or significant benefits. 2. Should be preferred to other values including self-interest. 3. Not established by authority figures. 4. Felt to be universal. 5. Based on impartial considerations. 6. Associated with special emotions and vocabulary.
Ethics – the discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral standards of a society to evaluate their reasonableness and their implications for one’s life.
Normative Study – an investigation that attempts to reach conclusions about what things are good or bad or about what actions re right or wrong.
Descriptive Study – an investigation that attempts to describe or explain the world without reaching any conclusions about whether the world is as it should be.
Business Ethics – a specialized study of moral right and wrong that concentrates on moral
Morality – the standards that an individual or a group has about what is right and wrong or good and evil.
Moral Standards – the norms about the kinds of actions believed to be morally right and wrong as well as the values placed on what we believe to be morally good and morally bad.
Nonmoral Standards – the standards by which we judge what is good or bad and right or wrong in a nonmoral way. “Conventional” standards and norms include the standards of etiquette by which we judge people’s manners as good or bad, the rules of behavior set by your parents, teachers, or other authorities, the norms we call the law by which we determine what is legally right, the standards of language by which we judge what is grammatically right or wrong…
Moral Norms and Non-moral Norms: * From the age of 3 we can distinguish moral from nonmoral norms. * From the age of 3 we tend to think that moral norms are more serious than nonmoral norms and apply everywhere independent of what authorities say. * The ability to distinguish moral from nonmoral is innate and universal.
Six Characteristics of Moral Standards: 1. Involve serious wrongs or significant benefits. 2. Should be preferred to other values including self-interest. 3. Not established by authority figures. 4. Felt to be universal. 5. Based on impartial considerations. 6. Associated with special emotions and vocabulary.
Ethics – the discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral standards of a society to evaluate their reasonableness and their implications for one’s life.
Normative Study – an investigation that attempts to reach conclusions about what things are good or bad or about what actions re right or wrong.
Descriptive Study – an investigation that attempts to describe or explain the world without reaching any conclusions about whether the world is as it should be.
Business Ethics – a specialized study of moral right and wrong that concentrates on moral