ETHICS

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ETHICS

• An introduction

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• The field of ethics, also called moral
  philosophy, involves systematizing, defending,
  and recommending concepts of right and wrong
  behavior.
• The Internet Encyclopedia of philosophy
• www.iep.utm.edu/e/ethics.htm

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• Metaethics
• Normative ethics
• Applied Ethics

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Relativism

• Morals - rules of behavior
• Mores - associated with customs

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PLATO (429-347 B.C.E.)

• (Pupil of Socrates and founder of the Academy in
  385)
• Is it always better to be just than unjust?

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ARISTOTLE (384-322B.C.E.)

• The aim of the study of ethics is to improve our
  lives our well being.

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KANT (1724-1804)

• Categorical Imperatives and Duty

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JEREMY BENTHAM (1748 1832)

• UTILITARIANS - the greatest happiness for the
  greatest number of people

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Zygmunt Bauman Life in Fragments Essays in

• We are , so to speak, ineluctably -
  existentially - moral beings that is, we are
  faced with the challenge of the Other, which is
  the challenge of responsibility for the Other.

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• . . . whether we chose it or not, we confront
  our situation as a moral problem and our life
  choices as moral dilemmas.(Bauman 19952) . .
  whether we chose it or not, we confront our
  situation as a moral problem and our life choices
  as moral dilemmas.?(Bauman 19952)

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• . . . it is equally easy to underdo as it is
  to overdo what acting responsibility may
  ideally require. (Bauman 1995, 3)

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• it is as if despite the most sophisticated and
  committed use of various media in exposing and
  laying bare the flagrant abuse of power by brutal
  governments, civic authorities and those often
  (faceless) murderers . . there is both an
  overload of evidence testifying to the violence
  of the contemporary times that permeates all
  aspects of life, as well as a lack of knowledge
  of real suffering (Mukta 2004)

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