Jeril Philip
PHIL 315 – Midterm paper
Part A – Question 2:
What is ethics? Divide ethics into the categories we have discussed and define each type.
Ethics refers to the standards or principles by which humans ought to behave or conduct themselves generally in society or in specific circumstances. While there are many standards and ways through which one displays the right behavior, ethics is the study of these ways and the theories which guide human action. Ethics has played a significant role in philosophy as philosophers through the ages have either been influenced by ethical theories or have contributed significantly in some way towards understanding how goodness, morality, intrinsic values, and virtues tie into how humans conduct themselves …show more content…
Metaethics asks questions such as: what is morality? What is the nature of morality? Is it objective? Is it more of a preference, an opinion, or cultural convention? One way to understand metaethics is to test it using an ethical scenario. One example is a scenario where you have to steal food or lie for a good cause. Another scenario is if you set out to harm someone, but you ended up saving their life by accident. For example a burglar plots to break into an old woman’s house on a Sunday morning, which is a time when he knows she is always at church. So one Sunday, he creeps up through her back window and smashes it with a hammer. But after he looks inside, he sees that the old woman isn’t at church. She is in the room laying face-down on the floor. The sight of her body scares the burglar and he runs away. He was ready to rob the house, but getting caught for murder was not part of his plan. What the burglar didn’t know was that the old woman was not dead. She was unconscious, having passed out because of a carbon monoxide leak that would have killed her. When the burglary broke the window, he let out some of the toxic gas, and let in fresh air, which allowed her to regain consciousness. So the burglar broke into the house with the intention of stealing from the woman, but inadvertently, he saved her life. Did the burglar do a good thing? Does he deserve praise, even though he didn’t intend to help the woman? Does he still deserve blame, even though he didn’t actually get around to stealing anything, and ended up saving the woman’s life? The answers to these questions will help determine where one’s moral sensibilities lie. The way individual answers will reveal a lot about what metaethical view they subscribe
PHIL 315 – Midterm paper
Part A – Question 2:
What is ethics? Divide ethics into the categories we have discussed and define each type.
Ethics refers to the standards or principles by which humans ought to behave or conduct themselves generally in society or in specific circumstances. While there are many standards and ways through which one displays the right behavior, ethics is the study of these ways and the theories which guide human action. Ethics has played a significant role in philosophy as philosophers through the ages have either been influenced by ethical theories or have contributed significantly in some way towards understanding how goodness, morality, intrinsic values, and virtues tie into how humans conduct themselves …show more content…
Metaethics asks questions such as: what is morality? What is the nature of morality? Is it objective? Is it more of a preference, an opinion, or cultural convention? One way to understand metaethics is to test it using an ethical scenario. One example is a scenario where you have to steal food or lie for a good cause. Another scenario is if you set out to harm someone, but you ended up saving their life by accident. For example a burglar plots to break into an old woman’s house on a Sunday morning, which is a time when he knows she is always at church. So one Sunday, he creeps up through her back window and smashes it with a hammer. But after he looks inside, he sees that the old woman isn’t at church. She is in the room laying face-down on the floor. The sight of her body scares the burglar and he runs away. He was ready to rob the house, but getting caught for murder was not part of his plan. What the burglar didn’t know was that the old woman was not dead. She was unconscious, having passed out because of a carbon monoxide leak that would have killed her. When the burglary broke the window, he let out some of the toxic gas, and let in fresh air, which allowed her to regain consciousness. So the burglar broke into the house with the intention of stealing from the woman, but inadvertently, he saved her life. Did the burglar do a good thing? Does he deserve praise, even though he didn’t intend to help the woman? Does he still deserve blame, even though he didn’t actually get around to stealing anything, and ended up saving the woman’s life? The answers to these questions will help determine where one’s moral sensibilities lie. The way individual answers will reveal a lot about what metaethical view they subscribe