Chapter 1: Moral norms (p. 1-25)
Ethics = generic term covering several different ways of examining/ interpreting moral life.
There are different approaches to ethics (normative/nonnormative):
Nonnormative approaches
- Descriptive ethics:
● The observer's perspective on the behavior of human beings in society. It’s
about which moral norms are expressed in professional practice, for example,
the way consents are obtained from patients prior to treatment;
● Description and theory of prevailing morality;
● It’s not about asking normative questions (like ‘what is right to do’), but it’s
about simply describing the existing perspectives on morality;
- Metaethics:
● Meta-ethics is more of a philosophical view. It reflects on the meaning of
moral use of language: what makes something wrong or right? Is it about the
consequence, the intention, etc.?
● What kind of morality is talked about, is also an important question in
metaethics.
Normative approaches (a participant’s perspective, in a general or in a specific way)
- General normative ethics:
● Like ‘what is right to do’? Which general moral norms should be used to guide
and evaluate conduct, and why?
● It’s a systematic-philosophical reflection on prevailing morality, or even
creating a theory;
- Applied ethics:
- Inspecific contexts, for example, medical ethics in healthcare. This is more about
doctors and physicians and how they should act;
- Healthcare ethics is more of what healthcare managers and policy-makers are
concerned with. These are different kinds of questions that are asked
The common morality as universal morality
- Ethics is moral philosophy, an academic discipline → not the same as morality
- It’s a generic term covering several different ways of examining and interpreting the
moral life”
- ‘Morality’ = what is studied by ethics, norms held in society about right and wrong
human behavior
● Many standards of conduct: moral principles, rules, ideals, rights, virtues
● Part of morality holds for everyone (common morality) and some moral norms
only count for members of specific communities/ groups such as healthcare
professionals (particular moralities)
● Differs from religion, politics, law, and etiquette
● Moral behavior is not the same as prudent behavior
● Refers to a more or less durable social institution: standards transferred
from generation to generation, the existence of which precedes their
acceptance by individual human beings.
● Refers to behavior with implications for others.
- Moral judgments are not merely subjective. It’s more than just an opinion.
1
,The nature of the common morality
- All persons living a moral life know/ accept rules such as do not lie, do not steal, do
not punish innocent persons, do not kill or cause harm, do keep promises, do respect
the rights of others → relevance/ importance of these universally valid rules
- Violation of them is unethical and will generate feelings of remorse; but discussion
occurs about their exact meaning, scope, weight, strength
- This set of universal norms shared by all persons committed to morality = the
common morality
● Applicable to all persons in all places, we judge all human conduct by its
standards
● Examples of generally binding standards of cation (rules of obligation):
1. Do not kill
2. do not cause pain or suffering to others
3. Prevent evil or harm from occurring
4. Rescue persons in danger
5. Tell the truth
6. Nurture the young and dependent
7. Keep your promises
8. Do not steal
9. Do not punish the innocent
10.Obey just laws
● Common morality also contains moral character traits, such as:
1. Nonmalevolence (not harboring ill will towards others)
2. Honesty
3. Integrity
4. Conscientiousness
5. Trustworthiness
6. Fidelity
7. Gratitude
8. Truthfulness
9. Lovingness
10.Kindness
● These are universally admired traits of character → a person is deficient in
moral character if they lack these traits
● Negative traits of character opposite of the virtues are vices (e.g.
malevolence, dishonesty, lack of integrity, cruelty etc.) → moral defects
● Common morality supports human rights and endorses moral ideals (e.g.
charity and generosity)
● Neither obligations, rights or virtues have priority to another in common
morality
Three positions on common morality:
1. Common morality is a product of human experience and history, and is a universally
shared product
● Origin of norms for common morality is the same as origin of norms for
particular morality
● Both are learned/ transmitted in communities
2
, ● Common morality has authority in all communities, while particular morality is
authoritative only for specific groups
2. Moral pluralism is accepted in particular moralities, but not in common morality
(understood as relativism)
● No particular moral way of life is morally acceptable unless it conforms to the
standards in the common morality
3. The common morality comprises moral beliefs that all morally committed persons
believe
Ways to examine the common morality
- If appeals are normative, the claim is that the common morality has normative force:
it establishes moral standards for everyone (and violating them is unethical)
- If references are nonnormative, the claim is that common morality can be studied
based on if it is present in all cultures
- “All persons committed to morality accept the standards in the common morality”
Particular moralities as nonuniversal
- Contain moral norms that are not shared by all cultures, groups or persons who are
committed to morality
- Nature of particular moralities:
● They present concrete, nonuniversal, and content-rich norms (unlike common
morality, which has moral norms that are abstract, universal, and content-thin)
● Norms are not morally justified if they violate norms in the common morality
● Include responsibilities, ideals, attitudes, sentiments etc. that are found in
diverse cultural/ religious traditions, or professional practice
● It sometimes requires special knowledge
● Moral ideals (e.g. charitable goals, rescue persons in dangerous situations)
a. They are praiseworthy, although not universally practiced/ required
b. Persons who do not fulfil then cannot be blamed/ criticized
c. Generally, morally committed persons strive for them (see it as their
obligation)
● Persons with a particular morality sometimes try to use it to speak
authoritatively over others, but their beliefs do not bind other persons/
communities (only common morality does)
Professional and public moralities
- Professional moralities: include standards of moral conduct that are generally
acknowledged/ encouraged by those in the profession (who are serious about their
moral responsibilities
● Are also a particular morality
● General moral norms come from institutions and practices of medicine
● Special roles and relationships derive from rules/ traditions that other
professions will likely not need or accept
● May vary from other moralities in their way of dealing with conflicts of
interests, advance directives etc.
● Members of professions often adhere to moral guidelines
3
, Nature of professions
- Cluster of occupational roles, that perform functions valued by society and receive a
living → almost all occupations
- Learned profession = extensive education
- Professionals often have: (1) specialized knowledge and training, (2) commitment to
provide important services or information
- Professions = self-regulating organizations that control entry into occupational roles
by certifying that people have the necessary knowledge and skills
- Healthcare professionals specify/ enforce obligations for their members, to ensure
they are competent and trustworthy → the obligations form the ethics of a profession
- Problems often arise from:
● Conflicts over appropriate professional standards
● Conflicts between professional commitments and commitments professionals
have outside the profession
- Some professions codify their standards, which specify rules of ethics and etiquette
● Tend to foster/ reinforce member identification with prevailing values of the
profession
● Codes are beneficial when they effectively incorporate defensible moral
norms. But they can oversimply moral requirements, making them rigid
● Acceptability of codes to patient and the public should be determined
Moral dilemmas
- Moral dilemmas = circumstances in which moral obligations (appear to) demand that
a person adopts each of two (or more) alternative but incompatible actions →
someone has to choose, they cannot perform all required actions
- Two forms:
1. Evidence/ argument indicates that an act is morally permissible or morally
wrong, but evidence or strength of argument on both sides is inconclusive
2. Agent believes on moral grounds they are obligated to perform two or more
mutually exclusive actions → obligation for x and y, but the agent cannot do
both (reasons are equal, none is overriding)
- Conflicts between moral requirements and self-interest are a practical dilemma, not a
moral dilemma
● Even though agent does experience moral perplexity/ conflict in difficult cases
● Moral reason doesn’t always override personal reason (example: a physician
choosing between saving their own life or the life of their patient in an extreme
case of resource scarcity)
- Various moral principles, rules and rights can conflict; we may choose one option
over the other, but we might believe that neither option is morally preferable
Framework of moral principles
Principles
- General norms derived from the common morality lead to principles that are general
guidelines for the formulation of more specific rules
- Principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice
- These principles are formulated through examining considered moral judgements
and the coherence of moral beliefs
4
Ethics = generic term covering several different ways of examining/ interpreting moral life.
There are different approaches to ethics (normative/nonnormative):
Nonnormative approaches
- Descriptive ethics:
● The observer's perspective on the behavior of human beings in society. It’s
about which moral norms are expressed in professional practice, for example,
the way consents are obtained from patients prior to treatment;
● Description and theory of prevailing morality;
● It’s not about asking normative questions (like ‘what is right to do’), but it’s
about simply describing the existing perspectives on morality;
- Metaethics:
● Meta-ethics is more of a philosophical view. It reflects on the meaning of
moral use of language: what makes something wrong or right? Is it about the
consequence, the intention, etc.?
● What kind of morality is talked about, is also an important question in
metaethics.
Normative approaches (a participant’s perspective, in a general or in a specific way)
- General normative ethics:
● Like ‘what is right to do’? Which general moral norms should be used to guide
and evaluate conduct, and why?
● It’s a systematic-philosophical reflection on prevailing morality, or even
creating a theory;
- Applied ethics:
- Inspecific contexts, for example, medical ethics in healthcare. This is more about
doctors and physicians and how they should act;
- Healthcare ethics is more of what healthcare managers and policy-makers are
concerned with. These are different kinds of questions that are asked
The common morality as universal morality
- Ethics is moral philosophy, an academic discipline → not the same as morality
- It’s a generic term covering several different ways of examining and interpreting the
moral life”
- ‘Morality’ = what is studied by ethics, norms held in society about right and wrong
human behavior
● Many standards of conduct: moral principles, rules, ideals, rights, virtues
● Part of morality holds for everyone (common morality) and some moral norms
only count for members of specific communities/ groups such as healthcare
professionals (particular moralities)
● Differs from religion, politics, law, and etiquette
● Moral behavior is not the same as prudent behavior
● Refers to a more or less durable social institution: standards transferred
from generation to generation, the existence of which precedes their
acceptance by individual human beings.
● Refers to behavior with implications for others.
- Moral judgments are not merely subjective. It’s more than just an opinion.
1
,The nature of the common morality
- All persons living a moral life know/ accept rules such as do not lie, do not steal, do
not punish innocent persons, do not kill or cause harm, do keep promises, do respect
the rights of others → relevance/ importance of these universally valid rules
- Violation of them is unethical and will generate feelings of remorse; but discussion
occurs about their exact meaning, scope, weight, strength
- This set of universal norms shared by all persons committed to morality = the
common morality
● Applicable to all persons in all places, we judge all human conduct by its
standards
● Examples of generally binding standards of cation (rules of obligation):
1. Do not kill
2. do not cause pain or suffering to others
3. Prevent evil or harm from occurring
4. Rescue persons in danger
5. Tell the truth
6. Nurture the young and dependent
7. Keep your promises
8. Do not steal
9. Do not punish the innocent
10.Obey just laws
● Common morality also contains moral character traits, such as:
1. Nonmalevolence (not harboring ill will towards others)
2. Honesty
3. Integrity
4. Conscientiousness
5. Trustworthiness
6. Fidelity
7. Gratitude
8. Truthfulness
9. Lovingness
10.Kindness
● These are universally admired traits of character → a person is deficient in
moral character if they lack these traits
● Negative traits of character opposite of the virtues are vices (e.g.
malevolence, dishonesty, lack of integrity, cruelty etc.) → moral defects
● Common morality supports human rights and endorses moral ideals (e.g.
charity and generosity)
● Neither obligations, rights or virtues have priority to another in common
morality
Three positions on common morality:
1. Common morality is a product of human experience and history, and is a universally
shared product
● Origin of norms for common morality is the same as origin of norms for
particular morality
● Both are learned/ transmitted in communities
2
, ● Common morality has authority in all communities, while particular morality is
authoritative only for specific groups
2. Moral pluralism is accepted in particular moralities, but not in common morality
(understood as relativism)
● No particular moral way of life is morally acceptable unless it conforms to the
standards in the common morality
3. The common morality comprises moral beliefs that all morally committed persons
believe
Ways to examine the common morality
- If appeals are normative, the claim is that the common morality has normative force:
it establishes moral standards for everyone (and violating them is unethical)
- If references are nonnormative, the claim is that common morality can be studied
based on if it is present in all cultures
- “All persons committed to morality accept the standards in the common morality”
Particular moralities as nonuniversal
- Contain moral norms that are not shared by all cultures, groups or persons who are
committed to morality
- Nature of particular moralities:
● They present concrete, nonuniversal, and content-rich norms (unlike common
morality, which has moral norms that are abstract, universal, and content-thin)
● Norms are not morally justified if they violate norms in the common morality
● Include responsibilities, ideals, attitudes, sentiments etc. that are found in
diverse cultural/ religious traditions, or professional practice
● It sometimes requires special knowledge
● Moral ideals (e.g. charitable goals, rescue persons in dangerous situations)
a. They are praiseworthy, although not universally practiced/ required
b. Persons who do not fulfil then cannot be blamed/ criticized
c. Generally, morally committed persons strive for them (see it as their
obligation)
● Persons with a particular morality sometimes try to use it to speak
authoritatively over others, but their beliefs do not bind other persons/
communities (only common morality does)
Professional and public moralities
- Professional moralities: include standards of moral conduct that are generally
acknowledged/ encouraged by those in the profession (who are serious about their
moral responsibilities
● Are also a particular morality
● General moral norms come from institutions and practices of medicine
● Special roles and relationships derive from rules/ traditions that other
professions will likely not need or accept
● May vary from other moralities in their way of dealing with conflicts of
interests, advance directives etc.
● Members of professions often adhere to moral guidelines
3
, Nature of professions
- Cluster of occupational roles, that perform functions valued by society and receive a
living → almost all occupations
- Learned profession = extensive education
- Professionals often have: (1) specialized knowledge and training, (2) commitment to
provide important services or information
- Professions = self-regulating organizations that control entry into occupational roles
by certifying that people have the necessary knowledge and skills
- Healthcare professionals specify/ enforce obligations for their members, to ensure
they are competent and trustworthy → the obligations form the ethics of a profession
- Problems often arise from:
● Conflicts over appropriate professional standards
● Conflicts between professional commitments and commitments professionals
have outside the profession
- Some professions codify their standards, which specify rules of ethics and etiquette
● Tend to foster/ reinforce member identification with prevailing values of the
profession
● Codes are beneficial when they effectively incorporate defensible moral
norms. But they can oversimply moral requirements, making them rigid
● Acceptability of codes to patient and the public should be determined
Moral dilemmas
- Moral dilemmas = circumstances in which moral obligations (appear to) demand that
a person adopts each of two (or more) alternative but incompatible actions →
someone has to choose, they cannot perform all required actions
- Two forms:
1. Evidence/ argument indicates that an act is morally permissible or morally
wrong, but evidence or strength of argument on both sides is inconclusive
2. Agent believes on moral grounds they are obligated to perform two or more
mutually exclusive actions → obligation for x and y, but the agent cannot do
both (reasons are equal, none is overriding)
- Conflicts between moral requirements and self-interest are a practical dilemma, not a
moral dilemma
● Even though agent does experience moral perplexity/ conflict in difficult cases
● Moral reason doesn’t always override personal reason (example: a physician
choosing between saving their own life or the life of their patient in an extreme
case of resource scarcity)
- Various moral principles, rules and rights can conflict; we may choose one option
over the other, but we might believe that neither option is morally preferable
Framework of moral principles
Principles
- General norms derived from the common morality lead to principles that are general
guidelines for the formulation of more specific rules
- Principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice
- These principles are formulated through examining considered moral judgements
and the coherence of moral beliefs
4
