Ethics
Week 1
Lecture
WHAT IS ETHICS?
The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles and values. Morality, in some sense of the
word, is about regard for others. There are different definitions for ethics and morality but is always
related to the regard we have for others (humanity, animals).
Metaethics How –if at all- does morality exist? Is it objective? Relative? What do we say when we
make a moral claim. Meta ethics is whether moral is objective or subjective, what means “murder is
wrong’.
Moral Psychology What –if anything- enables human beings to be ‘moral’ responsible, cooperative,
autonomous?
Normative ethics What are the interpersonal standards/guidelines/norms that we should live by?
Value theory What is valuable to us, why, and to what degree?
Applied ethics Evaluating concrete real world problem
METHODOLOGY IN ETHICS: How to exactly do ethics is itself a subject of discussion. It may, for
example, depend on your meta-ethical and normative position. BUT there are common
methodologies that you should familiarize yourself with.
Conceptual clarification
Moral reasoning
Formal • Informal
Moral Intuitions +Thought Experiments
TOOLBOx
, How to use the toolbox?
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
- Explaining what something means What is wellbeing? Eplain what something is, bv what is
wellbeing. In Eg. Wellbeing is important. Wellbeing can for example be content and healthy.
- Uncovering conceptual confusion I don’t get angry. Eg. I never get angry, but they main
something different with angry.
- Drawing distinctions Annoyance versus Rage
- Coining concepts Capture something into words to enhance understanding and improve
communication EG: Emotional Labour (Hochchild)-> Regulating or managing emotional
expressions with others as part of one's professional work role. obsevered that in planes
flight attentence are nice to everybody even when people were being mean. But it probably
didn’t come natural. So they are regulating emotions at work. But is was used so much that it
lost it’s meaning. So then we go back in the cycle; explaining, distinctions etc.
MORAL REASONING
FORMAL
Explaining things in basic formal examples can make them more simple. Because than we can
oversee the missing premises. Eg. Dumping poisonous gas in water supply.
INFORMAL
Informal proofs gives us the likelihood, but not per se the absolute truth. The same is for science. You
can do this by:
Arguments from analogy: Support a claim on the basis of a relevant comparison. draws on
similarities to prove further similarities. If you want to disprove it you need to show relevant
differences and why that falsifies the conclusion. Maybe also show other analogies, for example
social media; chocolate etc. You can also set differences; example what is social media?
•An argument from analogy draws on accepted similarities between two phenomena to support the
conclusion that some further similarity exists. Example: Tobacco is addictive and therefore subject
to regulatory measures among which prohibition for children & warning labels
Social media is also addictive and should be subject to similar regulatory measures
Week 1
Lecture
WHAT IS ETHICS?
The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles and values. Morality, in some sense of the
word, is about regard for others. There are different definitions for ethics and morality but is always
related to the regard we have for others (humanity, animals).
Metaethics How –if at all- does morality exist? Is it objective? Relative? What do we say when we
make a moral claim. Meta ethics is whether moral is objective or subjective, what means “murder is
wrong’.
Moral Psychology What –if anything- enables human beings to be ‘moral’ responsible, cooperative,
autonomous?
Normative ethics What are the interpersonal standards/guidelines/norms that we should live by?
Value theory What is valuable to us, why, and to what degree?
Applied ethics Evaluating concrete real world problem
METHODOLOGY IN ETHICS: How to exactly do ethics is itself a subject of discussion. It may, for
example, depend on your meta-ethical and normative position. BUT there are common
methodologies that you should familiarize yourself with.
Conceptual clarification
Moral reasoning
Formal • Informal
Moral Intuitions +Thought Experiments
TOOLBOx
, How to use the toolbox?
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
- Explaining what something means What is wellbeing? Eplain what something is, bv what is
wellbeing. In Eg. Wellbeing is important. Wellbeing can for example be content and healthy.
- Uncovering conceptual confusion I don’t get angry. Eg. I never get angry, but they main
something different with angry.
- Drawing distinctions Annoyance versus Rage
- Coining concepts Capture something into words to enhance understanding and improve
communication EG: Emotional Labour (Hochchild)-> Regulating or managing emotional
expressions with others as part of one's professional work role. obsevered that in planes
flight attentence are nice to everybody even when people were being mean. But it probably
didn’t come natural. So they are regulating emotions at work. But is was used so much that it
lost it’s meaning. So then we go back in the cycle; explaining, distinctions etc.
MORAL REASONING
FORMAL
Explaining things in basic formal examples can make them more simple. Because than we can
oversee the missing premises. Eg. Dumping poisonous gas in water supply.
INFORMAL
Informal proofs gives us the likelihood, but not per se the absolute truth. The same is for science. You
can do this by:
Arguments from analogy: Support a claim on the basis of a relevant comparison. draws on
similarities to prove further similarities. If you want to disprove it you need to show relevant
differences and why that falsifies the conclusion. Maybe also show other analogies, for example
social media; chocolate etc. You can also set differences; example what is social media?
•An argument from analogy draws on accepted similarities between two phenomena to support the
conclusion that some further similarity exists. Example: Tobacco is addictive and therefore subject
to regulatory measures among which prohibition for children & warning labels
Social media is also addictive and should be subject to similar regulatory measures
