A simple discussion of ethical theories its corresponding definition and case for/against examples.

1. ETHICAL
THEORIES
Manolo V. Alvarez Jr.
ICST108 – Professional Ethics

2. • Relativism denotes any approach to
ethics which holds that there are no
absolute or unchanging moral
principles, but that the rules that
govern each situation are to be
determined by their relation to
something else.
• It is the view that an action is morally
right if one approves of it.
• A person’s approval makes the action
right. Therefore is subjective to
anybody.
SUBJECTIVE
RELATIVISM
CASE for
• Well-meaning and intelligent people
disagree on moral issues (e.g., taxation
& wealth disparity)
• •Ethical debates are disagreeable and
often get us nowhere.
CASE against
• No moral distinction between
actions
• Confused with tolerance. Does not
mean tolerance
• Not based on reason

3. • The view that an action is morally right
if one’s culture approves of it. The
argument for this doctrine is based on
the diversity of moral judgments
among cultures: because people’s
judgments about right and wrong
differ from culture to culture, right and
wrong must be relative to culture, and
there are no objective moral principles.
CULTURAL
RELATIVISM
CASE for
• Different social contexts may require
different moral guidelines
• It is arrogant for one society to judge
another’s
• Well-meaning and intelligent people
disagree on moral issues (e.g., taxation
& wealth disparity)
• Ethical debates are disagreeable and
often get us nowhere.
CASE against
• Existence of many acceptable
practices does not imply all practices
are acceptable (many/any fallacy)
• Societies do, in fact, share certain core
values

4. • What God commands is what is
morally right; what God forbids is what
is morally wrong.
• The divine command theory (DCT) of
ethics holds that an act is either moral
or immoral solely because God either
commands us to do it or prohibits us
from doing it, respectively. On DCT the
only thing that makes an act morally
wrong is that God prohibits doing it,
and all that it means to say that torture
is wrong is that God prohibits torture.
DEVINE
COMMAND
THEORY
CASE against
• Are morally good acts willed by God
because they are morally good, or are
they morally good because they are
willed by God?
CASE for
• There is such thing as moral truth
which is God’s law itself.

5. • One of the two types of Egoism (Ethical
egoism, psychological egoism).
• The position where people act from
selfish motives to be considered moral.
• the prescriptive doctrine that all
persons ought to act from their own
self-interest.
ETHICAL
EGOISM
CASE for
• Whenever people do something, it is
only because they think something
desirable for themselves will result
from it.
CASE against
• If ethical egoism were more widely
followed, sooner or later, someone’s
interests would conflict with another’s
interests.
• In such a circumstance, it would be
impossible for both to pursue their own
interests simultaneously, but how does
one decide whose interests take priority?
Ethical egoism does not provide an
answer.

6. • “Deontological” = prior to action
• Decide if an act is right or wrong
without looking at consequences
• Motivated by reason alone
• Reason tells us that something is always
right … all can follow without
contradiction
• An act is considered to be good because
of its conformity to norms. Its
performance will always be moral
regardless of situations or
circumstance.
KANTIANISM
CASE against
• We should do only those actions that
conform to rules that we could will be
adopted universally.
CASE for
• Protecting our self interests is the same
as protecting others from harm, thus
helping them instead.

7. • Is a utilitarian theory of ethics which
states that a person's act is morally
right if and only if it produces at least
as much happiness as any other act
that the person could perform at that
time
• The principle of utility is applied
directly to each alternative act in a
situation of choice. The right act is
then defined as the one which brings
about the best results (or the least
amount of bad results).
ACT
UTILITARIANISM
CASE for
• Doing things with pleasure and
happiness is actually the goal of life.
CASE against
• Happiness does not define and create
meaning in life.

8. • The principle of utility is used to
determine the validity of rules of
conduct (moral principles). A rule like
promise-keeping is established by
looking at the consequences of a
world in which people broke promises
at will and a world in which promises
were binding. Right and wrong are
then defined as following or breaking
those rules.
RULE
UTILITARIANISM
CASE for
• Following rules that tend to lead to
the greatest good will have better
consequences overall than allowing
exceptions to be made in individual
instances, even if better consequences
can be demonstrated in those
instances.
CASE against
• It is possible to generate "unjust
rules" according to the principle of
utility. For example, slavery in Greece
might be right if it led to an overall
achievement of cultivated happiness
at the expense of some mistreated
individuals.

9. • The view that persons’ moral and/or
political obligations are dependent
upon a contract or agreement among
them to form the society in which they
live.
SOCIAL
CONTRACT
THEORY
CASE for
• Provides clear analysis of certain
citizen/government problems
• –Why is it right to punish someone for
a crime?
• –Why is civil disobedience justifiable?
CASE against
• May unjustly treat people who cannot
uphold contract
• –In principle, we should distinguish
between people who can’t follow the
contract, and those who choose not to.
• –In practice, this can be hard to do.

10. SOURCES
 http://infidels.org/library/modern/theism/divine.html
 http://www.wwnorton.com/college/phil/ethics3/ch/02/summary.
aspx
 http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/christian-ethics/divine-command-
theory/
 http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~kevinlb/teaching/cs430%20-%202011-
12/lectures/Lect04.pdf
 http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/ethical_ego.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_utilitarianism
 http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/cavalier/80130/part2/sect9.html
 http://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/
 http://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/dictionary/ethical-egoism