Chapter 1: What is Ethics?

The field of ethics can itself be broken down into various divisions, please define each divisions. 1. Meta-ethics 2. Normative ethics 3. Practical ethics.

1. Meta-ethics = concerned with meaning of the terms, such as 'right', 'good', 'virtue' and 'justice' - one of the goals is to examine the general characteristics of ethical systems. 2. Normative ethics = attempts to develop moral frameworks (principles, rules, theories and guidelines) to guide our actions and evaluate our behaviour. 3. Practical ethics = the implications that questions arising from ethics have in specific contexts. e.g. Bioethics - refers to ethics applied to anything in the biosphere or biological sciences.

Define Moralism.

1a. the habit or practice of moralising 1b. a conventional moral attitude or saying 2. an often exaggerated emphasis on morality (as in politics.

What is Morality? What is the difference between ethics and morality?

= customs, conventions or social norms - more concerned with widely shared public or communal norms about right and wrong actions, whereas - ethics has come to refer to a more subjective individual or organisational understanding of right and wrong.

What is Ethics?

= is the study of what we ought to do. Ethikos (Greek) = a habit, pattern of behaviour or prevailing attitude. Ethos = disposition or character. Greek philosophers define ethics by the question "How should we live?" or "What should a good person do?"

What is Ethics and moralist? Are they the same?

Ethicist = someone who studies ethics. Moralist = a person who seeks to regulate the morals of others.