Applied ethics

From New World Encyclopedia
Ethics
Theoretical

Meta-ethics
Consequentialism / Deontology / Virtue ethics
Ethics of care
Good and evil | Morality

Applied

Medical ethics / Bioethics
Business ethics
Environmental ethics
Human rights / Animal rights
Legal ethics
Media ethics / Marketing ethics
Ethics of war

Core issues

Justice / Value
Right / Duty / Virtue
Equality / Freedom / Trust
Free will

Key thinkers

Aristotle / Confucius
Aquinas / Hume / Kant / Bentham / Mill / Nietzsche
Hare / Rawls / MacIntyre / Singer / Gilligan

Applied ethics is a field of ethics, which deals with varieties of ethical questions in the contexts of professional, disciplinary, and practical fields. Its sub-field includes Medical ethics, Bioethics, Business ethics, Legal ethics, and others.

Trends of [Analytic philosophy]] were split into two areas in the early twentieth century: logical analysis of languages and the studies of the history of philosophy. While many of them did not take the normative or practical ethical questions as the central topic of philosophy, a number of ethical questions arose in each professional or practical fields. Some philosophers responded these calls and developed philosophical theories and presented critical analysis in each field. When issues of environment, abortion, human cloning, poverty, human rights, and others were increasingly becoming central issues of discussion in the latter half of twentieth century, applied ethics equally developed. It is one of the central fields of philosophy.

Because of the complexity of each ethical issue, a philosopher often has to consider fundamental questions of metaphysics, epistemology, theories of human nature as well as ethics. Furthermore, the question often ranges over multiple disciplines and academic fields, philosophers collaborate with scholars from other fields.

There are generally two approaches: attempt to apply ethical principles such as utilitarianism and Deontological ethics to each issue or question; develop situation based discourses by employing multiple ethical theories.


Challenges

Interdependency of ethics and other philosophical fields

Ethical question in practical fields often leads to questions beyond ethics. For example, the question of euthanasia, one of the questions in Medical ethics, leads to the questions of the meaning of life, death, aging, happiness, suffering, and human existence. Seemingly simple ethical question is, in reality, deeply tied to a cluster of fundamental questions.

In the history of philosophy, however, philosophers tried to establish ethical theories independent of other philosophical fields, particularly metaphysics. They tried to find the fundamental principles of ethics which can be established by itself without recourse to metaphysical perspectives and beliefs.

The range and the scope each question of applied ethics it tided to, thus, often goes beyond that of traditional ethics. Philosophers, however, attempt to answer the question from the limited range of existing ethical theories. Furthermore, if a philosopher tries to deal with fundamental questions of philosophy outside of ethics, he or she is led to all kinds of unsettled questions and problems.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Questions of applied ethics require knowledge of the field beyond philosophy. They often requires knowledge and perspectives ranging over multiple disciplinary fields. In answering questions of environmental ethics, philosophers often have to consider social, economic, and political implications. Questions of applied ethics often require not only theoretical analysis but also practical, feasible solutions. For this reason, a team of professionals from different disciplinary fields collaborate as a team. Traditional non-collaborative research methodology is often inadequate and philosophers are asked to take collaborative research methodologies.

Approaches

There are basically two approaches in applied ethics; approach ethical issues by applying the principles of ethical theories one accepts; attempt to develop situation based discourses without presupposing the validity of any ethical theory.

Application of the principles of ethical theories

Two major theories of ethics today are utilitarianism and deontological ethics. Others are virtue ethics such as Aristotelianism, Confucianism, and religion based ethical theories.

The first approach is to find ways to apply the principles of one or more of these ethical theories. Philosophers attempt to revise classic formulation of ethical principles in order to make the applicable to current ethical questions. This approach contributes the development of classic ethical theories and allow us explore undiscovered possibilities of established theories.

This approach, however, has its own difficulty. Each ethical theory is established upon distinct principles and perspectives and has certain plausibility, yet no one theory can comprehensively cover all aspects of the problem. At the same time, establishing another theory which can synthesize existing theories is nearly impossible. It requires a philosophical mind comparable to Aristotle or Kant. A philosopher, who is taking this approach, usually holds one position, be utilitarian or deontological, and present his or her version to the problem at issue.

Situation based approach

One modern approach which attempts to overcome the seemingly impossible divide between deontology and utilitarianism is case-based reasoning, also known as casuistry. Casuistry does not begin with theory, rather it starts with the immediate facts of a real and concrete case. While casuistry makes use of ethical theory, it does not view ethical theory as the most important feature of moral reasoning. Casuists, like Albert Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin (The Abuse of Casuistry 1988), challenge the principle based paradigm of ethics. Instead of starting from theory and applying theory to a particular case, casuists start with the particular case itself and then ask what morally significant features (including both theory and practical considerations) ought to be considered for that particular case. In their observations of medical ethics committees, Jonsen and Toulmin note that a consensus on particularly problematic moral cases often emerges when participants focus on the facts of the case, rather than on ideology or theory. Thus, a Rabbi, a Catholic priest, and an agnostic might agree that, in this particular case, the best approach is to withhold extraordinary medical care, while disagreeing on the reasons that support their individual positions. By focusing on cases and not on theory, those engaged in moral debate increase the possibility of agreement.

Medical ethics and Bioethics

Medical ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.

Medical ethics tends to be understood narrowly as an applied professional ethics, whereas bioethics appears to have worked more expansive concerns, touching upon the philosophy of science and the critique of biotechnology. Still, the two fields often overlap and the distinction is more a matter of style than professional consensus.

Medical ethics shares many principles with other branches of healthcare ethics, such as nursing ethics.

Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology.

Business ethics

Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment.

In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century, the demand for more ethical business processes and actions (known as ethicism) is increasing.[1] Simultaneously, pressure is applied on industry to improve business ethics through new public initiatives and laws (e.g. higher UK road tax for higher-emission vehicles).[2]

Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility charters). In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. BP's "beyond petroleum" environmental tilt).

Environmental ethics

Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers the ethical relationship between human beings and the natural environment. It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including law, sociology, theology, economics, ecology and geography.

Environmental ethics is properly but a sub-section of environmental philosophy, which includes environmental aesthetics, environmental theology, and all the other branches of philosophical investigation (e.g., epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, etc).

Legal ethics

Legal ethics refers to an ethical code governing the conduct of people engaged in the practice of law. In the United States, the American Bar Association has promulgated model rules that have been influential in many jurisdictions. The model rules address the client-lawyer relationship, duties of a lawyer as advocate in adversary proceedings, dealings with persons other than clients, law firms and associations, public service, advertising, and maintaining the integrity of the profession. Respect of client confidences, candor toward the tribunal, truthfulness in statements to others, and professional independence are some of the defining features of legal ethics.

American law schools are required to offer a course in professional responsibility, which encompasses both legal ethics and matters of professionalism that do not present ethical concerns.


See also

Bibliography

  • Chadwick, R.F. (1997). Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. London: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-227065-7. 
  • Singer, Peter (1993). Practical Ethics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43971-X.  (monograph)

Anthologies

  • LaFollette, Hugh (2002). Ethics in Practice (2nd Edition). Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-22834-9. 
  • Singer, Peter (1986). Applied Ethics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-875067-6. 
  • Frey, R.G. (2004). A Companion to Applied Ethics. Blackwell. ISBN 1-4051-3345-7. 

External links

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Journals

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  1. Ethics the easy way. H.E.R.O.. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  2. Miliband draws up green tax plan. BBC (2006-10-30). Retrieved 2008-05-21.