TYPES of ETHICS: characteristics and examples

Ethics raises the problem of giving meaning and meaning to man's life: giving order to one's life through just behavior is a requirement that, unlike what is imposed by law or social habits or current morality, does not require due to economic sanctions or social; on the contrary, it obliges because of the fact that it addresses man as a rational and free being, therefore capable of making decisions and assuming responsibilities.

But ethics does not only affect the subjective scope of personal choices, but also collective life and the judgment on the fundamental laws and institutions of our society. In addition to the problem of individual responsibility, ethics also affects that of justice. However, there are numerous and different types of ethics, and in this Psychology-Online article, we will delve into some of them, highlighting their characteristics and accompanying them with some examples. Let's see what are the types of ethics that exist.

Index

1. Descriptive ethics
2. Normative ethics
3. Religious ethics
4. Secular ethics
5. Christian ethics
6. Ethics of virtue
7. Professional ethics
8. Medical ethics
9. End of life ethics
10. Ethics of the media
11. Ethics in sport

For descriptive ethics, the problem is not determining what is right or wrong, good or bad, but understand the mechanisms that determine human decisions. The problem with a merely descriptive ethic is that it does not answer really relevant questions.

• Let's take a good example: it is often said that men are naturally inclined to pleasure. This general proposition (all men tend by nature to pleasure) would be a generalization made on singular propositions and, in principle (but it could be argued) confirmed by the data of done. The problem is that even if men really do tend to pleasure by nature, that doesn't mean they should, which is fair, puts an option, is determined towards "the possible world" that gives us more pleasure than another with less pleasure but more just, for example.

Therefore, Descriptive ethics can be useful to verify the limits and possibilities of effective behaviors, but it remains silent in the face of the normative problem.

Normative ethics is a type of philosophical research that is essentially based on an a priori analysis: it is a matter of determining a priori the properties of the acts that should be considered right or wrong, what the moral judgments, such as considering the role of people's character in elections, what life is to consider virtuous, etc. One of the fundamental problems of philosophical ethics is to establish the meaning of moral judgments: do they have truth value? Many answers can be extracted from this problem, a classic case in philosophy in which a simple question does not follow a simple answer.

Normative ethics can be divided into three types of analysis:

1. One refers to study of particular cases given by the reality of the facts.
2. One raises the Problem of the first level of regulatory analysis.
3. Another raises the problem of the second level of normative analysis.

In the following articles, you will find more information about the Difference between ethics and morals and The moral dilemmas.

At the base of each conception of ethics is the notion of good and evil, of virtue and of a certain vision of the man and human relations, ideas often related to a particular religion, or at any rate to a ideology. In effect, religiously based ethics sets norms of behavior that it claims are valid for all, while secular ethics does not pretend to impose values.

As we have seen, secular ethics does not seek to impose values and is generally attentive to human demands that take into account historical conditions and transformations. In reality, to speak of a secular ethic already presupposes the confrontation with religious ethics, that is, with a system of dogmatically and universally identified values; it is actually more appropriate to speak of a secular approach to the ethical problem, defining this approach as free of references to a predetermined ideology and more willing to face the problems of the individual and of the concrete historical context in which they are express.

Christian ethics are dominated by the idea, preached by Jesus of Nazareth, of the ineffable fatherhood of God before which men are all equal and all brothers. The rule of evangelical conduct, precisely because it exemplifies divine perfection, is translated into a commandment of love for others; All ethnic and social distinctions fall and unconditional love for the brother, even if he is an enemy and a sinner, is the supreme commandment.

By inserting itself into the tradition and civilization of the Mediterranean world, Christianity had to necessarily measure itself against Greek culture and, at the same time that claimed its absolute originality, was absorbing essential reasons to transform and adapt them to the new conception of life and the world.

An ethic of virtue is evidently based on the concept of virtue. By this term we mean a disposition, a habitus, a quality or character trait that an individual has or try to have. This ethic does not assume deontic principles as the basis of morality, but considers areteic judgments basic. Deontic principles are derived from earrings, and if they are not derived from earrings, they are superfluous. An ethic of virtue regards areteic judgments about actions as secondary judgments and based on areteic judgments about people and about their motives or character traits. Therefore, for the ethics of virtue, morality has nothing to do with the obligatory nature of action. To be moral, you have to be a certain type of person, not just act a certain way. Thus, first of all, the person and his being are looked at rather than the action he performs.

Professional ethics means the set of convictions and moral norms that regulate the exercise of the profession and that, in a given society, they are considered universally binding for those who exercise this profession.

The idea of ​​some form of professional ethics, that is, of the fact that also the practice of the profession, as well as many other sectors of existence (family, sexuality, social life), is subject to ethical norms and is committed to the realization from moral values, has been present in society since the professions were established. The famous Hippocratic Oath can be considered as a first true code testimony of the professional epic.

In the following article, we talk about Professional values: what are they, list and examples.

The principles and values ​​that, since ancient times, have governed the professional practice of medicine (through oaths and deontological codes) obliged the doctor to always act for the maximum benefit of the patient, prohibiting any intervention that could harm you or go against the moral values ​​that prevail in society. Of course, the cultural contexts were different, so were the criteria and values. Ancient medical ethics emphasized the character and virtues required of the physician who practiced art. He had to have a certain bearing, which defined his profile or professional style (etiquette), including being in good health, not overweight, cheerful, serene, reserved, but determined, and educated.

Beginning in the sixties of the twentieth century, some theologians and moral philosophers began to question the possibility that a medical ethics based on the moral principles of the codes of ethics could guarantee the respect for people's individual rights. The new biomedical ethics, or bioethics, developed in those years above all from the philosophical-legal presuppositions of the informed consent and the possibility that the patient had the right to refuse, on the basis of their own value system, therapeutic treatment.

Throughout the 20th century, the clinical, and therefore also psychological conditions that can characterize the terminal phases of human life have progressively changed. Economic, social and medical-health progress allows a growing number of people to reach age advanced or very advanced (in some Western countries, about two-thirds of the population dies after the 75 years). Less and less die from acute death and more and more die as a result of degenerative clinical forms. Technological procedures and drugs make it possible to delay the moment of death or artificially keep people alive without consciousness and physiological autonomy, but often it is only the prolongation of the unfortunate clinical condition. The consequence is that patients, doctors and institutions are called to make decisions that bring beliefs and judgments into play that can come together, in particular with regard to the value or dignity attributed to life lived in the terminal phases.

The ethics of the mass media is a discipline that goes from the ethical problems in the printed paper to the problems that arise in the information society as a whole (books, radio, television, Web). It will then create a television ethics problem, a web ethics problem, a television ethics problem. books and a problem of radio ethics (shortened today to television understood as a system radio-visual).

• Ethics of television. The ethics of television is what everyone has to deal with most often, television being considered the most powerful instrument of information in terms of everyone's reach. Their participation in such a broad audience that includes children and the elderly makes it necessary to impose an appropriate role model to protect the weakest and most influential groups, as well as social minorities.
• Ethics of the web. The transformation of an area of ​​exchange and free exchange of the data contained in some computers in the largest space public of history, makes the question of the rules applicable to the Internet and the issue of the rights that are affected indefensible. It seems essential to adopt a true governance system.

Finally, a context in which we find a type of ethics is sports. The ethics of sport is the set of rules governing sports activities with the aim of being healthy and promoting well-being of the parties involved. We are talking about a commitment to not only physical well-being, but also psychological, social, and even spiritual, if necessary. In this article, we explain in depth everything related to Ethics in sport.

Here you will find more information about Ethical values and a Ethics test.

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• Pili, G. (2011). Descriptive and normative ethics and i tre generi dell’etica normative. Recovered from: https://www.scuolafilosofica.com/471/etica-descrittiva-ed-etica-normativa-e-i-tre-generi-dell%E2%80%99etica-normativa