James Abraham
ETH 316
July 14, 2015
Edward Williams
Ethics Essay Wk1
Ethics is defined as a division of philosophy dealing with values concerning to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions. Also to the goodness and badness of the intentions and ends of those intentions. (dictionary.com, 2015) Three theories of ethical values are virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics.
Virtue ethics which is also known as virtue theory, is an attitude to ethics that put emphasis on a person's character instead of the rules about the actions they commit as the key component of ethical thinking. (iep.utm.edu, 2010) This could be explained by saying that just because you are within your legal right to do something, does not mean that it is the right thing to do. For example calling a person a racial slur is not illegal, but as moral people we know it is not the right thing to do.
Utilitarianism is defined as a doctrine that the morally right path of action involves in the greater good for the highest number of people. (dictionary.com, 2014) This means that whatever is good for the majority is good for all people. An example of this would come from people that live in communist countries. In such places the government may say that you may not partake in certain events because the country as a whole does not like the event. Going to a rap concert or rock n roll event is not acceptable to the higher ups, so no