Normative ethics

Normative ethics

Normative ethics – concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong.

• Consequentialism – moral theories that hold that the consequences of one's conduct are the true basis for any judgement about the morality of that conduct. Thus, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a good outcome (the end justifies the means).
  • Utilitarianism
  • Negative utilitarianism
  • Ethical hedonism
  • Ethical altruism – an ethical doctrine that holds that individuals have a moral obligation to help, serve, or benefit others, if necessary at the sacrifice of self-interest
  • Ethical egoism – the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest
• Deontological ethics – approach that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules.
  • Moral absolutism – view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless of their circumstances such as their consequences or the intentions behind them. Thus stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done to promote some other good (e.g., stealing food to feed a starving family), and even if it does in the end promote such a good.
  • Graded absolutism
  • Kantian ethics
• Pragmatic ethics
• Virtue ethics – describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior.
  • Aristotelian ethics – the beginning of ethics as a subject, in the form of a systematic study of how individuals should best live. Aristotle believed one's goal should be living well and "eudaimonia", a Greek word often translated as "well-being" or "happiness". This could be achieved by the acquisition of a virtuous character, or in other words having well-chosen excellent habits.
    • Nicomachean Ethics – most popular ethics treatise by Aristotle
    • Eudemian Ethics
    • Magna Moralia
• Eudaimonism – system of ethics that measures happiness in relation to morality.
• Ethics of care – a normative ethical theory
• Living Ethics
• Religious ethics
  • Divine command theory – claims that ethical sentences express the attitudes of God. Thus, the sentence "charity is good" means "God commands charity".
  • Ethics in the Bible
  • Ayyavazhi ethics
  • Buddhist ethics
    • Buddhist ethics (discipline)
  • Christian ethics
    • Situational ethics, a Christian ethical theory
  • Islamic ethics
    • Islamic bioethics
  • Jain ethics
  • Jewish ethics
    • Jewish business ethics
    • Jewish medical ethics
  • Religious values
  • Playing God (ethics)
  • Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics
  • Ethics and religious culture – a course taught in all elementary and high schools in Quebec
  • Religious views on business ethics
  • Scientology ethics and justice
  • Ethics of circumcision
• Secular ethics
• Biocentrism – an ethical point of view which extends inherent value to non-human species,[1] ecosystems, and processes in nature
• Rights ethics (thought in the American and French Revolutions)
• Feminist ethics