Moral Philosophy (Ethics)
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Should you help a stranded motorist on the side of the road? Should you tell your boss that your co-worker has been stealing office supplies regularly for the past year? Why wouldn’t you tell your best friend’s wife that your best friend has been cheating on her? Should you abort an unwanted fetus? Further, what grounds or reasons or justifying principles are you appealing to when you face these decisions? In other words, why did you lie to your friend that time? If you are a doctor, what grounds might you have for treating a police officer rather than a homeless man? Which principle are you appealing to when you claim that you disagree (or agree) with capital punishment? Are there objective moral rules that apply in all types of situations, no matter what country or culture you’re living in?
These are the kinds of questions that people who study moral philosophy ask. In essence, moral philosophy (also known as ethics) is the branch of philosophy that investigates and critiques:
(a) human actions that affect morally relevant beings (definitely humans; probably many animals) and
(b) the principles that people appeal to when they act.
(b) the principles that people appeal to when they act.
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In other words, Moral Philosophy (or Ethics) is concerned with questions of how people ought to act, and the search for a definition of right conduct (identified as the one causing the greatest good) and the good life (in the sense of a life worth living or a life that is satisfying or happy).
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Excerpt taken from: Arp, R. and J. C. Watson, 2011. Philosophy Demystified. New York, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Chapter 10.
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