Western ethical theories and their philosophical foundations

Western Ethical Theories

The objective of this work is to examine Western Ethical theories including teleological, deontological, natural law, and interest view and virtue ethics.

The work of Bennett-Woods (2005) states that while the words 'ethics' and 'morality' are "often used interchangeably, morality is more precisely used to refer to the customs, principles of conduct and moral codes of an individual, group or society." Ethics, is also stated to be termed "moral philosophy of the science of morals" and is the branch of philosophy that examines "morality through the critical examination of right and wrong in human action." (Bennett-Woods, 2005)

The study of ethics is generally characterized into three specific domains of study include those of: (1) metaethics which is related to the nature of right and wrong insofar as the where and how of the original of ethical judgments and what these judgments mean regarding the human nature and behavior; (2) Normative ethics which seeks to define precise standards and principles that serve to guide the individual's ethical conduct and serve to answer questions related to what is valuable and how the assessment and justification of actions is conducted; (3) Applied Ethics which is employed in analyzing specific and practical issues. There is a fourth category stated to be that of 'Descriptive Ethics' which provides a description for the "ethical beliefs, norms and behaviors of an individual or group as they actually exist, as opposed to how they ought to exist." (Bennett-Woods, 2005)

I. Moral Objectivism and Ethical Relativism

Moral objectivism is stated to hold that "at least some moral principles and rules are objectively knowable on the basis of observation and human reasoning. The term universalism suggests that basic right and wrong is the same for everyone, while also allowing for some variation in individual circumstances and context." (Bennett-Woods, 2005) Ethical absolutism is the "view that there exists an eternal and unchanging moral law that transcends the physical world and is the same for all people at all times and places." (Holmes, 1993) From this view the rightness or wrongness of the human morals, "exist independent of human beings and unrelated to human emotions and thought." (Bennett-Woods, 2005) Those who are critical of this view note human diversity and the challenge of setting a specific and one morality that holds true for everyone in common across time and in all circumstances (Bennett-Woods, 2005)

Objectivism is a sharp contract to the subjective approaches, which "deny the validity of objective moral principles and standards that can be applied universally." (Bennett-Woods, 2005) ethical relativism has the view that judgments concerning the correctness or wrongfulness of the individual behavior can vary and legitimately so between individuals or cultures on the basis of individual feelings or subjectivism and specific social and cultural circumstances known as 'cultural relativism'. (Bennett-Woods, 2005, paraphrased)

II. Deontology

Deontological Ethics is stated to be an ethical theory that holds that centric to all decisions is the consideration of the duties of the individual and rights possessed by other individuals. According to the Deontological school of ethical reason there is the existence of "a priori moral obligation' and this indicates that a set of permanently defined and non-changing principles exist by which the individual should live regardless of a change in circumstances. (Global Oneness, 2010, paraphrased)

III. Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics is stated to be one of the primary approaches in normative ethics. Three of the central concepts of virtue ethics are reported to be: (1) virtue; (2) practical wisdom; and (3) eudemonia. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003) Plato and Aristotle are the founders of virtue ethics, which has its roots in Chinese philosophy and was the primary approach in Western moral philosophy "until at least the Enlightenment." (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2010) Virtues include such as honesty, loyalty, and so forth but it is more than a tendency it is a character trait that becomes inherent in those who possess virtue and is something that is more than skin deep. It has been posited that the virtue of compassion might result in the individual acting in a wrong fashion. So it seems that some virtues such as generosity, honesty, compassion and courage despite being virtues…" (Ibid) However, for those in possession of such virtues how much greater the individual's behavior is viewed when through the lens of some other extreme difficulty in life and the evidence indicating the virtue of that individual is their virtue seen and citing the Stanford Encyclopedia's example:

"The application problem. In the early days of virtue ethics' revival, the approach was associated with an "anti-codifiability" thesis about ethics, directed against the prevailing pretensions of normative theory. At the time, utilitarians and deontologists commonly (though not universally) held that the task of ethical theory was to come up with a code consisting of universal rules or principles (possibly only one, as in the case of act-utilitarianism) which would have two significant features: (a) the rule(s) would amount to a decision procedure for determining what the right action was in any particular case; (b) the rule(s) would be stated in such terms that any non-virtuous person could understand and apply it (them) correctly." (Ibid)