Ethical Philosophy Essay Examples and Topics

Utilitarianism emerged as a systematic theory at the end of the eighteenth century with the philosophical works of Jeremy Bentham, who created the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" formulation of the principle of utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism is a moral hypothesis postulating that a suitable strategy focuses on the general good of the majority in society. The difference between the two forms of utilitarianism is thus rooted in a distinction concerning [...]

The challenge is that they are unable to account for the use of moral reason as a driver behind an emotive statement.

This group of philosophers feels that whatever state one is in or goes through he needs to be calm and not complain or boast about the situation.

Given the intense rivalry between the two brothers on who to donate the kidney to the ailing dad, and the chilling revelation of their mother on the paternity of the younger brother, it is convenient [...]

This means that before engaging in an action against a human or a nonhuman, it is proper to consider the interests and include them in the calculus of rightness.

This due to the fact that only the aspect of ethics in the Buddhist philosophy can be significantly likened to the Confucian philosophy.

The point to discuss in this essay is what is a miracle, a violation of the natural laws or a simple exception from those rules.

The application of double standards in describing the conscious termination of human life on the one hand and animal life on the other bares the subjectivity of man's rationalization to justify crimes against animality.

The first example of a moral controversy that he uses is the case of baby Theresa. From this example, Rachels is trying to illustrate the issue of alternatives in the moral decision.

The ways of the modern world have deemed that virtue is to be rewarded and vice is to be punished. The standard of merit and how to apply it in a situation appears to be [...]

The discovery of DNA and its role in predetermining the physical and mental subtleties of one's existence, allowed us to realize that it is now only a matter of time before we are going to [...]

This is as opposed to examining the consequences of the act itself or the character of the actor. One of the strengths of Kant's theory is the fact that he safeguards the justice of the [...]

The third area that is given consideration in observing the ethics of care is the importance of background information in protecting and upholding the interests of the individuals in question.

In most cases, people evaluated their moral conduct concerning rules; conduct is considered to be moral if it is by rules and wrong if it is against the rule.

Surely, there is much injustice in our world, and nobody will argue this fact, but the question is in what would be if everything were equal and all people got merit and desert according to [...]

It is essentially described by the existence of pleasure and in living an aesthetic life to the maximum one has to aim at maximizing the given pleasures.

More than thirty years ago, one of the most interesting philosophers of the twentieth century, Hans Jonas, discussing the problems of the experiments on human, outlined the necessity to limit the appetites of "number-hungry research [...]

It is very difficult to assess the beauty in general. The perception of beauty is the perception of our minds through our tastes.

Kant basis his principles of moral ethics on rational procedures and distinguishes the concept of duty from the "self and others" asserting that all actions must be performed only out of a sense of duty [...]

It is on such a basis that this paper observes the various aspects of this very important principle in morality and its influence on the various systems and ecologies in the lives of humanity as [...]

In contrast to utilitarian ethics, natural rights do not take into account the consequences of actions and their benefits for a person.

Ethics is not a theory of discipline since our inquiry as to what is good for human beings is not just gathering knowledge, but to be able to achieve a unique state of fulfillment in [...]

The theory advocates for actions that bring a large amount of pleasure and little pain to the majority of the people or rather the course of actions that maximize happiness and minimize pain by considering [...]

This, therefore, means that any moral being is allowed by Kant's moral reasoning to enter into a relationship with an individual based on the goodwill of the individual rather than the vicious nature he is [...]

Ethical relativism has to be based on the overall ideas of the individual and it has to be intrinsic such that all the necessary changes or the responsibilities can be adhered to.

The main difference between Mill's and Bentham's conception of Utilitarianism is that Mill, though a consequentialist, makes a case for the qualitative aspects of happiness.

The Republic explains the plan of the Euthydemus: to reveal and clarify the matters of good. Understanding is, questionably, significant and adequate for the regulation of motive in the spirit.

Another theory that Kant criticized is the view of Baumgarten wherein it states that God is the author and the legislator of all the natural obligations because HE was the one who made the world.

It is also of the utmost importance to discuss the attitude of two authors towards the very notion of the overwhelming force.

The ethics of care recognizes that human beings are dependent for the most part of their lives and dependent people have a pressing moral claim to care in order to live and progress.

For an action to be considered virtuous, it must originate from an individual and be in the self-interest of whoever is claiming to be virtuous.

According to Pojman, we should always strive to form a world in which the virtuous are rewarded and the vicious punished.

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals underlines that autonomy acts as the link between the analysis of morality and the moral will and free will.

Stuart Mill's utilitarianism and Emmanuel Kant's deontology, to answer the question is it acceptable to lie to my friend to spare her feelings if the lie would not cause great harm?

The second argument that should be discussed in Aristotle's view of the idea of pleasure as the way to meet the key function of a person.

The idea that man is inherently selfish and is motivated only by his fundamental needs is not a new one. The idea is that any act of a human being requires some basic motivational factor.

In personal ethical egoists, the belief is that one should pursue his or her own interest without telling other people what they are ought to do.

From this, he obtained the regulation of usefulness, that the good is anything that brings the maximum happiness to the maximum number of people.

In philosophy, egoism is the theory that one is self is or should be; the motivation of one's action. This divergence can be explained further using the following features of the concept of ethical egoism: [...]

If to assume that moral relativism is true, then it is impossible to discuss good and bad outside the specific situation. Thus, their actions were morally wrong according to the assumptions of moral relativism.

The participants in the third study were asked to repeat the recalling process of the first study after which they had to choose between a pencil and an antiseptic wipe as gifts.

Another time, when I was camping with my family, the fox crept up so close to the tent that my brother and I accidentally scared it away, and the fox ran down the garden and [...]

Both virtue and vice build one's character and therefore can contribute to the view of happiness. Therefore, character education leads to happiness that is equal to the amount of wisdom and virtue.

In my opinion, that in the context of marriage and adultery, there is a connection between love and sex. According to Halwani, adultery is permissible in situations where the partner does not demonstrate fidelity, including [...]

The philosopher's inquiry into the nature of human morality was closely tied to the examination of how one could live his or her life in the most fulfilling manner.

Relating to the ethical theory of ethics of justice to nepotism, it should be mentioned that justice is considered to be fair on the basis of various human considerations.

The philosophical utilitarianism view explains why morality is everybody's concern and elucidates the "nature of the reasons" behind any moral act.

By saying that "unexamined life is not worthy living", Socrates was referring to freedom, a state of making choices about your surrounding, a state of choosing your destination, having the freedom to criticize issues, setting [...]

According to hedonists, the major aim of a human's life is being happy and the best way to become happy is to have lots of pleasures.

According to it, the individuals should act in such a way that the maxim of their action could be related to the universal law of morality.

After that, it is argued that although Kant's philosophy is "better" in some respects, Mill's moral theory is preferable due to being practically applicable.

To understand the connection established by Aristotle between a good life and a rational one, it is first necessary to discuss the concept of good used in the Nicomachean Ethics.

Others argue that for some reason, the gender of the child that was delivered is not the one the parents wanted so they get rid of the baby.

Self-deception is the nature of moral judgments because relying on a set of rules that is universal for everyone, regardless of how limiting, presupposes the control over the people's actions and the security of the [...]

The primary objective of the project is to investigate the aspects of this philosophical approach applied to ethics and use it for analyzing real-life examples of actors operating in professional and business environments.

Kant's second formulation encourages people to treat each other with respect and not to make use of each other because a person is to be valued and not the things he or she can do [...]

The Ethan Couch care is one of the most famous recent examples of the use of affluenza defense in criminal court.

Quote: The amanagers of a corporation must take responsibility to fulfil their duties to their stockholders and to the public'. According to this normative theory, the utility can be described as anything that is related [...]

Since human beings have rationality that is generated from God, they possess natural law that enables them to perceive what is morally acceptable."Aquinas emphasizes that human acts should be based on reason which is intrinsically [...]

In its view of the world, this law believes that the things in the world were created for the sake of man.

If I were to say the truth in the questionnaire in order to preserve my moral integrity and fall in line with the Police Code and Kantian standards for morality, I would be compelled to [...]

Another characteristic of this stage of moral speculation is that the speculators mostly view the dilemma through the lens of consequences it might result in and engage them in a direct or indirect manner.

As for the Deontology theory, its primary absolute is the proposition that rules and obligations define the morality of various actions as perceived by people.

Thus, Hursthouse's approach to discussing the ethically relevant aspects in the life of human beings with the focus on ethical naturalism is convincing because the philosopher assumes the difference in people who can be good [...]

To begin with, emotions do not always guarantee that a person will make a judgment that is beneficial to the entire society. It will be a subjective moral decision that is likely to be detrimental [...]

Ethics is a moral code that governs the behavior or conduct of an activity."Ethics is thus said to be the science of conduct".

Any delay could cause the loss of people's lives, and the financial and reputational losses to the airline and partner companies would be enormous.

Responsibility and accountability are the facets of morals, the consequences of your actions should be borne by you alone and no one must suffer or gain favors in the name of a lie.

Kant also recognized goodwill as the only absolute good; he refused to accept that the notion of goodwill could be established by referring to a tangible good.

Human beings rely on the available evidence to generate beliefs about life and goals that should be attained, and thus the use of reason leads to success in these objectives.

To be more particular about the two types above of ethics, virtue ethics can be defined as the type of ethics that "focuses on the character traits and nonobligatory ideas that facilitate the development of [...]

In Christian context, the Bible is the principle guide to ethical conduct and all actions should be in conformity to it.

In the current paper, the author will extrapolate on what Morris is saying and analyze the impacts of the arguments on the workplace.

Velasquez observes that ethics, as set by the society, are supposed to guide and determine the behavior of individuals, which is supposed to be acceptable in the society.

The actions of people are considered moral or immoral based on the assessment of the consequences of such acts on the people engaged in the acts and the people who are affected by the acts.

In this article, Markets, the Profit Motive and the Environment, Rodney Peffer identifies conflicting viewpoints on the impact of the market economy on the environment.

For instance, one can mention Peter Singer, who argues that it is necessary to accept the ethical responsibilities of a person to non-human animals.

Utilitarianism relates to the concept of value in that the quality of something which is good is measured by the value attached to it.

There is a kind of ethical dilemma, and Kant's Principle of Universalization offers one of the possible solutions to treat strong encryption as a morally permissible concept that is wrong to prohibit or make obligatory.

This is one of the points that can be made. The main issue is that a person can combine two forms of behavior.

It is necessary to note that the author refers to extreme cases of altruism and to the roots of the concept.

It is necessary to note that it is benign most of the time, but the issue is that such behavior may not be liked by other members of society, and it can lead to numerous [...]

Discussions and arguments in this area seek to establish a rationale for machine ethics in order to facilitate the construction and rationalization of ideas and thoughts in support of counter-arguments.

For example, if you are faced with a gang of hoodlums who want to kill you and the only option you have is killing one of them to escape, then the "ethics of emergencies" allow [...]

The ongoing drought in many parts of the world is attributable to the changes in climate. Due to the high temperatures experienced in various parts of the world, the ice is likely to melt, and [...]

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is one of the ethical writings that have spurred understanding of ethics of work place relations. A critical discussion in the Nicomachean Ethics provided by Aristotle is the argument and conversation over [...]

According to Machiavelli, it is the duty of the prince to protect his realm and to further enhance his sovereignty. He asserts that a prince should not be generous when spending the State's wealth as [...]

Nietzsche praised the master moralities as the strong values that lead to onward development and evolutionary growth of mankind while he blamed the slave moralities for the weak and decadent nature of the society.

The controversy of the case concerns the idea that Eddie is forbidden to disclose the truth to the society since he has previously signed a confidentiality agreement and a breakage of the rule threatens the [...]

The moral and intellectual pleasures were considered to be "highest pleasures", and the experiences, that caused satisfaction of flesh were considered to be "lower pleasures". The pleasures of the majority, in that case, are considered [...]

The utilitarian attitude towards rights is that the moral 'right' is built on the basis of utilitarian aspects, especially on the principle that seeks to reduce pain and suffering of living organisms.

Indeed, just as societies have different frameworks for assessing the ethical or moral implications of their actions, it is equally important to acknowledge that these ethical and moral actions are also subject to time adjustments.

Some claim that since clones are created in a laboratory with the help of specific tools and with the number of certain genes, they cannot be regarded as humans. In conclusion, it is necessary to [...]

On balance, it is possible to note that Nietzsche and Sartre both see morality as certain doctrine aimed at helping people live in the society.

The current paper is a critical analysis of the controversy surrounding the issue of human dignity and bioethics. On the contrary, it is the ability of the individual and the society in general to set [...]

Essence of generalism and particularism, and atomism and holism as the outcomes of their debate Jonathan Dancy is one of the fist philosophers, who makes an attempt to define particularism and generalism from one and [...]

This is because, given the fact that Utilitarian theory's foremost theoretical premise is being concerned with the notion of amaximization of benefits' 1, it will only be logical, on my part, to assume that the [...]

This argument has led to the development of the second premise in the theory, which states that in order for actions and decisions to qualify as right and moral, they must appeal to the happiness [...]

To a great extent, this feeling belittles a human being, and in the long term, this emotion can only lead to the bitterness of the individual who is a subject of pity.

Therefore, the main idea of the greatest happiness principle is to make sure that more people are satisfied, however, the volume of the satisfaction is not discussed as well as the level of harm caused [...]

Since exuberant barking of Stella in the neighborhood disturbs many people, debarking is the appropriate measure according to the utilitarian perspective.

In this case, the happiness of the customers and that of John count the same. On the other hand, the stockholders who own the company are in pursuit of profits and anything that acts contrary [...]

The aim of the paper is to reveal the nature of human conduct from the philosophical point of view. That is why, the nature of human conduct is a difficult aspect of a human being.

While a believer will pose that the two function as a couple, a non-believer, on the other hand will hold that morality is independent of religion.

The author's argument is that it is necessary for the society to change its way of responding to the problems of needy people.

One of the tasks of moral philosophy is to discover the binding principles of behaviour among humans. Therefore, moral judgement is merely a formation of the mind and is susceptible to sentiments.

These have followed the adoption of different famous philosophers' tenets of morality and human values leading to the development of codes such as human rights, the constitution, the law morals and ethics. The nature of [...]

The main concepts of the social contract theory, the utilitarian theory and the virtue theory can be used or explaining the main principles of the journalist professional code and providing a deeper insight into its [...]

It is possible for one to live in a state of tranquility or ataraxia when one limited oneself to the necessary and natural things of life.

The character qualities that a person has are important to themselves and the people who they are in charge of. Machiavelli wrote about this a long time ago and so, many people of the modern [...]

At the center of the utilitarian argument that shifts from the concern we physically have for our personal feelings of pain and pleasure, to others feelings of pain and pleasure, is the belief that this [...]

At this point, the utilitarian theory is also associated with the tools that can provide individuals and community with happiness through recognition of felicity as the foundation of all human actions.

Adding determinism to free will, Ayer broke completely new grounds in philosophy by stating that there are three conditions that are required for making a choice fully based on the principle of free will in [...]

That is they believe that religion is the bedrock of ethics and that religious persons are individuals with immense moral principles.

According to Burrington, Socrates was to attend a court hearing in which Meletus accused him of distracting the attention of young people from believing in the gods that the state religion recognized.

Second, the theory of deontology embraces the concept of duty and adherence to rule. However, this theory does not refer to physical happiness, but that of the mind and soul.

He claims that giving a certain amount to Bengal would result to suffering of individuals and their dependants, which will correspond to the suffering he relieved in Bengal.

Bentham argues that the greatest number of people should achieve happiness if utilitarianism is to be achieved in society. Increasing the prices of winter clothes is an act that does not aim at bringing happiness [...]

This paper highlights the different perspectives to the moral dilemma in the movie by David Hume and Kant. The murder leads to criticism of the government because even after intense investigation, the government is not [...]