Thinking about ethics itself — asks what “good” or “right” even means.
Meta-Ethics
Creating the rules or standards for right and wrong.
Normative Ethics
Using ethical rules to solve real-life problems.
Applied Ethics
____ relates to the principles of right and wrong, while _____ refers to the emotional or mental state of a group or individual
1) Moral. and 2) Morale
Deal with right vs. wrong, good vs. evil. Involve serious harm/benefit to people, animals, environment (kind of standards)
Examples: Don’t kill, don’t steal, help those in need
Moral Standards
Deal with proper vs. improper, good vs. bad (but not evil)
Involve rules, customs, etiquette, or practical judgments (kind of standards)
Examples: Table manners, grammar rules, fashion, game rules
Non-Moral Standards
Judges actions by their outcomes/results
“The ends justify the means”
Teleological Ethics
Judges actions by rules, duties, or principles
“Do the right thing, regardless of outcome”
Deontological Ethics
A situation where you must choose between two (or more) morally right options that conflict, or between two wrongs.
Moral dilemma
A politician says, “We must either build the new factory or watch our town’s economy die.”
Is this a false dilemma or a moral dilemma?
false dilemma
Learning your native culture from childhood. (culturation process)
Enculturation
Adapting an external idea/system (e.g., religion, technology) to fit a local culture. (culturation process)
Inculturation
A U.S. student studying abroad picks up local habits, while locals adopt some of the student’s slang. (culturation process)
Acculturation
Indigenous children in residential schools forced to speak only English and abandon traditions.
Assimilation
Belief that certain actions are always right or wrong—universally.
Moral absolutism
The idea that culture influences how people view morality. Helps explain why moral beliefs differ across societies. Does not say all views are equally right—just that culture shapes them.
Cultural Perspective
Belief that morality is determined by each culture—no universal moral truth. “Right” and “wrong” are culture-specific.
Cultural relativism
Morality is about cultivating good character, not following rules or outcomes (Aristotle).
Virtue ethics
Morality comes from human nature and reason — we can discover universal moral laws by understanding nature’s purposes.
Natural Law
Morality is based on duty, not consequences.
Act according to rules that could be universal laws.
Immanuel Kant’s Duty Ethics (Deontology)
Attacking the arguer’s character, motive, or personal traits instead of engaging with their argument.
Ad hominem
Using emotion (sympathy, pity) to win acceptance of a conclusion, without logical grounds.
Ad Misericordiam
Citing an irrelevant, biased, or unqualified authority as support for a claim.
Ad Verecundiam
Arguing something is true or good just because many people believe or do it.
Ad Populum
