Ethics and Morality
Tanvir Ahmed
Lecturer | School of General Education (GenEd)
BRAC University
Email: ahmed.tanvir1@bracu.ac.bd
Discussion Topics
• Definition of Ethics
• Religious Ethics, Social Ethics and Philosophical Ethics
• Ethical absolutism Versus Ethical relativism
• Branches of Ethics
• Utility of Ethics/ Why Study Ethics?
What is Ethics
➢The word 'Ethics' has been derived from the Greek word Ethica
which is connected with the word Ethos. Literally, the word Ethos
signifies customs, usages, habits, or conduct.
➢Traditionally, Ethics has been called moral philosophy. The word
'moral' is a derivation from the Latin word Moralis which means
habits, customs, or conduct. We may, therefore, say that Ethics is
concerned with conduct. The term 'conduct' means purposive
activity or an activity that is performed by an individual after
deliberation, choice, and voluntary action.
Ethics or Moral Philosophy
• Ethics is also called moral philosophy, i.e., "philosophical
thinking about morality, moral problems, and moral
judgments."
• More precisely, ethics is an inquiry concerning the goodness
or badness, or rightness or wrongness, of the conduct of
human beings living in a society.
Religious Value (Religious Ethics)
Religious values are
derived from the
command of the
Almighty Creator.
• Belief is the basis of
religious values.
Social Value (Social Ethics)
• Social ethics is the collection of values and behaviours of a given
culture or people group. Social ethics vary greatly from culture to
culture, society to society, person to person, generation to
generation, time to time etc.
• Social beliefs, norms, and customs of a particular community are
the basis of social value.
• Violation of social values and violation of moral values is not the
same.
Ethical Values (Philosophical)
• Ethical values originate from the consciousness of human
intellect.
• Rationality or Logic is the basis of ethical values.
Ethical absolutism Versus Ethical relativism
• Ethical absolutism states that one and only one correct morality
exists. Absolutists maintain that this one morality applies to
everyone, everywhere, and always, although not everyone
follows it or believes in it
• Ethical relativism denies the existence of a single, universally
applicable moral standard. In short, ethical relativism holds that
because there is no morality that all societies follow, each person
should follow the morality of his or her own particular society.
Different Branches of Ethics
Descriptive Normative
Meta-Ethics Applied Ethics
Ethics Ethics
Explores the
Bioethics
Virtue Ethics nature,
The study of foundations,
Medical Ethics
certain and scope of
people's beliefs moral values,
Environmental Ethics
about morality Deontological Ethics
Business Ethics
Media/ Cyber Ethics
Teleological Ethics Administrative/ Professional
Ethics
Ethics and Politics- Citizen right
Applied Ethics/ Practical Ethics
This Branch of ethics deals with the ethical questions specific to the practice
fields.
Different branches of applied ethics.
(i) Bioethics: It discusses the ethical issues of biomedical scientific
technologies.
⮚Ethics of Biotechnology
⮚Food Security, Consumer right.
⮚Use of human in Research
⮚Equality of Animals (Animal Ethics/ Right)
.
(ii) Medical Ethics: It concerns the Practice of medicine. This branch
talks about the moral principles related to clinical medicine.
⮚Moral dilemma in pregnancy or abortion cases
⮚Case of organ transplantation
⮚Blood donation
⮚Euthanasia:
Voluntary and Non-voluntary
(Active or passive)
⮚Patient-Physician relationship.
⮚Ethics of Pandemic situation
.
(iii) Environmental Ethics: It talks about the moral relationship between
human beings and nature on the environment & discusses the moral
responsibility to the Environment.
⮚Can human dominate the nature?
⮚Responsibility to the Future Generation
⮚Who are responsible for the global climate change?
⮚Importance of eco-friendly environment.
⮚The depletion of natural resources
⮚Anthropocentrism VS. Biocentrism
.
iv) Business Ethics: Business Ethics is the practice that determines what
is right and what is wrong in the workplace, Business ethics helps us to
take the right decision in the case of moral dilemma.
⮚Solving Ethical Dilemma in Business sector.
⮚Affirmative Action in workplace.
⮚Relationship between the employees and employers
⮚Business and Human Rights
⮚Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Human rights due diligence.
.
v) Professional/ Administrative Ethics: Professional ethics are
standards set by professional organizations for the behavior and
values of people working within a specific field.
⮚Transparency
⮚Professionalism
⮚Workplace Ethics (Health, Food, Cultural & Religious value,
Safety & Security)
⮚Privacy
⮚ Loyalty
.
(vii) Ethics and Politics
⮚Citizen right.
⮚State Law and Constitution
⮚Free market economy
⮚Distribution policy of fundamental resources
Utility of Ethics/ Why Study Ethics?
• Ethical Dilemma
• Conflict of Interest/Desire
• Discrimination
What is Ethical Dilemma?
An ethical dilemma (ethical paradox or moral dilemma) is a
problem in the decision-making process between two possible
options where both actions are absolutely acceptable from an
ethical perspective.
➢Two conflicting moral requirements.
➢A person has two moral obligations, which cannot be met both at
once.
➢One option has to choose between both actions. A third option, such
as not making a choice, is not possible.
Train ethical dilemma meme
Conflict of Interest
Conflicts of interest are a clash that most often occurs between
requirements and interests. Conflict of interest occurs when a person's
personal interests' conflict with other surrounding matters. It violates a
person's right, freedom of will as well as autonomy.
Factors that can create conflict with personal interests:
Family, Social Factors, State Law.
Discrimination
Discrimination occurs when a person is unable to enjoy his or
her human rights or other legal rights on an equal basis with
others because of an unjustified distinction made in policy, law,
or treatment.
Factors that create discrimination:
Religion, Ethnicity, Nationality, Class, Caste, Race (Racial
Discrimination), Belief, Sex, Gender, Language, Age, Health, Speciesism,
or Another status.
