Applied Ethics

An Applied Ethics is an ethical analysis that is an applied philosophy (of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment).

• Context:
  • It can (typically) focus on specific, controversial issues such as Euthanasia, Animal Rights, Environmental Ethics, and Healthcare Ethics.
  • It can (often) involve applying Normative Ethical Theories to real-world scenarios to determine the morally correct course of action.
  • It can range from analyzing individual moral dilemmas to evaluating the ethical dimensions of policies and laws.
  • It can integrate perspectives from various disciplines, including Law, Medicine, Business, and Environmental Science.
  • It can address the ethical implications of new technologies and scientific advancements, such as those in Genetics and Artificial Intelligence.
  • It can provide frameworks for ethical decision-making in professional settings, guiding actions in complex situations.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Ethics of Technology, which examines the ethical issues related to the development and use of technology, including data privacy and the impact of automation on employment.
  • Decision Ethics, which involves the ethical considerations and processes involved in making choices, particularly in business and leadership contexts.
  • Professional Ethics, which explores the ethical standards and responsibilities specific to various professions, such as law, medicine, and journalism.
  • Clinical Ethics, which focuses on ethical issues in healthcare settings, including patient autonomy, informed consent, and end-of-life care.
  • Business Ethics, which addresses the application of ethical principles to business conduct, including corporate governance, insider trading, and social responsibility.
  • Organizational Ethics, which examines the ethical practices and policies of organizations as a whole, often involving issues of corporate culture and ethical leadership.
  • Social Ethics, which explores the ethical dimensions of social issues and public policy, including justice, human rights, and community welfare.
  • Sexual Ethics, which deals with ethical issues surrounding sexual behavior, relationships, and consent.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Meta-Ethics, which is concerned with the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgments rather than practical application.
  • Normative Ethics, which focuses on determining what is morally right or wrong in a more theoretical manner, without necessarily applying it to specific cases.
• See: Bioethics, Euthanasia, Environmental Ethics, Normative Ethics, Computer Ethics, Consequentialism.

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References

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/applied_ethics Retrieved:2014-6-5.
  • Applied ethics is the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment. It is thus the attempts to use philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life. Bioethics, for example, is concerned with identifying the correct approach to matters such as euthanasia, or the allocation of scarce health resources, or the use of human embryos in research. Environmental ethics is concerned with questions such as the duties or duty of 'whistleblowers' to the general public as opposed to their loyalty to their employers. As such, it is an area of professional philosophy that is relatively well paid and highly valued both within and outside of academia.

    Applied ethics is distinguished from normative ethics, which concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong, and from meta-ethics, which concerns the nature of moral statements.

    An emerging typology for applied ethics (Porter, 2006) uses seven domains to help improve organizations and social issues at the national and global level:

    • Decision ethics, or ethical theories and ethical decision processes
    • Professional ethics, or ethics to improve professionalism
    • Clinical ethics, or ethics to improve our basic health needs
    • Business ethics, or individual based morals to improve ethics in a business environment
    • Organizational ethics, or ethics among organizations
    • Social ethics, or ethics among nations and as one global unit
    • Sexual ethics, or ethics based around sexual acts

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