Transcript of Normative Ethical Theories | Deontology, Consequentialism, & Virtue Ethics | BIOETHICS

[Music] hi in this video i will share to you the principles and theories of normative ethics so at the end of the discussion students should be able to define normative ethics learn the three normative theories and differentiate various approaches to ethical decision making so the word normative is an adjective which comes from the word norm which means standard or rule so moral norms are standards or principles with which people are expected to comply so obviously we people have different ideas about what the standards are so the normative theories of ethics therefore focuses on what we claim as a moral actions on what action are good and bad and what kind of behavior is right so the three normative theories we will be studying therefore illustrate three different sets of ideas about how we should live so we have deontology consequentialism and virtue ethics theory wherein natural moral law and kant's theory of the categorical imperative are some of the types of deontological theory fletcher's situation ethics and utilitarianism are types of consequentialism and aristotel's virtue ethics is a type of virtue ethics theory for now we'll begin with the deontological theories it comes from the greek word deon meaning obligation necessity or duty so deontology is sometimes referred to as the science of duty wherein generally speaking those words such as duty and obligations tells you what your moral duties are that is why once people start telling you what duties you have those duties form the basis of the moral rules the ontological systems hold that the moral worth of an action lies in your conforming to duties and rules as opposed to considering the consequences of what you do in other words the principle of deontology is that you really have to conform to your moral duties regardless of the reason you have or the consequences you will be facing alongside obligations duties and rules deontological theories also consider rights because your obligation to follow rules and duties implies that there is an intrinsic or the built-in value of doing so example if you follow the rule do not murder then you also have the right not to be murdered so apart from the do not murder rule we also have some rules who are common we have the do not steal do not lie and you are off to keep your promise to be faithful to your spouse even if a more attractive person comes along which means duty is not based on what is pleasant or beneficial but rather upon the obligation itself since deontologists hold that acts are intrinsically right or wrong then the rightness or wrongness of the act is in some sense built into the world and can be accessed by reason or by studying the world or for religious deontology by knowing the will of god so in other words we can only know whether our actions are right or wrong if we'll study the rules set by the world or by knowing the rules made by god so this goodness that we are searching for is the reason why deontologist emphasizes the importance of motive and intention in doing the act when you say motive or intention it is the reason for doing the action example of this is immanuel kant's deontological theory based on categorical imperatives or the commands that must be obeyed so emanuel kant pointed out that an action was moral only if it was done in obedience to a rule other motives such as personal satisfaction were not counted so example a store owner who is kind to his customers not because he sees that as his moral duty but because he wants to have more customers so in real life the rule is for us to be kind because of the goodness of being kind but in this situation the store owner is kind because of his personal motive which is the increase in customer or in sales therefore the moral goodness from his action of being kind has been lost consequentialist theories of ethics hold that the moral worth of an action should be judged by its consequences there are therefore situations where a consequentialist would be prepared to lie if that was thought necessary to bring about the best consequences so a good or right action is one which produces the best consequences overall in the situation so the best known consequentialist theory is utilitarianism where right actions are those which maximizes the happiness of sentient beings when you say sentient beings these are beings that can think reason feel and experience so happiness has different shades of meaning for different utilitarian so can include pleasure well-being individual preferences and individual interests so although consequentialist theories are not focused on moral rules they can be included also in the theory in which rules can be used to maximize the best consequences so this follows because rules often become rules because historically they have been shown to produce the best consequences for society example for this is our ancestors who found out that having simple rules such as those prohibiting murder and theft usually led to a happier society so let's differentiate consequential versus deontological so when you say deontological theory it focuses on the intrinsic value of the rule itself but when you say consequential theory it focuses on the value of the consequence of the rule example lying so in deontological theory regardless of your reason lying is always morally wrong while in consequential theory lying can be right if telling a lie would help save a person's life which means in this consequential theory there are no right or wrong acts so this consequential theory is a type of teleological theory so what is teleological theory teleological derives from the greek word telos which means and goal or purpose in ethics the end goal or purpose which we seek referred to our responsibilities in attaining specific moral goals or ants so for teleological ethical theories if you want to find out how you should behave morally you need to decide what the ultimate goal of ethics is teleological ethical theories can also be consequentialized because as well as being directed towards an ultimate goal or purpose a teleological theory can also look to achieve the best consequence in any particular situation so this will follow the simple reason that to achieve the best consequence in any particular situation will generally contribute to the overall goal so let's differentiate deontological versus teleological so we have here an example which is abortion so in the teleological approach saving the mother's life justifies the abortion process while in the ontological approach consider any termination of life as a violation of the rule and therefore would not abort the fetus regardless of the consequences to the mother next is the virtue ethics theory in the deontological and consequentialist theories we have noticed that they are both up-centered which means we judge that specific acts whether they are good or bad right or wrong by contrast virtue ethics is agent-centered meaning that goodness is not in the act but in the person in which we judge the agent whether by habit and by character he is a good or virtuous person so when you say virtues these are attitudes or character traits that enables us to be and to act in these ways that develop this potential which means principle teaches us that an action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances so the goodness of the act is developed through good and virtuous people so that's the end of the first part of our discussion and these are my references in the making of this powerpoint presentation so i hope you watch the continuation of this topic so that you will better understand the normative ethical theories so thank you and see you on my next video