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What is ethics?

Alexei Kapterev
Alexei Kapterev

Ethics is a compass that tells you what is right and wrong. It exists because self-interested humans need rules to cooperate with each other. At its core, ethics deals with questions of harm and care. While related to laws, customs, and emotions, ethics is not defined solely by any single one of these. There is no clear universal definition of ethics, but it generally guides judgments of moral and immoral behavior.

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What is ETHICS Alexeis Primer on Ethics | Part 1
ぐ Abortion Animal rights 勡 LGBT+ rights Climate change Cloning К GMO AI & Robotics Surveillance Most of todays important issues seem to be the issues of ethics:
ETHICS But what is ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Very broadly, ETHICS is a Лcompass that tells you whats right and wrong
ETHICS MORALITY In most cases, is the same as
Ethical = moral. I know, some people would disagree, and perhaps there are situations where these are not the same REALLY? YES.
Like, when a public of fi cial sleeps with a sex worker its immoral, but if he hands a contract to his cousins company, thats unethical
Right? No.This makes no sense! Both behaviours are bad and describe the same phenomena, even though one is about money and the other is about sex.
Non-experts often claim that ethics is communal, while morality is private*. But professionals mostly use these terms interchangeably. * For some bizarre reason the claim is reversed in Russian
The word moralis was invented by Cicero when he was trying to translate the Greek word ethics to Latin. They both meant the same: manner, custom, law.
Generally, the terms ethics and morality are used interchangeably. https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-morality-and-ethics Encyclopedia Britannica
DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS Non-judgementally studies morality in human communities Heres a really important distinction: NORMATIVE ETHICS Passes moral judgement and tells whats good, bad or non-moral
Moral Philosophy Moral Psychology HOW MORALITY WORKS WHATS GOOD OR BAD So, if you want to study Moral Theology Moral Anthropology DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS NORMATIVE ETHICS The Discipline of Ethics
QUESTION: How do you draw the line? Moral Immoral Amoral or non-moral Ethics: Not ethics:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/ fi gure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231794.g002 OPINIONS OF REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS ON ABORTION AND ALCOHOL BAD NEWS: THERE IS NO CLEAR LINE Believe it or not, a substantial minority of republicans (yes, republicans!) think that ぐabortion is non-moral
If you ask philosophers, the situation, quite predictably, is even more confusing.
In the 1970s they published a 272-page book, containing various de fi nitions of morality.
There does not seem to be much reason to think that a single de fi nition of morality will be applicable to all moral discussions. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-de fi nition/
We dont know what ethics is, but there is some consensus on what its ｯfor, what it contains and what it is probably not GOOD NEWS
Morality is a set of psychological adaptations that allow otherwise sel fi sh individuals to reap the bene fi ts of cooperation Joshua Greene In fl uential moral philosopher
So, morality evolved to foster cooperation. Some people disagree but there seems to be a lot of consensus on this.
Theory of dyadic morality suggests that what makes judgements moral is perceived harm or care.
A man intentionally gished a little girl, who cried. Is the man good or bad? This man is unmistakably bad, even though to gish is not a real verb. We are attuned to sensing harm.
Also, we know that ethics is not the same as law, customs or ぎ emotions
ETHICS IS NOT LAW Although law is based on morality, it doesnt prohibit all immoral acts, lying is one example. Laws can also be immoral, Nazi laws most certainly were.
ETHICS IS NOT CUSTOMS The word ethics originally meant customs, but customs can be barbaric. Ethics is not whatever the crowd says. In the Soviet Union going against the crowd was often the hallmark of moral behaviour.
ぎ ETHICS IS NOT EMOTIONS These people are just disgusting to me! A lot of morally wrong acts are disgusting, but not all disgusting acts are wrong. What disgusts people varies from person to person and from culture to culture.
ぎ emotions written law community opinion ETHICS is not any of these things, but theres a considerable overlap
1 Is a Лcompass that tells you whats good, bad or non-moral 2 Exists because self- interested humans need to cooperate WHAT IS ETHICS? 4 Not de fi ned solely by community opinion, law or ぎemotions but probably has something to do with all of these things 3 Deals with questions of harm or care Ok, lets do a quick recap
Next: why ethics becomes particularly important TODAY Spoiler: its because of rapidly disintegrating religion
kapterev.com ALEXEI KAPTEREV

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What is ethics?

  • 1. What is ETHICS Alexeis Primer on Ethics | Part 1
  • 2. ぐ Abortion Animal rights 勡 LGBT+ rights Climate change Cloning К GMO AI & Robotics Surveillance Most of todays important issues seem to be the issues of ethics:
  • 3. ETHICS But what is ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  • 4. Very broadly, ETHICS is a Лcompass that tells you whats right and wrong
  • 6. Ethical = moral. I know, some people would disagree, and perhaps there are situations where these are not the same REALLY? YES.
  • 7. Like, when a public of fi cial sleeps with a sex worker its immoral, but if he hands a contract to his cousins company, thats unethical
  • 8. Right? No.This makes no sense! Both behaviours are bad and describe the same phenomena, even though one is about money and the other is about sex.
  • 9. Non-experts often claim that ethics is communal, while morality is private*. But professionals mostly use these terms interchangeably. * For some bizarre reason the claim is reversed in Russian
  • 10. The word moralis was invented by Cicero when he was trying to translate the Greek word ethics to Latin. They both meant the same: manner, custom, law.
  • 11. Generally, the terms ethics and morality are used interchangeably. https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-morality-and-ethics Encyclopedia Britannica
  • 12. DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS Non-judgementally studies morality in human communities Heres a really important distinction: NORMATIVE ETHICS Passes moral judgement and tells whats good, bad or non-moral
  • 13. Moral Philosophy Moral Psychology HOW MORALITY WORKS WHATS GOOD OR BAD So, if you want to study Moral Theology Moral Anthropology DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS NORMATIVE ETHICS The Discipline of Ethics
  • 14. QUESTION: How do you draw the line? Moral Immoral Amoral or non-moral Ethics: Not ethics:
  • 15. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/ fi gure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231794.g002 OPINIONS OF REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS ON ABORTION AND ALCOHOL BAD NEWS: THERE IS NO CLEAR LINE Believe it or not, a substantial minority of republicans (yes, republicans!) think that ぐabortion is non-moral
  • 16. If you ask philosophers, the situation, quite predictably, is even more confusing.
  • 17. In the 1970s they published a 272-page book, containing various de fi nitions of morality.
  • 18. There does not seem to be much reason to think that a single de fi nition of morality will be applicable to all moral discussions. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-de fi nition/
  • 19. We dont know what ethics is, but there is some consensus on what its ｯfor, what it contains and what it is probably not GOOD NEWS
  • 20. Morality is a set of psychological adaptations that allow otherwise sel fi sh individuals to reap the bene fi ts of cooperation Joshua Greene In fl uential moral philosopher
  • 21. So, morality evolved to foster cooperation. Some people disagree but there seems to be a lot of consensus on this.
  • 22. Theory of dyadic morality suggests that what makes judgements moral is perceived harm or care.
  • 23. A man intentionally gished a little girl, who cried. Is the man good or bad? This man is unmistakably bad, even though to gish is not a real verb. We are attuned to sensing harm.
  • 24. Also, we know that ethics is not the same as law, customs or ぎ emotions
  • 25. ETHICS IS NOT LAW Although law is based on morality, it doesnt prohibit all immoral acts, lying is one example. Laws can also be immoral, Nazi laws most certainly were.
  • 26. ETHICS IS NOT CUSTOMS The word ethics originally meant customs, but customs can be barbaric. Ethics is not whatever the crowd says. In the Soviet Union going against the crowd was often the hallmark of moral behaviour.
  • 27. ぎ ETHICS IS NOT EMOTIONS These people are just disgusting to me! A lot of morally wrong acts are disgusting, but not all disgusting acts are wrong. What disgusts people varies from person to person and from culture to culture.
  • 28. ぎ emotions written law community opinion ETHICS is not any of these things, but theres a considerable overlap
  • 29. 1 Is a Лcompass that tells you whats good, bad or non-moral 2 Exists because self- interested humans need to cooperate WHAT IS ETHICS? 4 Not de fi ned solely by community opinion, law or ぎemotions but probably has something to do with all of these things 3 Deals with questions of harm or care Ok, lets do a quick recap
  • 30. Next: why ethics becomes particularly important TODAY Spoiler: its because of rapidly disintegrating religion