Normative ethics

Normative ethics (cf. metaethics) is the branch of the philosophicalstudy of ethicsconcerned with classifying actions as right and wrong without bias, as opposed to descriptive ethics. Normative ethics regards ethics as a set of normsrelated to actions.

Descriptive ethics deal with what the population believes to be right and wrong, while normative ethics deal with what the population should believe to be right and wrong. "Killing one's parents is wrong," is a normative ethical claim.

Moreover, because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, normative ethics is distinct from metaethics, which studies the nature of moral statements, and from applied ethics, which places normative rules in practical contexts.

Normative Ethical Theories

1. Consequentialismargues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action's outcome or result. Some consequentialist theories include:

A. Utilitarianismwhich holds that an action is right if it leads to the most pleasure (and least pain) for the greatest number of people.

B. Egoismis the belief that the moral person is the self-interested person.

2. Deontology, on the other hand, ignores the outcome of an action and instead requires acts to be taken that are in accordance with an individual's duty. Examples of deontology include:

A. Kant'sCategorical Imperativewhich roots morality in humanity's rational capacity and creates certain inviolable moral laws.

B. The Contractarianismof John Rawlsholds that the moral acts are those that we would all agree to if we were unbiased.

C. Philosophers such as John Lockewho believe that humans have absolute rights are also considered deontologists.

3. Finally, Aristotleand others argue for virtue ethicswhich focuses on the inherent character of a person, as opposed to the specific actions they may take.

See also

• Normative
• Norm (philosophy)

External links

• Graphical Illustrationfr:Éthique normative

sv:Normativ etik

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative+ethics Wikipedia article Normative ethics.