Introduction to Ethics

The lesson introduces the study of ethics, defining what it means, the questions it seeks to answer, and outlining its general structure. Ethics is linked to morals, derived from the ancient Greek word 'Etha' for 'morals'. Early legal codes in ancient Greece provide a historical context for prescriptive claims about how society 'ought to operate', defining what is good and bad in actions and beliefs.

Ancient Greek ethics is broadly categorized into two schools. The Sophists, skilled in argumentation, believed human nature and ethics differ across societies, leading to moral relativism: the idea that moral truths are subjective and relative to individuals or societies. In contrast, Plato supported moral absolutism, advocating for universal and absolute morality that does not change from one society to another.

The study of ethics addresses several fundamental questions: the existence and definition of good and bad (ontology of ethics), whether actions can be good or bad, and if so, how to formulate a system to determine this. Ultimately, ethics questions how these principles can be applied to real-world ethical problems.

All these questions are encapsulated within three main subjects: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics studies the theoretical aspects and epistemology of ethics, exploring the existence and meaning of good and bad. Normative ethics focuses on developing prescriptive frameworks to determine what actions are morally righteous in different situations. Applied ethics deals with applying these ethical principles to real-world problems like medical ethics (euthanasia, abortion) or business ethics. The series will primarily focus on normative ethics, with separate lessons on meta-ethics and applied ethics.