Applied Ethics

Dr Awdhesh Singh, IRS (Retd.)

Director, Awdhesh Academy,
Former Commissioner, Customs & Indirect Taxes (Central Excise &GST)
Dimensions of Ethics
Dimensions (Branches) of Ethics
1. Meta-ethics: It examines the origin and meaning of ethical
principles.
2. Descriptive ethics: It deals with people’s belief about what is
morally right or wrong.
3. Normative ethics: It is the study of ethical action/s in a given
situation.
4. Applied ethics: It involves examining specific controversial issues
related to ethics in society.
Metaethics
• Metaethics is made from two words; "meta" (means beyond) and
ethics. Hence, metaethics means what is beyond ethics i.e. why ethics
exists at all.
• Accordingly, metaethics can be defined as the study of the origin and
meaning of ethical concepts.
• It covers broadly two issues.
A. Metaphysical issues
B. Psychological issues
A: Metaphysical Issues:

• A division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental

nature of reality and being.
• It deals with the matter that is beyond the objective experience.
• It can be further divided into
• Absolutism
• Relativism
B: Psychological Issues in Metaethics

• Why do some people behave morally and others are immoral, when
they are brought up in the same society and often in the same family?
• Does being ethical is a matter of faith or based on some reasoning?
• Are we moral because it gives us certain benefits like happiness, honour or
connect with people?, or
• Are we moral because we want to avoid punishment, social isolation or
hatred from fellow human being?
Psychological factors of morality
1. Egoism
2. Altruism
3. Emotions
4. Reason
Descriptive ethics
Descriptive ethics (comparative ethics)
• Study of people’s beliefs about morality.
• Empirical research into the attitudes of individuals or groups to
ascertain what people consider moral
• Investigates which actions societies reward or punish
• Dynamic: keeps changing with time and place
• Provides authentic information about what is considered ethical by
the society.
• Philosophers use reasoning to understand and justify the prevalent
social behaviour and come up with newer theories of ethics
Normative Ethics
Normative Ethics
• Normative ethics is the study of ethical action.
• It deals with ‘ethical dilemma’ and investigates the set of questions
that arise when considering how one ought to act morally in a given
situation.
• An ethical dilemma (ethical paradox) is a decision-making problem
between two or more possible moral imperatives—neither of which is
unambiguously acceptable or preferable.
• It is also sometimes called prescriptive, rather than descriptive,
because it tells us how to act morality rather than what morality is.
Types of Normative Ethics
1: Virtue ethics
• It focuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on
specific actions.
• Our actions are manifestation of our inner self.
• If you are a good person, all your actions shall be good.
• If you are a bad person, you actions can’t be good.
• It means that if you are a virtuous person, all your action shall be
ethical.
• Just like a hero, a virtuous person also always do the right things.
A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit

• “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear
good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. ..A good man out
of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man
out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)
Four Cardinal Virtues
1. Prudence/Wisdom: It is the ability to discern the appropriate
course of action to be taken in a given situation at the appropriate
time.
2. Courage: The ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and intimidation
3. Temperance: Tempering the desires and appetition (appetite, a
longing for or seeking after something).
4. Justice: Fairness and righteousness
Criticism of Virtue theory
• Virtues are subjective and keep changing with time.
• A virtuous woman in ancient times implies one who is quiet, servile,
and productive. However, this does not hold good today.
• Action and consequence of the action is more important than the
inherent quality of the person.
• A true virtue is one that is universally applicable. However, most
virtues have cultural and social bias.
• Servility may be consider as a female virtue, but is not considered to
be a male virtue.
2: Deontology
• Deontology is derived from the Greek word ‘deon’ meaning
"obligation, duty"
• An action should be judged based on laws and rules.
• It is sometimes described as "duty-" or "obligation-" or "rule- based
ethics”, because rules "bind you to your duty".
• Decisions should be made based on one's duties and one's rights.
• Given by Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest philosopher of all times.
• An action is more important than the consequences.
• Most relevant in the civil services since your actions should always be
in accordance with the rules and laws of the country.
Types of Deontology Ethics
• Categorical Imperative
• Given by Immanuel Kant
• One must act only according to that maxim which is rational and should
become a universal law.
• Gandhian Ethics
• Mahatma Gandhi believed in the righteousness of action.
• Means are as important as ends
• Truth and Nonviolence are non-negotiable
• Nishkam Karma
• Do your duty without any expectation of the fruits
3: Consequentialism (Teleology)
• It is derived from two Greek words: telos (end, goal, purpose) and
logos (reason, explanation).
• The morality of an action depends on the outcome (consequence) or
result of an action.
• Ends are more important than the means.
• Utilitarian is the most important ethical principle of teleology.
4: ‘Ethics of care’; or ‘Relational ethics’
• This school of thought was founded by feminist theorists, notably
Carol Gilligan.
• She argues that morality arises out of the experiences of empathy
and compassion.
• It emphasizes the importance of interdependence and relationships in
achieving ethical goals.
• An ethical action is one that nurtures relationship and strengthen the
family and the society.
Whether ethical principles are universal or
not, is studied in…
A. Metaethics
B. Normative Ethics
C. Applied Ethics
D. None of the above
Q. The most notable philosopher for ‘reason’
based ethics was
1. Immanuel Kant
2. Hume
3. Aristotle
4. Socrates
Applied Ethics
Applied Ethics
• Applied ethics refers to the practical application of moral
considerations.
• Applied ethics deals with real-world actions and their moral
considerations in the areas of private and public life, the professions,
health, technology, law, and leadership.
• An Applied Ethics should be controversial, it should involve moral
dimensions and it should have substantial impact on society.
Sample Issues of Applied Ethics
• Under what conditions is an abortion morally permissible?
• Does a citizen have a moral obligation to actively participate (by
voting) in the democratic process of one’s nation?
• What obligations, if any, does one have to the global poor?
• Is it right to pay the users for product review?
• Whether euthanasia should be legalised?
• Whether same-sex marriages be allowed?
Requirement 1: Is it controversial?
• The issue must be controversial because significant number of people
are for and against the issue at hand.
• The common moral issues like theft, murder, rape etc., which are
admitted by almost everyone as immoral are not part of the applied
ethics.
• Murdering people using guns is not applied ethics. However, gun
control is within applied ethics.
Requirement 2: Is it a moral issue?
• Some issues like reservation, affirmative action, public versus private
health care systems, or energy conservation are controversial, they
also have substantial impact on the society and yet not having a
moral dimensions.
• These are only issues of social policy, which may help make a better
society.
Normative Principles in Applied Ethics

1. Personal benefit: acknowledge the extent to which an action

produces beneficial consequences for the individual in question.
2. Social benefit: acknowledge the extent to which an action produces
beneficial consequences for society.
3. Principle of benevolence: help the people who are in need.
4. Principle of paternalism: assist others in pursuing their best
interests when they cannot do so themselves.
5. Principle of harm: do not harm others.
Normative Principles in Applied Ethics (Contd.)

6. Principle of honesty: do not deceive others.

7. Principle of lawfulness: do not violate the law.
8. Principle of autonomy: acknowledge a person's freedom over
his/her actions or physical body.
9. Principle of justice: acknowledge a person's right to due process,
fair compensation for harm done, and fair distribution of benefits.
10. Rights: acknowledge a person’s rights to life, information, privacy,
free expression, and safety.
Branches of Applied Ethics
• Medical ethics,
• Business ethics,
• Environmental ethics,
• Sexual ethics,
• Human Right ethics
Application of Applied Ethics
Death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland
• Savita presented at Galway University Hospital with severe back pain on October
21st, 2012, and was found to be miscarrying her 17-week pregnancy.
• After a day in “agony” and distress, she asked for a termination but was refused
because there was a foetal heartbeat.
• On the third day she spontaneously delivered a female foetus and went into a
coma. Her condition gradually deteriorated and finally she died on October 28th,
2012.
• Her death served as a rallying cry for efforts to repeal the Eighth Amendment of
the Constitution of Ireland, which prohibited abortion in most instances.
• The amendment was later repealed empowering Parliament to legislate for
abortion.
• Is it morally right to go for abortion?
Medical Ethics: Issue of Abortion
• Whether it can be morally right to terminate a pregnancy before
normal childbirth?
• Some people think that abortion is always wrong.
• Some think that abortion is right when the mother's life is at risk.
• Others think that there is a range of circumstances in which abortion
is morally acceptable.
Argument : All abortions are wrong
• All actions that kill a human being are morally wrong.
• All abortions are actions that kill a human being.
• All abortions are morally wrong.
Flaw in the argument
• In many situations, killing of people is acceptable and even moral (like
in the case of terrorists, rapist drug-traffickers)
• Abortion may sometime save life of mother.
Logical conclusion: Most Abortions are wrong
• All actions that kill an innocent person without resulting in saving the
life of another person or something of similar moral importance are
morally wrong.
• Most abortions are actions that kill an innocent person without
resulting in saving the life of another person or something of similar
moral importance.
• Most abortions are morally wrong.
Reasons of abortion
• Right of the mother to bear child and give birth
• Dowry to the girl child
• Risk of life to mother
• Rape case
• Child deformity
Conclusions
• Female infanticide is not permissible due to social evil like dowry
• Mothers can’t have absolute right on her children’s life
• Abortion may be justified to save the life of mother, rape cases or
serious deformity of child
Case Study of Baby Doe
• In 1982, a couple from Bloomington, Indiana gave birth to a baby with
severe mental and physical disabilities.
• Among other complications, the infant (known as Baby Doe)had its
stomach disconnected from its throat and was thus unable to receive
nourishment.
• Although this stomach deformity was correctable through surgery, the
couple did not want to raise a severely disabled child and therefore chose
to deny surgery, food, and water for the infant. Local courts supported the
parents' decision.
• Six days later Baby Doe died.
• Should corrective surgery have been performed for Baby Doe?
Arguments in favor of corrective surgery
• The infant's right to life
• Principle of paternalism which stipulates that we should pursue the
best interests of others when they are incapable of doing so
themselves.
Arguments against corrective surgery
• If Baby Doe survived, its quality of life would have been poor and in
any case it probably would have died at an early age.
• Baby Doe's survival would have been a significant emotional and
financial burden for the parents.
Conclusions
• Courts concluded that the arguments against surgery were stronger
than the arguments for surgery.
1. Surgery appeared NOT to be in the best interests of the infant, given the
poor quality of life it would endure.
2. Baby Doe's right to life was not clear given the severity of the infant's
mental impairment.
Environmental ethics
• ‘Environmental ethics’ is the discipline in philosophy that studies the
moral relationship of human beings to the environment and its
nonhuman contents.’
• All living beings, including plants and animals, are part of
environment
• All of them have right to co-exist with human beings.
Topics under environmental ethics
• Global warming,
• Pollution and development
• Sustainable development
• Economic development and social justice.
• International relations and global governance.
Issues under environmental ethics
1. Consumption of natural resources
2. Destruction of forests and rehabilitation
3. Environmental pollution
4. Harm to animals
1. Consumption of natural resources
• Unscrupulous depletion of our natural resources is detrimental to our
well-being.
• Excessive use of our available resources is to risk the life of our future
generations.
• “We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it
from our children.” - Native American Proverb
2. Destruction of forests and rehabilitation
• Large scale industrial activities lead to destruction of forests and other
natural resources.
• Mining processes disrupt the ecological balance of nature and harm the
plant and animal life in those regions.
• Land used for agriculture is unable to compensate the loss of trees and
animal life.
• Construction of dam, roads or factories displace a large number of local
inhabitants.
• Displaced people find it difficult to get an alternative place and means of
livelihood.
• Proper rehabilitation policy must be made for rehabilitation
Components of good Rehabilitation policy
• Fair compensation for local’s land and property.
• Site plots or built houses at nearby places commensurate with their
land mass.
• Means to develop their own traditional art and culture.
• Jobs for at least one adult member of each family
• Resettlement in the neighbourhood or in a similar environment.
• Education and skill development for the local people
• Awareness about the benefits of the projects.
3. Environmental pollution
• Population is exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet
• Large-scale constructions of roads and buildings damage the
environment.
• Increasing use of automobiles, burning of crops and use of coal to
generate electricity mainly responsible for polluted environment.
• Environmental pollution affects the health of the people and leads to
many types of respiratory diseases and causing many deaths every
year.
Strategies for Sustainable development
• Develop appropriate waste management policy
• Create social awareness for
• cleaning the garbage
• taking care of the environment
• Use part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan tax for funding the
environmental NGOs, and enable them to act as citizens’
representatives and watchdogs.
• Prescribe strict emission norms for vehicles and other polluting
industries.
• Stricter penalties for the violation of environmental norms.
Strategies (Contd.)
• Simplify the process of complaints and reward to informer.
• Create detailed environmental databases and make them accessible
to all citizens.
• The pollution control boards should be adequately funded, staffed
and empowered.
• Indian universities must include environmental studies in all courses
to sensitise the future citizens of India
• Higher rates of GST on the vehicles that increase pollution.
4. Harm to animals
• When human inhabitation grows, the animals lose their homes.
• Animals enter human settlements posing a threat to the people
• Animals are also killed to serve as a food source for humans.
• Animal studies cause harm to animals and sometimes even leads
them to their deaths.
• This has led to the extinction of many animal species.
• We must try to minimize harm to animals