Applied Ethics
As found on the Ethics Unwrapped site, applied ethics is the application of normative theories to real-world problems. The point is to answer how moral agents should act in specific situations.For a fast paced and broad introduction to applied ethics please check out the video offered below:
There are many possible fields of study within applied ethics:
- Bioethics - includes beginning of life issues, e.g. abortion, and end of life issues, e.g. Physician Assisted Suicide, euthansia, etc.
- Business ethics - includes Corporate Social Responsibility, moral business practices, corporate moral agency, etc
- Social Ethics - includes social justice, environmental ethics, capital punishment, etc
- Professional Ethics - includes engineering, technology, AI, etc
An Example: Abortion
Let's consider the applied issue of abortion. Most of us have a position concerning the issue. How might applied ethics make sense of the issue?
Note that there are two types or categories of questions as we study the issue. The moral question, the focus of our study, asks if abortion is morally permissible. If there are conditions under which abortion is morally permissible, then what are the conditions? What are the key concepts and theories that can help us define the moral permissibility. The legal question of what should be allowed through the law is important but different from the applied ethical question.
Given our previous study of normative theory, how might three different theories frame the issue:
As the above chart shows, philosophical assumptions play a vital role in shaping normative responses. When does personhood begin is one such philosophical assumption when considering normative responses here. How you frame personhood, to a large extent, can shape your normative response:
The moral philosophical tension centers on the ontological status of the fetus. Is the fetus a being? If so, in what sense, i.e., biologically, psychologically, philosophically? Here is one of the classical tensions encountered in the reproductive rights debate centered on the ontological question:
As you can tell, the applied moral philosophical approach varies a great deal from a personal approach or a purely legal one. Note also that many applied issues center on related concepts. Within the issue of euthanasia,m for example, determining life, i.e. answering the ontological question of when is human life present, is equally as important as it is within the issue of abortion. In the case of euthanasia, when is it morally permissible to end life? Here is an infographic detailing some of the key terms within the applied issue of euthanasia:
You can explore more applied topics using the vertical menu on the left.
Supplemental Resources
IEP:
SEP:
1000 Word Philosophy: