3.9 Summary - Different points of reference for ethics

Summary

• Descriptive ethics makes value-free statements about existing value systems and moral concepts and thus has more the character of an empirical study.

• However, there is also another type of ethics that is not neutral on moral issues, but makes moral judgements and develops moral demands. This type of ethics is known as normative ethics.

• Normative ethics formulates ethical commandments or prohibitions. It provides answers to the question "What should I do?". It is about nothing less than the question of right and good behaviour.

• Our pluralistic and differentiated society is too complex and interwoven so that simple instructions and behavioural programmes could lead to (ethically) good and resilient decisions and actions. Simple answers to complex questions are not very promising.

• If, for example, certain commandments or prohibitions are fixed in terms of content, then we speak of material ethics. One example are the Christian ten commandments.

• Formal ethics set out their requirements in formulae. One example is the so-called Golden Rule. Although no detailed instructions are given, actions are guided essentially and arbitrariness is ruled out. This is because actions should be determined in relation to others, in reference to my fellow human beings.

• An ethic such as Kant's, which develops and prescribes generally binding principles, is also referred to as an ethic of duty. It is true that it is not specified exactly how the duty is to be fulfilled. Nevertheless, an action can only be considered ethically good in the sense of duty ethics if it is in accordance with duty.

• Discourse ethics requires the rational consent of all participants in an informal discourse free of domination. An action is ethically imperative if all participants in the discourse would agree with it. However, this can only be the case in an ideal world.

• Consequentialist, benefit-orientated ethics is focused on a goal and is oriented towards the outcomes of an action in order to assess whether it is ethically good or bad. But how should the sought-after benefit be determined?

• Virtue ethics does not primarily focus on the evaluation of individual actions, but on the evaluation of the acting person as a whole. Virtue can be understood as a person's disposition of character.

• Practical judgement enables us to apply and reflect on ethical norms in concrete situations. This is particularly important in the case of competing norms.

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