Philosophical Ethics: Week 2

Johnson Ch2 & Baase Ch1.4

The following are some questions to think about while reading. It may help you participate in our discussion if you write out some notes or answers to these questions. I will only collect them in the case that not enough people participate in our discussion.

1. So what are ethics?
2. What are the goals of ethics?
3. What are negative rights?
4. What are positive rights?
5. How do they conflict?
6. What is the dialectic process? What is its value? What are its drawbacks?
7. What are descriptive claims?
8. What are normative claims?
9. What is ethical relativism? Its benefits? It problems?
10. What is utilitarianism? Its benefits? Its problems?
11. What are deontological theories?

Which of these ethical frameworks is most beneficial to society? To you? Why?