Introduction
The book, Ethics Theory and Practice is a well known work on ethics. It is written by Jaques P. Thiroux. The subject ethics is having high importance in this modern world. Well renowned and highly acclaimed, Ethics: Theory and Practice introduces readers with little or no background in philosophy or ethics to traditional and contemporary ethical theory using a clear, jargon-free style and a flexible organization. Discussing theories that readers can relate to their own life experiences. A host of examples and case studies illustrates for readers how to set up their own systematic, rational ethics and how to apply ethical theories to traditional and contemporary moral issues.
The Highlighted Points in the Book
The key terms in moral philosophy- Moral and ethical are interchangeable in ordinary language. Moral means what is good or right. Immoral means what is wrong or bad. Amoral means having no moral sense or being indifferent to right or wrong. Nonmoral means out of the realm of morality altogether.
The philosophical approach is divided in to two categories. They are normative and metaethic. The categories of morality are religious, natural, individual and social. Morality provides the basic reason for any significant laws. Morality is not necessarily based on law. There is no necessary connection between religion and morality. Religion does not give an adequate rational foundation to morality. The teleological or consequentialist morality is based on consequences. The deotological or non consequentialist morality is not based on or concerned with consequences.
Psychological egoism-This is not an ethical theory but a descriptive or scientific theory having to do with egoism. It appears in two forms. The strong form holds that people always act in their own self interest. The weak form holds that people often or frequently ,but not always ,act in their own self interest. But neither of which operate as a basis for ethical egoism.
The ethical egoism- appears in three forms. The universal form maintains that everyone ought to act in self interest. the individual form maintains that everyone ought to act in my self interest. The personal form maintains that i ought to act in my own self interest, but I make no claims what anyone else ought to do. The first two forms cannot be applied to humanity in general.
Utilitarianism maintains that everyone should perform that act or follow that moral rule which will bring about the greatest good for everyone concerned. The Act utilitarianism maintains that everyone should perform that act which will bring about the greatest good over bad for everyone affected. It believes that one cannot establish rules in advance to cover all situation and people because each is different. The rule utilitarianism states that everyone should always follow rule or the rules which will bring about the greatest number of good consequences for all concerned. This theory believes that there are enough similar human motives, actions, and situations to justify setting up rules which will apply to all human beings and situations.
intuitionism is a nonconsequentialist theory. Here decisions are based on intuitionism; that is, what is right and wrong in any particular situation is based on what people believe or feel is right or wrong –this is therefore, a highly individualistic theory. According to divine command theory, an action is right and people are good if, they obey commands supposedly given to them by a divine being regardless of consequences.
In Kant's duty ethics it is given-it is possible by reasoning alone to set up a valid absolute moral rules which have the same force as indisputable mathematical truths. such truths must be logically consistent, not self contradictaory. They must be universalizable. According to categorical imperative, an act is immoral if the rule which would authorize it cannot be made in to a rule for all human beings. Although Kant shows that some rules would become inconsistent when universalized, this does not tell us which rules are morally valid.
Absolutism maintains that there are absolute truths and absolute moral truths to which all human beings must adhere if they are to be moral. Relativism maintains that there are no absolute of any kind but that everything, especially morality, is "relative" to specific culture, groups, Or even individuals.
There are two kinds of anthropological "facts". They are cultural relativism and cultural absolutism. Absolute essentially means free from restrictions or without exceptions-unchanging, unrestricted, timeless, complete in itself, and ultimate.
Determinism means universal causation; that is for every effect and event that occurs in reality there is a cause or there are causes. There is no such things as an uncaused effect or an event. Indeterminism holds that there is no causality at all.
The value of life principle propounds a reverence for life and acceptance of death. The principle of goodness is ultimate to any moral system and requires human beings to attempt three things.
1,to promote goodness over badness.
2,to cause no harm or badness.
3,to prevent badness or harm.
Good or right should involve pleasure, happiness, and excellence and also lead to harmony and creativity. The emphasis for what is good or right must be placed on human experience and human relationship.
Evaluation
This book differs from most introductory texts in ethics in two ways. First it avoids, wherever possible, highly theoretical, abstract, and technical discussions, using instead ordinary language and reasoning. Second it proposes possible solutions to the many problems inherent in traditional theories of ethics by setting forth a broad set of basic assumptions and ethical principles by which human beings can live. After examining various traditional ethical theories, such as consequentialism and non consequentialism, and certain problem areas, such as freedom versus determinism, absolutism versus relativism the book moves to the construction of an ethical system, utilizing the best of the existing ethical theories while avoiding their various pitfalls and shortcomings.
Through this book we come across the key terms of morality and the categories. The relationship between morality and religion and laws are also discussed here. Psychological egoism, ethical egoism, Utilitarianism are some of the consequentialist theories. All these theories are explaining the various aspects of morality in various cases. The contradicting aspects are also discussed here as opposites in their views. Those contradicting Isms are-absolutism versus relativism and freedom versus determinism. Always the comparative or contrasting learning can help us to know the thoughts well and easy. The basic principles of morality and individual moral freedom are also the topics of discussion in this book. All good or right action should be followed by happiness.
Conclusion.
Nowhere is freedom more important or significant than in morality. Morality could not exist if human beings were not to some extent free to make moral choices and decisions. The principles given in the book are very much helpful to know more about morality in its practical understanding. This book has also given a critical study on such understandings even by standing on a kind of basic philosophy of ethics. philosophy or ethics can be used and practiced in our everyday lives-outside, as well as inside, the classroom-and philosophy is not just a subject to be taught and learned, but a way of living, knowing, and feeling more meaningfully.
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