**Morality** (Lat. moralis = related to customs, from mos = a custom) is a social phenomenon, viz. a system of principles, values and judgments concerning individual-individual relationships and individual-group relationships, developed by a community to control those relationships

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**Ethics** (Gr. ethos = a custom) is a philosophical discipline oriented on development of theories of morality. Most important classifications of ethics are the following:
- descriptive ethics (description and explanation of moral phenomena in terms of philosophy)
- normative ethics (philosophical analysis of moral norms and judgments)
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- general ethics (developed without indication of any specific field of application)
- applied ethics (developed with indication of a specific field of application)
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- individual ethics (ethics of a single person)
- social ethics (ethics of a group of persons)

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**Meta-ethics** (Gr. meta = after, beyond) is a methodology of ethics (logical analysis of the language of ethics, the status of truth in ethics, methods of substantiation and justification of ethical norms and judgments). The following are examples of meta-ethical questions:
- What does it mean to say something is "good"?
- How, if at all, do we know what is right and wrong?
- How do moral attitudes motivate action?
- Are there any objective (or absolute) values?
- What is the source of our moral principles and values?

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The fundamental classification of ethical approaches, based on the criterion used for moral evaluation of actions:
- **Virtue ethics** is emphasizing the virtues or the moral character of a person; it is focusing on what makes a good person rather than on what makes a good action.
- **Deontological ethics** (Gr: deon = obligation or duty) is holding that decisions should be made solely or primarily by considering one's duties and the rights of others.
- **Consequentialism** is holding that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action; a morally right action is an action which implies good consequences.

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**Dilemma** = a problem whose solution must breach one of the important values (or principles of conduct) because of the conflict of values (or principles of conduct).

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**Ethical (moral) dilemma** = a dilemma referring to the values (principles) if at least one of them is of ethical (moral) nature. Examples:
- trolley dilemmas
- transplantation dilemma
- terrorist-on-board dilemma.

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The ethical **intellectualism** of Socrates
- Ethical knowledge is potentially present in every person, but not everybody is able to realise it; so, the teacher's duty is to help pupils in the process of realising it.
- Neither profit nor happiness is the purpose of human life, but virtue (which is bringing both).
- Knowledge is a sufficient condition of virtue.

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The **eudemonism** (eudaemonism) of Plato
- The highest human purpose is the state of eudemonia, i.e. of wellbeing (or flourishing), resulting from the contact with the idea of absolute good and beauty.
- The soul has three motivating parts: a rational part, an emotional part, and an appetitive part.
- Virtues related to those parts (wisdom, courage and temperance, respectively), coordinated by a super-virtue (justice), provide the equilibrium: the rational part is governing the emotional and appetitive part, thereby correctly leading all desires and actions towards eudemonia.

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The **eudemonism** (eudaemonism) of Aristotle
- Eudemonia is the highest purpose of a human being.
- Three ways are leading to eudemonia: contemplative life, practical (active) life, and responsible love (family links, man-woman love, friendship, worship of a deity).

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The **stoicism** (the moralism of Stoics):
- Passions and desires are main causes of suffering; one may get rid of suffering only by meditation and virtue since good is rooted in the state of the soul – in wisdom and self-control.
- One may avoid emotional troubles by developing clear judgment and inner calm through diligent practice of logic, reflection, and concentration.
- One should live according to reason and virtue; where reason means not only logic, but also understanding the processes of nature.
- Unhappiness and evil are the results of ignorance; freedom follows understanding of necessity.
- An action is good if good is the intention behind it.

Marcus Aurelius

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The **Christian** ethics
- Moral guidelines are based on Mosaic Decalogue subordinated to the commandment of love.
- The attitude of unconditional love with respect to God is the first moral duty of a human being.
- Since a human being, as a creature following the image of God, is dotted with a particular dignity, the second duty is to love one's neighbour.
- To love one's neighbour does not mean to love abstract humankind, but specific persons (as much as oneself).

Jesus of Nazareth

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The **Christian theological virtues**:
- faith = a virtue by which one's intellect is perfected by a supernatural light and assents firmly to the supernatural truths of Revelation, not because of intrinsic evidence, but on the sole ground of the infallible authority of God;
- hope = a virtue by which one trusts, with an unshaken confidence grounded on the God's assistance, to attain life everlasting;
- charity (love) = a virtue by which God is loved by reason of His own intrinsic goodness, and one's neighbour is loved on account of God.

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The **Christian cardinal virtues**:
- justice = a virtue which disposes one to respect the rights of others, to give each man his due;
- temperance = a virtue which moderates, in accordance with reason, one's desires and pleasures of the sensuous appetite;
- fortitude (courage) = a virtue by which one sustains dangers and difficulties (even death) and is able to pursue a good which reason dictates (despite those dangers and difficulties);
- prudence (wisdom) = a virtue which directs one in the choice of means most apt, under existing circumstances, for the attainment of a due end

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The **moral sentimentalism of Hume**
- Most frequently, we morally approve an act because it is increasing public utility.
- We are motivated not only by self-interest but also by our sympathy for others (understood by Hume as a principle for the communication and sharing of sentiments, what is today called empathy).
- Prescriptive (ethical) statements (what ought to be) cannot be derived from descriptive (factual) statements (what is) without paying attention to human sentiments.

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The **formal ethics of Kan**
- A human act (even very positive) cannot be considered moral if it is motivated by:
- fear of condemnation or punishment (either inflicted by God or a society);
- desire of pleasure (hedonism), personal or social wellbeing (utilitarianism);
- mercy or compassion.
- It can be considered moral if, and only if, it is motivated by free disinterested will; freedom = independence of material world and submission to moral law.
- A categorical imperative is an unconditional obligation (i.e. in force regardless of our will or desires) which is generating all other moral obligations and may be used for testing them.
- "Always act according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will".
- "Act with reference to every rational being (whether yourself or another) so that it is an end in itself, never a means".

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The **categorical imperative** vs. the **golden rule** of conduct
`Treat others as you want them to treat you.`

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**Utilitarianism**
The utilitarian ethics (utilitarianism) states that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility (pleasure or happiness).

The nature of any moral value is only instrumental: a human act is good or evil as a means for reaching a goal.

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The phenomenological **ethics of value**
- Values are objective, i.e. independent of a subject and, therefore, preceding its perception.
- Values and their corresponding disvalues exist in an objective ordering of ranks:
- values of the holy vs. disvalues of the unholy,
- values of the mind (truth, beauty, justice) vs. disvalues of their opposites,
- values of vitality and of the noble vs. disvalues of the ignoble,
- values of pleasure vs. disvalues of displeasure,
- values of utility vs. disvalues of the useless.
- A "disorder of the heart" occurs whenever a person prefers a value of a lower rank to a higher rank, or a disvalue to a value

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The **ethics of justice**:
- The original position = a group of persons is designing the future organisation of a society:
- they are lacing knowledge about their future gender, race, age, intelligence, wealth, skills, education (veil of ignorance)
- they have, however, a sense of justice and the capacity to design a good life plan.
- Principles of justice derived from the original position:
- the principle of liberty = equal basic liberties for all citizens (freedoms of conscience, association, and expression, democratic rights, personal property right);
- the principle of fair equality of opportunities = persons with comparable talents and motivation have similar life chances; social inequalities work to the benefit of the least advantaged.

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- The relationship of ethics to other philosophical disciplines:
- epistemology, logic, philosophical anthropology, axiology, philosophy of religion, jurisprudence
- The relationship of ethics to law, religion and customs:
- law = a system of regulations governing the conduct of a society, introduced and executed (by force, if necessary) by the State authorities;
- religion = a system of beliefs and practices, shared by a number of persons, that generally involves faith in spirituality, as well as knowledge and wisdom related to understanding of human life;
- customs = forms of conduct considered to be acceptable by a community, very slowly evolving from one generation to another, and justified by this tradition.
- The relationship of ethics to psychology, sociology and other social sciences:
- moral psychology,
- sociology of morality,
- history of morality,
- ethnology of morality.