Morality and Sociological views of philosophy

Essay by shortbussracerUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, January 2005

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Mr. Ralph Kam

PHL/215 - Methods and Applications

July 21, 2003

Morality and Sociological views of philosophy

Moral and social philosophy, also known as the field of ethics, involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today frequently divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, which investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. Normative ethics, which takes on a more practical task of arriving at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. Normative ethics involve articulating the good behaviors that we should acquire, the duties or rules that we should follow, or the consequences of our conduct on others. Finally, there is applied ethics. Applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights, environmental concerns, homosexuality, capital punishment, and nuclear war. (Ethics, par 1). This locale of philosophy discusses the ethics of humans. Whether we are right or wrong, who is to say? Our God? The values distilled by our parental figures and mentors? Subjectivism, egoism, virtue ethics, ethical relativism, utililitarianism, and categorical imperative are the philosophical categories used to outline the meaning of our moral and social posture in life.

Subjectivism is the idea that we cannot know everything, or even know anything for sure. The reason is everyone's mind is different and everyone experiences events differently. This presents issues from biological, personal, philosophical points of view. There is a possibility that everything you see is your own imagination, and that you are the

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only living being in all existence. All other people, their actions and behaviors could all be created by the subconscious. Reality is all in the mind of the beholder, and there is no way to even try and objectify experiences. A person can also hold that it is...