Applied ethics facts for kids

Applied ethics is the branch of ethics that studies the application of ethical theories to specific and controversial moral questions. Some of these issues are studied by subdisciplines.

Subdisciplines

• Bioethics studies issues related to the advancement of biology and medicine, such as organ donation or the use of human embryos in research.
• Professional deontology seeks to justify the moral values that should guide professionals, and it studies the values that in fact guide professionals. It has sub-disciplines such as medical ethics, military ethics, business ethics, computer ethics, and engineering ethics.
• Environmental ethics is concerned with the ethical relationship between human beings and the environment. Perhaps the two fundamental questions of this discipline are: what duties do human beings have towards the environment, and why?
• Military ethics is a set of practices and discourses that serve to guide the armed forces and their members to act in accordance with certain values and norms, and to demonstrate these reference values to the citizenry as a whole.
• Economic ethics is concerned with the ethical relations that should guide economic relations between human beings and the effect that such norms would have on the economy of our societies.
• Organizational ethics is an ethics applied to a particular circumstance - the organization - with its specific aspects. It is a scientific discipline that "investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within organizations, with the aim of applying this knowledge to improve the effectiveness of such organizations."
• Business ethics includes questions regarding the duties or duty of 'whistleblowers' to the general public or their loyalty to their employers.

Other issues studied by applied ethics include the death penalty, nuclear war, racism, etc.

What is an ethical conflict?

An ethical conflict is said to arise when one of the parties, involved in pursuing its objectives, engages in behavior that affects the way in which one or more of the other parties can meet their own objectives. When this effect is positive, the action can be said to be exemplary; however, when the effect is negative and affects in some way the ability of the other party to achieve its goals, the action is qualified as "unethical". Ethical conflict generally arises when the actions of one party negatively affect another.

Benefits of ethical behavior

Ethical behavior should be rewarded for its own sake. Yet there are tangible benefits to it as well. Business is built on relationships with suppliers, customers, employees and other groups. The strength of those relationships largely depends on the amount of trust the parties have in each other. Unethical behavior undermines trust and destroys relationships.

The issues surrounding ethics are often ambiguous. There are situations in which some might consider a person's behavior inappropriate and unethical, while others would consider it totally acceptable.

See also

In Spanish: Ética aplicada para niños