Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical ethics concerned with classifying actions as right and wrong.
Normative ethics attempts to develop a set of rules governing human conduct, or a set of norms for action. It deals with what people should believe to be right and wrong, as distinct from descriptive ethics, which deals with what people do believe to be right and wrong. Hence, normative ethics is sometimes said to be prescriptive, rather than descriptive.
Moreover, because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics, which studies the nature of moral statements, and from applied ethics, which places normative rules in practical contexts.
Normative ethical theories
- Consequentialism (Teleology) argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action's outcome or result. Some consequentialist theories include:
- Utilitarianism, which holds that an action is right if it leads to the most value for the greatest number of people (Maximizes value for all people).
- Egoism, the belief that the moral person is the self-interested person, holds that an action is right if it maximizes good for the self.
- Deontology argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one's duties and other's rights. Some deontological theories include:
See also
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