Clinical Ethics 2

Explains not why one event causes another but why an action is right or wrong or why a person or a person's character is good or bad. It tells us what it is about an action that makes it right, or what it is about a person that makes him or her good.

moral theories insist that the rightness of actions depends solely on their consequences or results.

theories that say the rightness of actions is determined not soley by their consequences but partly or entirely by their intrinsic nature

the view that right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved. Ethical principle according to which an action is right if it tends to maximize happiness, not only that of the agent but
also of everyone affected

The idea that the rightness of actions depends solely on the relative good produced by individual actions.

avoids judging rightness by specific acts and focuses instead on rules governing categories of acts. It says a right action is one that conforms to a rule that, if followed consistently, would create for everyone involved the most beneficial balance of good. over bad.

the view that right actions are those that conform to moral standards discerned in nature through human reason

principles that affirms that performing a bad action to bring about a good effect is never morally acceptable but that performing a good action sometimes be acceptable even if it produces a bad effect.  always wrong  to intentionally perform a bad action to produce a good effect but doing a good action that results in a bad effect may be permissible if the bad effect is not intended or foreseen.

refers to moral theories based on the idea of a social contact, or agreement, among individual for mutual advantage.

moral theory that focuses on the development of virtuous character. according to virtue ethics, character is the key to the moral life, for it is from a virtuous character that moral conduct and values arise.

A theory that is opposed to consequentialist theories, holding that morality consists in following a rational and universally applicable moral rule and doing so solely out of a sense of duty. an action is right only if it conforms to such a rule.

Centuries- old view of ethics that maintains that right actions are those conforming to moral standards discerned in nature through human reason.

a form of contractarianism, which means it is based on the idea of a social contract, or agreement, among individuals for mutual advantage.