Outline of ethics

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ethics.
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concern matters of value, and thus comprise the branch of philosophy called axiology.

Branches

The following examples of questions that might be considered in each field illustrate the differences between the fields:

Descriptive ethics: What do people think is right?
Normative ethics : How should people act?
Applied ethics: How do we take moral knowledge and put it into practice?
Metaethics: What does "right" even mean?

Applied ethics

Applied ethics – using philosophical methods, attempts to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life.

Economics and business
* Business ethics – concerns questions such as the limits on managers in the pursuit of profit, or the duty of 'whistleblowers' to the general public as opposed to their employers.
* Development ethics
* Ethics in management
* Ethics in pharmaceutical sales
* Lifeboat ethics
Bioethics – concerned with identifying the correct approach to matters such as euthanasia, or the allocation of scarce health resources, or the use of human embryos in research.
* Ethics of cloning
* Veterinary ethics
* Neuroethics – ethics in neuroscience, but also the neuroscience of ethics
* Utilitarian bioethics
Organizational ethics – ethics among organizations.
Professional ethics
* Accounting ethics – study of moral values and judgments as they apply to accountancy.
* Archaeological ethics
* Computer ethics – deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct.
** Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
* Engineering ethics
* Journalism ethics and standards
* Research ethics
** Internet research ethics
* Legal ethics
* Marketing ethics
* Media ethics
* Medical ethics
** Evidence-based medical ethics
** Military medical ethics
* Nursing ethics
Ethics of technology
* Technoethics – the ethics of technology in society
* Ethics of terraforming
* Cyberethics
* Ethics of artificial intelligence
** Machine ethics – the moral behavior of artificial moral agents
** Roboethics – the moral behavior of humans as they design, construct, use and treat artificially intelligent beings
* Internet ethics
* Information ethics
Social ethics – ethics among nations and as one global unit.
* Population ethics
* Sexual ethics
Bridge ethics – codes of ethics applied during play of the card game known as contract bridge.
Environmental ethics – concerned with issues such as the duties of humans towards landscapes and species.
* Animal rights – the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings.
* Climate ethics – concerned with the ethical dimensions of climate change, and concepts such as climate justice.
* Environmental virtue ethics
* Trail ethics
Ethics of eating meat
Public sector ethics
* Government ethics
* Ethics in public administration
* International ethics – in international relations
* Regulatory ethics

Metaethics

Metaethics or moral epistemology – concerns the nature of moral statements, that is, it studies what ethical terms and theories actually refer to.
Moral syncretism – the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory moral beliefs, often while melding the ethical

practices of various schools of thought.

Moral relativism and relativism
Fallibilism – the philosophical principle that human beings could be wrong about their beliefs, expectations, or their understanding of the world
Moral skepticism – a class of metaethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge
Particularism
Rationalism
Conventionalism
Axiology
Formal ethics
Rationality
Discourse ethics – discovering ethical values through argument
Ethics of justice
Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development
Evolutionary ethics
Neuroethics – ethics in neuroscience, but also the neuroscience of ethics
Situated ethics – a view of applied ethics in which abstract standards from a culture or theory are considered to be far less important than the ongoing processes in which one is personally and physically involved
Philosophical realism
Naturalism

Cognitivism

Moral realism
* Ethical naturalism
* Ethical non-naturalism
Moral anti-realism
* Ethical subjectivism
* Moral nihilism – the metaethical view that nothing is intrinsically moral or immoral

Non-cognitivism

Normative ethics

Normative ethics – concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong.

Consequentialism – moral theories that hold that the consequences of one's conduct are the true basis for any judgement about the morality of that conduct. Thus, a morally right act is one that will produce a good outcome.
* Utilitarianism
* Negative utilitarianism
* Ethical hedonism
* Ethical altruism – an ethical doctrine that holds that individuals have a moral obligation to help, serve, or benefit others, if necessary at the sacrifice of self-interest
* Ethical egoism – the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest
Deontological ethics – approach that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules.
* Moral absolutism – view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless of their circumstances such as their consequences or the intentions behind them. Thus stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done to promote some other good, and even if it does in the end promote such a good.
* Graded absolutism
* Kantian ethics
Pragmatic ethics
Virtue ethics – describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior.
* Aristotelian ethics – the beginning of ethics as a subject, in the form of a systematic study of how individuals should best live. Aristotle believed one's goal should be living well and "eudaimonia", a Greek word often translated as "well-being" or "happiness". This could be achieved by the acquisition of a virtuous character, or in other words having well-chosen excellent habits.
** Nicomachean Ethics – most popular ethics treatise by Aristotle
** Eudemian Ethics
** Magna Moralia
Eudaimonism – system of ethics that measures happiness in relation to morality.
Ethics of care – a normative ethical theory
Living Ethics
Religious ethics
* Divine command theory – claims that ethical sentences express the attitudes of God. Thus, the sentence "charity is good" means "God commands charity".
* Ethics in the Bible
* Ayyavazhi ethics
* Buddhist ethics
** Buddhist ethics (discipline)
* Christian ethics
** Situational ethics, a Christian ethical theory
* Islamic ethics
** Islamic bioethics
* Jain ethics
* Jewish ethics
** Jewish business ethics
** Jewish medical ethics
* Religious values
* Playing God (ethics)
* Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics
* Ethics and religious culture – a course taught in all elementary and high schools in Quebec
* Religious views on business ethics
* Scientology ethics and justice
* Ethics of circumcision
Secular ethics
Biocentrism – an ethical point of view which extends inherent value to non-human species, ecosystems, and processes in nature
Rights ethics
Feminist ethics

Descriptive ethics

Related areas

History

Concepts

Single principles

Rights and legal concepts

Guidelines and basic concepts

Human experience

Practical ethics

Law

Government agencies

Awards

Organizations

Persons influential in the field of ethics

Events

Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA
Ethics Bowl
Foucault–Habermas debate concerning power within society

Publications

Ethics in America – television series, 1988–89

Lindner Ethics Complaint of the 83rd Minnesota Legislative Session

Books

Nicomachean Ethics – most popular ethics treatise by AristotleEudemian EthicsMagna MoraliaEncyclopaedia of Religion and EthicsEncyclopedia of EthicsEthics, Institutions, and the Right to PhilosophyEthics Life sciences, ethics and democracyHow to Observe Morals and MannersThe Ethics of AmbiguityThe Ethics of LibertyThe Methods of EthicsPrincipia EthicaThe Right and the GoodRationality and Power: Democracy in Practice

''Practical Ethics''

Journals

American Journal of BioethicsBioethicsBusiness Ethics QuarterlyBusiness and Professional Ethics JournalCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare EthicsEnvironmental EthicsEthics & International AffairsEthics Ethics and LanguageExperiments in EthicsIRB: Ethics & Human ResearchJournal of Business EthicsJournal of Business Ethics EducationJournal of Empirical Research on Human Research EthicsJournal of Ethics & Social PhilosophyJournal of Information EthicsJournal of Medical EthicsLegal Trends in BioethicsNarrative Inquiry in BioethicsNeuroethicsNotre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public PolicyProfessional EthicsReligion & Ethics NewsweeklyTeaching EthicsThe Economics and Ethics of Private PropertyThe Freedom Paradox: Towards a Post-Secular Ethics

''The Journal of Ethics''