What Is an Ethical Argument?

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Ethics is the field of philosophy that studies the standards by which actions can be judged as right or wrong or good or bad. To make such judgments, we either measure actions against some standard (such as a moral rule like “Thou shall not kill”) or consider them in terms of their consequences. Usually, making ethical judgments means examining abstract concepts such as good, right, duty, obligation, virtue, honor, and choice. Applied ethics is the field of philosophy that applies ethics to real-life issues, such as abortion, the death penalty, animal rights, and doctor-assisted suicide.

An ethical argument focuses on whether something should be done because it is good or right (or not done because it is bad or wrong). For example, consider the following questions:

Ethical arguments that try to answer questions like these usually begin with a clear statement that something is right or wrong and then go on to show how a religious, philosophical, or ethical principle supports this position. Consider how the last three questions on the list above can be examined in ethical arguments: