Applied ethics is a field of ethics that deals with ethical
questions specific to a professional, disciplinary, or practical field.
Subsets of applied ethics include medical ethics, bioethics, business
ethics, legal ethics, and others.
Many analytic philosophers did not focus on normative or practical
ethical questions during the early part of the twentieth century.
However, throughout the century various issues such as pollution, human
rights abuses, abortion, human cloning, poverty, and others raised
pressing ethical questions and applied ethics became an increasingly
important field of philosophy.
Because of the complexity of each ethical issue, a philosopher often has
to also consider fundamental questions of metaphysics, epistemology,
and theories of human nature; in addition, philosophers must collaborate
with scholars from other fields.
There are generally two approaches taken in applied ethics. The first is
to apply ethical principles such as utilitarianism and deontological
ethics to each issue or question; the second is to generate a
situation-based discourse that uses multiple ethical theories.
Challenges
Ethics and other philosophical fields
Ethical questions in practical fields often lead to questions beyond
ethics. For example, euthanasia, an issue in medical ethics, leads to
questions regarding life, death, aging, happiness, suffering, and human
existence. In the history of philosophy, however, philosophers have
tried to establish ethical theories independent of other philosophical
fields, particularly metaphysics.
To avoid stepping into unsettled disputes on fundamental philosophical
questions outside of ethics, philosophers often attempt to find
practical, agreeable, solutions. Some philosophers who take a case-based
reasoning approach called casuistry set aside even ethical theories
altogether in order to find a mutually agreeable, plausible, and
practical solution.
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Applied ethics requires knowledge of specific fields and, oftentimes,
multiple fields. For example, in order to address the ethical questions
concerning global warming, a central issue in environmental ethics,
philosophers often have to consider social, economic, and political
implications. Furthermore, applied ethics often require not only a
theoretical analysis but also practical, feasible solutions. For this
reason, a team of professionals from different disciplinary fields often
collaborate as a team.
Approaches
There are basically two approaches in applied ethics: one is to approach
ethical issues by applying the principles of ethical theories, and the
other is to develop situation based discourses without presupposing the
validity of any ethical theory.
Application of the principles of ethical theories
The first approach is to find ways to apply the principles of ethical
theories. Philosophers attempt to revise classic formulations of ethical
principles in order to apply them to current ethical questions. Two
major ethical theories that are used today are utilitarianism and
deontological ethics; other ethical theories include virtue ethics, such
as Aristotelianism, Confucianism, and religion based ethical theories.
This approach, however, has its own difficulty. Each ethical theory is
established upon distinct principles and has a certain plausibility, yet
no one theory can comprehensively cover all aspects of a problem; at
the same time, combining different theories requires a tremendous mind
and is nearly impossible.
Situation based approach
One modern approach which attempts to overcome the seemingly impossible
divide between deontology and utilitarianism is case-based reasoning,
also known as casuistry. Casuistry does not begin with theory, rather it
starts with the immediate facts of a real and concrete case. While
casuistry makes use of ethical theory, it does not view ethical theory
as the most important feature of moral reasoning. Casuists, like Albert
Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin (The Abuse of Casuistry, 1988),
challenge the principle based paradigm of ethics. Instead of starting
from theory and applying theory to a particular case, casuists start
with the particular case itself and then ask what morally significant
features (including both theory and practical considerations) ought to
be considered for that particular case. In their observations of medical
ethics committees, for example, Jonsen and Toulmin note that a
consensus on particularly problematic moral cases often emerges when
participants focus on the facts of the case, rather than on ideology or
theory. Thus, a Rabbi, a Catholic priest, and an agnostic might agree
that, in this particular case, the best approach is to withhold
extraordinary medical care, while disagreeing on the reasons that
support their individual positions. By focusing on cases and not on
theory, those engaged in moral debate increase the possibility of
agreement.
Major subfields
Applied ethics can be found in almost all kinds of professional fields
or social practices. While medical ethics, environmental ethics,
business ethics, and legal ethics are major subfields, applied ethics is
found in human rights, war, media, communication, sports, academic
research, publication, and other areas.
Business ethics
Business ethics examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment or economic activities.
In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the twenty-first
century, the demand for more ethical business processes and actions
(known as ethicism) is increasing. Simultaneously, pressure is applied
on industry to improve business ethics through new public initiatives
and laws (e.g. higher UK road tax for higher-emission vehicles).
Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As
a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is
primarily normative. In academia, descriptive approaches are also taken.
The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree
to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social
values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated
dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations
and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites
lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under
a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility
charters). In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values
in the light of business ethical considerations (e.g. BP's "beyond
petroleum" environmental tilt).
Business ethics also discusses ethical question in marketing,
accounting, labor including child labor and abusive labor practices,
human resource management, political contributions, business
acquisitions such as hostile take-overs, production, use of toxic
material, intellectual property, information management including
information leak, and others.
Legal ethics
Legal ethics refers to an ethical code governing the conduct of people
engaged in the practice of law. In the United States, for example, the
American Bar Association has promulgated model rules that have been
influential in many jurisdictions. The model rules address the client-lawyer relationship, duties of a lawyer as advocate in adversary proceedings, dealings with persons other than clients, law firms and associations, public service, advertising, and maintaining the integrity of the profession.
Respect of client confidences, candor toward the tribunal, truthfulness
in statements to others, and professional independence are some of the
defining features of legal ethics.
American law schools are required to offer a course in professional
responsibility, which encompasses both legal ethics and matters of
professionalism that do not present ethical concerns.
Environmental ethics
Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which
considers the ethical relationship between human beings and the natural
environment. It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines
including law, sociology, theology, economics, ecology and geography.
Some of the main topics are global warming, pollution, and issues are
closely tied to those of poverty, sustainability, and economic and
social justice. Furthermore, since environmental problems often affect
beyond the boundaries of nation-states, the issues are tied to the
fields of international relations and global governance.
Medical ethics and Bioethics
Medical ethics deals with study of moral values and judgments as they
apply to medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses
its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its
history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. Medical ethics shares many
principles with other branches of healthcare ethics, such as nursing
ethics.
Medical ethics tends to be understood narrowly as an applied
professional ethics, whereas bioethics appears to have worked more
expansive concerns, touching upon the philosophy of science and the
critique of biotechnology and life science. Still, the two fields often
overlap and the distinction is more a matter of style than professional
consensus. Some topics include abortion, cloning, euthanasia, eugenics,
and others.