Compassion for Ethics and Social Ethics
Describe the relevance of the concept of compassion for ethics and social ethics.
Introduction:
Explorations of the gap individual and social ethics and attempts to bridge this gap, have resulted in either detailed philosophical abstraction (Mukerjee 1950) or proposals to measure the subjective potential between impartiality and utilitarianism (Mongin, 2001). One phenomenon that occurs in this cleft which may explain individual and social ethical thinking and decision making is that of compassion. This essay will briefly describe ethics and social ethics then explain the relevance of compassion to these concepts. In order to illuminate this description, an example of applied compassion in a social ethics context will be examined.
Ethics and Social Ethics:
Ethics can be understood as an umbrella term covering a number of ways of examining and understanding moral life. More than just a question of what is right or wrong and encompassing moral theories of duty and rights, ethics can be viewed as a branch of philosophy concerned with living a good, worthwhile, satisfying life. Beauchamp & Childress (2001) broadly divide the different approaches to ethics in to normative and nonnormative categories. Normative ethics provides a framework for answering what type of behaviour is individually and socially acceptable in any given situation and why. Whilst ethical theories are considered to inform these decisions there is often a large theory-practice gap when ethical theories are used to inform practical situations. Nonnormative ethics employs the scientific techniques of anthropology, sociology, philosophy and theology to investigate moral conduct and beliefs. It also includes metaethical analysis of the language, concepts and methods of reasoning in ethics. Prescriptive ethical frameworks outline what ought to be the case (normative) whereas the use of ethical theories to examine what is the case (conceptually or in fact) is nonnormative (Beauchamp &
Introduction:
Explorations of the gap individual and social ethics and attempts to bridge this gap, have resulted in either detailed philosophical abstraction (Mukerjee 1950) or proposals to measure the subjective potential between impartiality and utilitarianism (Mongin, 2001). One phenomenon that occurs in this cleft which may explain individual and social ethical thinking and decision making is that of compassion. This essay will briefly describe ethics and social ethics then explain the relevance of compassion to these concepts. In order to illuminate this description, an example of applied compassion in a social ethics context will be examined.
Ethics and Social Ethics:
Ethics can be understood as an umbrella term covering a number of ways of examining and understanding moral life. More than just a question of what is right or wrong and encompassing moral theories of duty and rights, ethics can be viewed as a branch of philosophy concerned with living a good, worthwhile, satisfying life. Beauchamp & Childress (2001) broadly divide the different approaches to ethics in to normative and nonnormative categories. Normative ethics provides a framework for answering what type of behaviour is individually and socially acceptable in any given situation and why. Whilst ethical theories are considered to inform these decisions there is often a large theory-practice gap when ethical theories are used to inform practical situations. Nonnormative ethics employs the scientific techniques of anthropology, sociology, philosophy and theology to investigate moral conduct and beliefs. It also includes metaethical analysis of the language, concepts and methods of reasoning in ethics. Prescriptive ethical frameworks outline what ought to be the case (normative) whereas the use of ethical theories to examine what is the case (conceptually or in fact) is nonnormative (Beauchamp &
References: and Bibliography: Bauman Z (2005) Work, Consumerism and the New Poor 2nd edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press Beauchamp T L & Childress J F (2001) Principles of Biomedical Ethics 5th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press Charlesworth M (1993) Bioethics in a Liberal Society Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Davies O (2001) A Theology of Compassion: Metaphysics of Difference and the Renewal of Tradition Grand Rapids/Cambridge: Eerdmans Davies O (2007) Compassion and Solidarity London: King’s College London Lecture Notes for AKC course Harris J (2001) ed. Bioethics Oxford: Oxford University Press Mongin P (2001) The impartial observer theorem of social ethics Economics and Philosophy 17, 147-179 Mukerjee R (1950) Bridging individual and social ethics Social Forces 28 (3) 262-270