12th Grade Ethics Topics Discussed as of Oct. 6

Maxim: "Do the Right Thing"

• Norm: a right way of acting; a rule or guideline for right action.
• Moral Code: A set of ethical norms that one has made a commitment to live by.
• Moral Diversity: The fact that different societies and different individuals live by different moral codes.
• Moral Relativism: The belief that the truth of any moral code is relative to a particular society or a particular individual; whatever a particular society believes is right is right for that particular society, or whatever a particular individual believes is right is right for that particular individual. There is no universal, objective, or absolute right or wrong. Therefore, one cannot judge another individual's or another society's moral code as wrong or inferior in reference to any objective standard of morality.
• Moral Objectivism: (Also known as moral realism) the belief that a moral code can be objectively right or wrong the way that 2+2=4 is right and 2+2=5 is wrong. Moral disagreements and moral diversity are the result of differences in understanding the facts. Someone who is morally wrong is mistaken about certain facts. Some people and some societies can have moral codes that are better-- more right--than others.
• Meta-Ethical Theories: Theories about the meaning and nature of ethical norms and codes. They usually try to answer the question what does it mean to say that something is morally right or morally wrong? Moral relativism and moral objectivism are two different meta-ethical theories.
• The Problem of Moral Judgment: On what basis can one person or one society judge another person or another society as morally right or morally wrong? When we apply this problem to our situation here in Ethics Class at Boston Prep, we ask on what basis can an ethics teacher grade a student’s personal code or ethics?