Applied Ethics

Applied ethics is the practical aspect of moral considerations. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral considerations in private and public life, the professions, health, technology, law, and leadership1. Here are the key concepts related to applied ethics:

Definition: Applied ethics is the application of philosophical theories of morality to practical problems213.

Historical Context: Applied ethics has expanded the study of ethics beyond the realms of academic philosophical discourse1. The field of applied ethics, as it appears today, emerged from debate surrounding rapid medical and technological advances in the early 1970s and is now established as a subdiscipline of moral philosophy1.

• Examples: For example, bioethics is concerned with identifying the best approach to moral issues in the life sciences, such as euthanasia, the allocation of scarce health resources, or the use of human embryos in research1. Environmental ethics is concerned with ecological issues such as the responsibility of government and corporations to clean up pollution1. Business ethics includes the duties of whistleblowers to the public and to their employers1.
• Underpinning Theory: Applied ethics is distinguished from normative ethics, which concerns standards for right and wrong behavior, and from meta-ethics, which concerns the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments1. The use of an applied ethics approach often draws upon these normative ethical theories1.

In summary, applied ethics is the practical aspect of moral considerations. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral considerations in private and public life, the professions, health, technology, law, and leadership213.