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Applied ethics. Applied ethics - bachelor's degree (47.03.02) The concept of applied ethics

Applied ethics - This is a set of principles, norms and rules that perform the practical function of teaching people certain behavior in certain areas of their life and in specific situations.

Ethics during the 20th century. evolved from a purely theoretical, methodological analysis to the solution of immediate human-related problems. Applied ethics was founded in the last decades of the 20th century. in Western Europe and the USA. The question of the scientific status of this discipline is debatable. There is an opinion that the purpose of applied ethics is the formation of auxiliary methods for solving practical problems. This interpretation is narrow, because, firstly, it equates this discipline with other applied disciplines - applied linguistics, applied mathematics, applied physics; secondly, it turns it into an addition to individual sciences. It is more correct to interpret applied ethics as a special variety that produces a new approach to the problems of ethics and puts forward new tasks for it. In this case, it acts as the newest stage in the development of ethics and marks the transition from purely theoretical knowledge to practical knowledge.

The emergence of applied ethics is due to several reasons. Among them we note the following:

  • society's awareness of the value of human life and the associated humanization of ethics, i.e. her departure from social and political issues, unnecessary moralizing and addressing issues that are important to every person;
  • the growth of human power due to the rapid development of science and addressing questions about the harmfulness of humanity’s consumer attitude towards nature;
  • discussion of the feasibility of interfering with the human genome;
  • the immorality of the stratification of the countries of the world into the rich and the blatantly poor.

Steady growth of knowledge and development of technology in the 20th century. caused peculiar shifts in human consciousness. Everything that turned shaky abstract concepts into reliable moral principles, everything that created a certain system of coordinates, everything that developed over the centuries and, while changing, did not lose its essence, began to change. The consequence was a change in ideological guidelines, value systems and normative systems. Over the course of centuries, philosophy has developed a wide range of theories aimed at educating a moral person, creating coordinated interpersonal relationships, and forming a moral society. Progress in science and technology has significantly changed and continues to change the way of life and the environment of human existence. Man was faced with a new problem: how to survive in rapidly changing living conditions. There is a need to rethink classical ethical concepts and form new ones that will make it possible to objectively assess the consequences of scientific and technological progress for humans and develop new moral principles. Modern ethics addresses problems previously unfamiliar to it. From theoretical science it turns into applied

This is how certain types of applied ethics arose: bioethics, environmental ethics, economic ethics, ethics of science, political ethics, and over time, applied ethics in general. Applied ethics is related to theoretical and normative ethics. Theoretical is the methodological basis of applied ethics, and normative is the basis for justifying its value imperatives. Compared to theoretical applied ethics, the goal is not a detailed description and explanation of the nature of individual moral phenomena, but the study of their manifestations in moral situations that are significant for all of humanity; Compared to the normative one, it specifies moral requirements and sets stricter boundaries for their implementation (Fig. 13.1).

Rice. 13.1.

Applied ethics is related to professional ethics, but is not identical to it. The differences between applied and professional ethics are that: professional ethics specifies the main moral qualities in relation to the relevant profession. Applied ethics has its own subject specific moral situations, today it is one of the most active points of growth of ethical knowledge and accumulation of relevant experience (Fig. 13.2).


Rice. 13.2.

Among the most pressing problems of applied ethics are the problems of the death penalty, selfishness, euthanasia, cloning, market competition, arms sales, terrorism, air emissions, cruelty to animals, etc.

About the specialty:

Description of the specialty applied ethics, which universities teach applied ethics, what exams, what subjects in the specialty applied ethics.

The curriculum consists of a foreign language, history and morality, history of philosophy and ethics, concepts of modern natural science, logic, foundations of applied ethics, sociology of morality and philosophy. Students are trained to collect, analyze, classify and systematize scientific information, using methods, methods and techniques for understanding the basic patterns of the emergence, development and existence of moral phenomena (moral relations, norms and values), create programs for the introduction of moral norms and values, organize the formation processes moral space in communities and organizations of varying degrees of complexity.

Employment in applied ethics

These specialists can find a place in almost any large company. If you don’t manage to get a position as a conflict resolution specialist, then the graduate can get a job as a personnel manager or an industrial psychologist. At the workplace, the specialist will have to conduct stress resistance training and monitor the atmosphere in the work team.

Salary for a major in applied ethics

There are not many such vacancies in Russian companies. Therefore, you should think about a master's degree. Having received your education, you should look for a place in a foreign company. Another employment option is mixed positions, where you can gain the necessary skills for employment in large companies.

Lecture type: information lecture

Competencies:

OK-3- the ability to take an active life position;

OK-5- possess a culture of thinking, the ability to perceive, generalize and analyze information, set a goal and choose ways to achieve it;

OK-12– awareness of the social significance of one’s future profession;

OK-13- ability to analyze socially significant problems and processes;

PK-25– familiarity with the basics of intercultural relations in management, the ability to effectively perform one’s functions in management.

Educational technologies: Technologies in the form of dialogue (Discussion in the form of debates).

Target:

Formation of a common culture and the foundations of professional ethics.

Tasks:

    Studying the basic concepts of professional ethics

    Developing ethical skills in scientific research.

    Education and formation of professional ethical values.

Basic concepts:applied ethics, professional ethics, service ethics, business ethics, ethics of science

Plan:

    The concept of applied ethics.

    Entrepreneurial ethics

    Ethics of science.

1. The concept of applied ethics.

The essence of applied ethics lies in the concretization of universal human moral norms and principles in relation to given situations, for certain groups of people, taking into account the specifics of their life activities. The specificity of applied ethics is associated with its fundamental orientation towards practical problems of the specific moral existence of people. Applied ethics turns its attention to those specific changes that occur to it in various spheres of social life. These are areas where general moral values ​​and norms come into contact with other values ​​and norms associated with a certain profession, type of activity, or social status. Applied ethics is interested in the special and special content of morality.

Modern applied ethics is increasingly acquiring the features of interdisciplinary knowledge, since, along with the heuristic potential of “practical philosophy”, other types of knowledge (medicine, biology, law, etc.) are in demand and necessary. This is due not only to the fact that many varieties of applied ethics exist at the intersection of certain forms of professional activity, but also to the fact that the discussion of most problems of applied ethics requires the mandatory use of sociological, legal and other data.

Applied ethics is a sphere of diverse, intensively changing knowledge, the structure of which is just beginning to take shape. Specific types of applied ethics are usually considered as the reference points of this structure: environmental ethics, political ethics, biomedical ethics, ethics of science, etc. However, the scope of applied ethics is wider than the totality of problem fields of its specific varieties, since its most significant problems go beyond such a totality.

Many problems of modern applied ethics can be fairly conventionally divided into open And traditional. Selecting a separate group open problems emphasizes the extremely acute nature of their discussion, which most often comes down to a tough confrontation between alternative positions (for example, the problem of the death penalty and euthanasia).

Also, the problems of this group are united by their modernity and relevance, despite the fact that the origins of these problems may be very “ancient”. Awareness of the reality of the environmental threat determines the development of environmental ethics; scientific achievements provoke a search for mechanisms of “ethical control over science”; the development of medicine emphasizes new aspects of suicide, etc. It should be especially emphasized that the modern status of open problems is supported by an understanding of not only their current, but also future relevance, which will only increase in the future.

In addition, all open problems go beyond the boundaries of ethical knowledge itself, moving to the rank of socially significant issues that require political emphasis and legal reinforcement.

It should be noted here that modern applied ethics, the development of which is aimed at an interdisciplinary status, uses other types of knowledge for its purposes, however, the tendency to create a theoretical basis should most likely be based primarily on “practical philosophy”, the main meaning of which is associated with the stabilization of human community and affirmation of human self-worth.

Problems of the second group ( traditional) capture those areas of ethical knowledge that traditionally belonged to its applied sphere: professional ethics, etiquette, etc. The identification of such a group does not mean that they are opposed to theoretical ethics. It’s just that the specificity of studying such problems in the field of applied ethics is due to the fact that their theoretical background is used as a means to move to a more specific, normative level.

The origin of professional ethics. To find out the origin of professional ethics is to trace the relationship of moral requirements with the division of social labor and the emergence of the profession. Aristotle, then Comte, and Durkheim paid attention to these questions many years ago. They talked about the relationship between the division of social labor and the moral principles of society. For the first time, K. Marx and F. Engels gave a materialist basis for these problems.

The emergence of the first professional and ethical codes dates back to the period of the craft division of labor in the conditions of the formation of medieval guilds in the 11th-12th centuries. It was then that for the first time they noted the presence in shop regulations of a number of moral requirements in relation to the profession, the nature of work, and partners in labor.

However, a number of professions that are of vital importance for all members of society arose in ancient times, and therefore, such professional and ethical codes as the “Hippocratic Oath” and the moral principles of the priests who performed judicial functions are known much earlier.

The emergence of professional ethics preceded the creation of scientific ethical teachings and theories about it. Everyday experience and the need to regulate relationships between people in a particular profession led to the awareness and formulation of certain requirements of professional ethics. Professional ethics, having emerged as a manifestation of everyday moral consciousness, then developed on the basis of the generalized practice of behavior of representatives of each professional group. These generalizations were contained in both written and unwritten codes of conduct, and in the form of theoretical conclusions. Thus, this indicates a transition from ordinary consciousness to theoretical consciousness in the field of professional morality. Public opinion plays a major role in the formation and assimilation of professional ethics standards. Norms of professional morality do not immediately become generally accepted; this may be due to a struggle of opinions. The relationship between professional ethics and social consciousness also exists in the form of tradition. Different types of professional ethics have their own traditions, which indicates the existence of continuity of basic ethical standards developed by representatives of a particular profession over the centuries.

Professionalism as a moral personality trait. Professional ethics is a set of moral standards that determine a person’s attitude towards his professional duty. The moral relations of people in the labor sphere are regulated by professional ethics. Society can function normally and develop only as a result of the continuous process of production of material and valuables.

ways to justify these codes.

Professional ethics studies:

Relations between work collectives and each specialist individually;

Moral qualities of a specialist’s personality that ensure the best performance of professional duty;

Relationships within professional teams, and those specific moral norms characteristic of a given profession;

Features of professional education.

Professionalism and attitude to work are important characteristics of a person’s moral character. They are of paramount importance in the personal characteristics of an individual, but at different stages of historical development their content and assessment varied significantly. In a class society, they were determined by the social inequality of types of labor, the opposition of mental and physical labor, and the presence of privileged and unprivileged professions. The class nature of morality in the world of work is evidenced by writings written in the first third of the 2nd century BC. Christian biblical book “The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach”, in which there is a teaching on how to treat a slave: “feed, stick and burden are for the donkey; bread, punishment and work are for the slave. Keep the slave busy with work and you will have peace loosen his hands - and he will seek freedom." In Ancient Greece, physical labor was at the lowest level in terms of value and significance. And in feudal society, religion viewed labor as a punishment for original sin, and paradise was imagined as eternal life without labor. Under capitalism, the alienation of workers from the means of production and the results of labor gave rise to two types of morality: predatory-predatory capitalist and collectivist-liberation of the working class, which extended to the sphere of labor. F. Engels writes about this: “...every class and even profession has its own morality.”

The situations in which people find themselves in the process of performing their professional tasks have a strong influence on the formation of professional ethics. In the process of labor, certain moral relationships develop between people. They contain a number of elements inherent in all types of professional ethics.

Firstly, this is the attitude towards social labor, towards participants in the labor process.

Secondly, these are the moral relations that arise in the area of ​​direct contact between the interests of professional groups with each other and society.

Professional ethics is not a consequence of inequality in the degree of morality of different professional groups. It’s just that society has increased moral requirements for certain types of professional activities. Basically, these are professional areas in which the labor process itself requires coordination of the actions of all its participants.

Particular attention is paid to the moral qualities of workers in that sphere that are associated with the right to manage people’s lives; here we are talking not only about the level of morality, but also, first of all, about the proper performance of their professional duties (these are professions from the service sector, transport, management, healthcare, education). The labor activity of people in these professions, more than any other, does not lend itself to preliminary regulation and does not fit within the framework of official instructions. It is inherently creative. The peculiarities of the work of these professional groups complicate moral relations and a new element is added to them: interaction with people - the objects of activity. This is where moral responsibility becomes crucial. Society considers the moral qualities of an employee as one of the leading elements of his professional suitability. General moral norms must be specified in a person’s work activity, taking into account the specifics of his profession. Thus, professional morality must be considered in unity with the generally accepted system of morality. Violation of work ethics is accompanied by the destruction of general moral principles, and vice versa. An employee’s irresponsible attitude towards professional duties poses a danger to others, harms society, and can ultimately lead to the degradation of the individual himself.

At the moment, in Russia there is a need to develop a new type of professional morality, which reflects the ideology of labor activity based on the development of market relations. We are talking primarily about the moral ideology of the new middle class, which makes up the overwhelming majority of the labor force in an economically developed society.

In modern society, an individual’s personal qualities begin with his business characteristics, attitude to work, and level of professional suitability. All this determines the exceptional relevance of the issues that make up the content of professional ethics. True professionalism is based on such moral standards as duty, honesty, demanding of oneself and one's colleagues, and responsibility for the results of one's work.

Types of professional ethics. Each type of human activity (scientific, pedagogical, artistic, etc.) corresponds to certain types of professional ethics.

Professional types of ethics are those specific features of professional activity that are aimed directly at a person in certain conditions of his life and activity in society. The study of types of professional ethics shows the diversity and versatility of moral relations. For each profession, certain professional moral standards acquire some special significance. Professional moral standards are rules, patterns, and procedures for internal self-regulation of an individual based on ethical ideals.

The main types of professional ethics are: medical ethics, pedagogical ethics, ethics of a scientist, actor, artist, entrepreneur, engineer, etc. Each type of professional ethics is determined by the uniqueness of professional activity and has its own specific requirements in the field of morality. For example, the ethics of a scientist presupposes, first of all, such moral qualities as scientific integrity, personal honesty, and, of course, patriotism. Judicial ethics requires honesty, justice, frankness, humanism (even towards the defendant if he is guilty), and loyalty to the law. Professional ethics in the context of military service requires strict fulfillment of official duty, courage, discipline, and devotion to the Motherland.

Description

Applied ethics is a science that studies moral conflicts in modern society. Mandatory disciplines in this profile are: history of Russia, computer science, history of philosophy, sociology of morality, foundations of applied ethics, philosophy, history of morality, history of ethics, logic and others. Students also master the physiology of nervous activity, a foreign language, and the ethical teachings of various peoples and countries. They are engaged in classification, analysis, and systematization of various scientific information on the topic of moral relations, values ​​and norms. The course of study also includes different types of practice: teaching, research and production.

Who to work with

Graduates can find jobs as corporate ethics or human resources managers, experts or consultants on issues of moral relations, social or interpersonal interaction. Such specialists are often involved in developing programs to introduce moral values ​​and norms. Many graduates find jobs in laboratories or university departments, in the field of journalism or in the scientific research field. They can engage in the analysis and presentation of various information about moral relations in public organizations, as well as about the methods of their functioning.