Ethics and Morals are things that we grow with. We see people do things and we get the lesson that some things are right to do, and some things are wrong. Since long time ago people have wondered about what is right and what is wrong. People believe what think they know the rightness from wrongness, but they cannot explain why they think it is wrong or right. Sometimes it is even more complicated than just defining what it right and what is wrong. Sometimes something that is right in one's eyes or country could be wrong in some other's eyes or country. Just as an example, a terrorist from a certain country will be seen as a terrorist in our country, therefore it is immoral, but in a different country the same person might be seen as a freedom fighter, therefore making it moral. Morality depends on location, situation, etc. Is there a simple way to analyze and categorize morality? Is morality something that changes with time? There have been many beliefs and ideas about concrete morality. In this paper, I will be discussing a couple of concepts of Ethics where morality is defined strongly.
The first concept is knows as Consequentialism. Consequentialism defines morality by calling an act to be moral if the act produces good consequences that have intrinsic value. According to consequentialists, an intrinsic value is something that is valued for its own sake, such as intimate relationships, aesthetic experiences, virtue, happiness and many more. Intrinsic valued things do not include materials such as cars, houses etc. The second concept is known as Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism defines morality by saying that an act would be right if it produces the most happiness for the most people. According to Utilitarians, most number of people have to be happy for the act to be moral. Utilitarians believe that an act of morality which depends solely on the happiness of the most number of people has intrinsic value.
