Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Normative ethical theories: utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, social contract theory, and applied ethics dilemmas (trolley problem, privacy, bioethics).
The major theories of moral philosophy: utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics and social contract theory, with the trolley problem as a thought experiment. Each entry gives founders, the core principle, strengths, criticisms and variants.
Use it when
- You need an even-handed summary of a major ethical theory with its main objections.
- You are analyzing a dilemma from more than one ethical perspective.
Watch out for
- The theories are frameworks; many philosophers combine elements or work with other approaches such as care ethics.
- The summaries describe positions, not endorsements.
The data
Theories
5 rows
| Name | Founders | Core principle | Formula | Strengths | Criticisms | Variants | Kant formulations | Aristotle virtues | Eudaimonia | Rawls veil of ignorance | Rawls principles | Scenario | Variations | Ethical analysis | Significance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utilitarianism (Consequentialism) |
| Maximize overall happiness/well-being; the right action produces the greatest good for the greatest number | Choose action A that maximizes Σ(utility of all affected beings) |
|
|
| null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | ||||||||
| Deontology (Duty Ethics) |
| Actions are right or wrong in themselves, regardless of consequences; morality is about following universal moral laws | null |
|
| null | 2 rows
| null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | ||||||||
| Virtue Ethics |
| Focus on character and virtues rather than rules or consequences; asks 'What would a virtuous person do?' | null |
|
| null | null | 3 rows
| Human flourishing; living in accordance with reason and virtue; not mere pleasure but fulfilling one's function as a rational being | null | null | null | null | null | null | ||||||||
| Social Contract Theory |
| Moral and political obligations arise from implicit agreement among individuals to form society and submit to authority for mutual benefit | null |
|
| null | null | null | null | Principles of justice chosen behind a veil of ignorance (not knowing your position in society) would be fair to all |
| null | null | null | null | ||||||||
| The Trolley Problem | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | A runaway trolley will kill 5 people. You can pull a lever to divert it, killing 1 person instead. Should you pull the lever? | 2 rows
|
| Reveals tension between consequentialist and deontological intuitions; used in AI ethics and autonomous vehicle programming |
Fields
The shape of this dataset, read from the data itself: every column, its type and a real value. Agents can use this to plan a query without fetching the whole document.
| Section | Field | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| theories | name | string | Utilitarianism (Consequentialism) |
| theories | founders | array | [3 items] |
| theories | core_principle | string | Maximize overall happiness/well-being; the righ… |
| theories | formula | string | Choose action A that maximizes Σ(utility of all… |
| theories | strengths | array | [3 items] |
| theories | criticisms | array | [3 items] |
| theories | variants | array | [2 items] |
| theories | kant_formulations | array | [2 items] |
| theories | aristotle_virtues | array | [3 items] |
| theories | eudaimonia | string | Human flourishing; living in accordance with re… |
| theories | rawls_veil_of_ignorance | string | Principles of justice chosen behind a veil of i… |
| theories | rawls_principles | array | [2 items] |
| theories | scenario | string | A runaway trolley will kill 5 people. You can p… |
| theories | variations | array | [2 items] |
| theories | ethical_analysis | object | {utilitarian,deontological,virtue_ethics} |
| theories | significance | string | Reveals tension between consequentialist and de… |
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