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org/)
1.
Prologue
2.
3 Types of Judgments
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2.
Pc2: Knowledge
3.
5.
6.
Prologue
This article series based on Ethics Lectures by Mr.Kavan Limbasiya (AIR-198, IRS-IT) at SPIPA,
Ahmedabad
The Syllabus of UPSC General Studies Paper-4 Ethics is available here click me
(http://mrunal.org/ethics#syllabus). Accordingly, we can divide the Ethics topic into 8 parts
First part would be Ethics and Human interface- further subdivided into three articles
E1/P1: Types of Judgments, Pre-requisite for Ethical scrutiny, Meta Ethics, Applied ethics,
Normative-Descriptive ethics.
E1/P2: Theories of Ethics: virtual ethics, deontological vs. teleological ethics, utilitarianism,
hedonism, epicureanism, egoism, conduct ethics etc.
E1/P3: Values, Role of family-society-educational institutions in inculcating values, ethics and
private and public relationships.
3 Types of Judgments
Earth rotates around Sun. Whether you test or an alien species tests,
1.Factual or
Epistemological
the fact will remain the same. There are only two outcomes: True /
False
Theyre not morally right or wrong. Theyre morally empty, theyre
amoral.
2.Aesthetic
Judgment
3.Moral
Judgment
One person may like red color the other person may like blue color.
Environmental
ethics
cutting trees and displacing the tribal for highway projects is good or
bad?
Descriptive
Normative / prescriptive
Legality
Morality
Gay marriage is
illegal
Every moral things may not be legal. If we make lying illegal, then
everyone will be jailed.
Murder is illegal
the person or option B- record MMS on mobile. They chose option A, hence unethical.
Pc2: Knowledge
A Child takes iphone 6s plus from table and dips it in a fishbowl. Phone is permanently
damaged. Was Childs action unethical?
Well, Child had free will- (A) Take selfi and upload on facebook (B) dip it in a fishbowl
She chose optionB. But she didnt have the knowledge that iPhone are not waterproof.
We cannot exercise free will in an ethical/unethical manner, unless and until we have
knowledge of its consequence. Hence babys action cant be termed as ethical or unethical.
Pc3: Voluntary Action
If someone puts a gun on your head or straps a bomb on your waist and then orders you to
commit a crime, then its an involuntary action by you, hence we cant judge it on ethical
grounds.
Apart from above three, following conditions also make it difficult to evaluate an action on
ethical grounds:
Fear /
violence
Ignorance
but not unethical IF the foreigner was unaware of the prohibition law in
Gujarat.
A husband finds his wife in a compromising position with another man,
he gets enraged and murders both of them. Illegal but difficult to
scrutinize on ethical grounds, since his passion was not aroused by
Passion
himself.
A man takes narcotic drugs and under its influence he
rapes/murders/maims someone, it is both illegal and unethical because
he himself aroused his passion.
Hence, In murder cases, court looks at aggravating and mitigating factors.
Habit,
temperament
Value system
Now you can see the broad picture- consider following Case: Mr.X murders Mr.Y to acquire his
property.
Action
Component
Mr.X
Moral Agent
He killed Mr.Y
according to procedure
established by law.
Whoever commits murder shall
be punished with death, or
imprisonment for life, and shall
also be liable to fine.
and doctor says hed need to run 24 hours medical tests before giving him any drug, despite
repeated requests by Jason that he requires immediate shot of Adrenaline. Impatient Jason
breaks into the storeroom and tries to steal vials containing synthetic adrenaline, so he can
inject them to survive. But the staff and policemen try to apprehend him. Jason fights back,
injures a few of them before escaping the hospital. In above case, whose action(s) is/are subject
to ethical scrutiny? If yes, then are they ethical or unethical?
A. Jason Statham
B. Nurses
C. Doctor
D. Policemen
In the next part (E1/P2) well look at various theories of Ethics. Visit Mrunal.org/Ethics
(http://mrunal.org/ethics) for more study material on Ethics.
Mrunal recommends
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srajan
thanku so much sir
plzz go on
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R SIWACH
nothing can be better than this .thanks mrunal SIR
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narayan vaze
thank you so much!!
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shalini dhiman
Hello sir.thanks for providing such useful information. Sir I cant take any
coaching , so please guide me for mains exam.my subject is sociology.
Thanks again
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om prakash pandey
Excellent material
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om prakash pandey
Thank u very much sir
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Naresh Kaveti
The book that followed by the author was McGraw Hill one (By Nanda
Kishore, Santhosh Ajmera)
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Raghuram
Yes.. The content matches..
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Prashant rawat
Thanks sir..
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KUMAR MEHTA
Can we answeres to case studies in Ethics E1/P1
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Revathi
Can you please upload the lectures on youtube sir.
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Lingaraj
MEMENTO CASE STUDY:
1. Actions of LEONARD SHELBY was Illegal but cannot be termed as
Ethical/Unethical becoz he is unable to act on his FREE WILL becoz of
his Mental State coupled with the lack of knowledge(add info: in the
movie he doesnt knw his wifes killer)
2. Actions of the WAITRESS is illegal as well as Unethical becoz her
purpose to kill her boyfriend is revenge but not for self defence.
3. Actions of the COP may be subject to Legal Scrutiny(if whether the
criminals deserved to die) but Unethical becoz he took advantage of
Leonards mental condition without consulting his counterparts.
4. The Actions of MOTEL RECEPTIONIST is ILLEGAL but Subject to Ethical
Scrutiny( did he do it out of pressure/fear of losing his job or futher
wanted to fill his pocket)
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