What is the nature of ethical truth (if there is such a thing)?
• How can we know ethical claims to be true (if that’s even possible)? • What is the relationship between ethical imperatives and other imperatives? What set of ethical principles is correct?: Examples of possible answers to this question: • Do whatever will have the best consequences, overall (consequentialism) • Act according to maxims that are possible to will as universal law (Kantian ethics) • Act in accordance with the ideals of virtues that promote human flourishing (virtue ethics) • Do what will best accord with the ideal of Christian love (situational ethics) As far as types of ethical theory go, there’s a big division between people who think we can find big, overarching principles (like the four mentioned above) and those who think we can’t. The rejection of overarching principles has been called “particularism” (as in particular rather than general judgments) or “intuitionism” (a confusing lable, because it’s also associated with ideas about ethical truth and knowledge). So
