A Comparative Analysis of Ethical Theories in Ethics Course

This essay provides a detailed analysis of various ethical theories, including relativism, universalism, hedonism, egoism, altruism, justice theory, virtue ethics, stoicism, natural law, Kantian theory, rights theory, and utilitarianism. The student defines each theory, highlighting their core principles and applications. The essay then evaluates these theories, identifying relativism as the most acceptable due to its emphasis on character and virtue, while critiquing altruism for its focus on self-welfare. The assignment also includes a response to a peer review post, offering a critical perspective on the discussed theories and providing a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Running head: ETHICS
Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ETHICS
The term ethics refers to the moral principles that play a role in governing the behavior or
activity of a person (Fuenmayor, D., & Benzmüller, C, (2019). This assignment engages in a
detailed analysis of ethical theories, assessing their relevance and pointing out in conclusion,
which of these theories is the most acceptable and why.
Relativism is the ethical theory according to which truth, morality and knowledge are
seen to exist in relation to society, culture or a historical context and which are not absolute. In
other words, morality is something that is relevant to cultural norms (Loreggia et al., 2017).
Whether an action is wrong or right is something that is determined on the basis of the moral
norms prevalent in the society where this action is being undertaken. Universalism is the
theological or philosophical concept according to which certain ideas have universal
applicability or application (Lucas et al., 2016). The belief is one single fundament truth
constitutes an important tenet of the ethical theory of universalism. Hedonism is the ethical
theory that advocates pursuit of pleasure (Lucas et al. 2016). Egoism is the ethical theory where
self-interest is treated as a foundation of morality. There are two variants of egoism, normative
and descriptive. According to egoism the self should be the goal or motivation behind one’s
actions. Altruism is the ethical theory that refers to selfless concern or disinterest with regard to
wellbeing of others. Justice theory advocates respect for the rights of people, fair and equal
resource distribution, and respect for laws that are morally acceptable (Lucas et al. 2016). The
virtue ethics theory is quite a broad theory and emphasizes the role of virtue or character in
moral philosophy in the place of acting or performing a duty with the purpose of initiating good
consequences. Stoicism is the ethical theory that advocates endurance of hardship or pain
without complaining and without displaying feelings (Reamer, 2019).

2ETHICS
Natural law refers to the unchanging moral principles that form the basis of human
conduct. Kantian theory, known also as the deontological theory of ethics, states that moral law
is found to be acting on people everywhere, regardless of their desires or their interests. Rights
theory maintains that certain things cannot be done against individuals as individuals are holders
of moral rights (Reamer, 2019). Utilitarianism is a normative theory of ethics where the locus of
wrong and right is placed solely on outcomes associated choosing a policy or action over another
action or policy. It moves beyond the purview of individual interest to take into consideration the
interest of other people (Zwitter, 2019).
The theory that I find to be most acceptable out of all the theories mentioned above is
relativism. This is because it points to the importance of character or virtue in actions. The theory
that I find to be least acceptable is altruism as it concerns only with self-welfare and entails a
disinterest with other human beings.
Response to Peer Review Post
I liked reading the post and I appreciate the way by which the various theories of ethics
have been discussed and analyzed in detail by the student. It is possible to gain a comprehensive
understanding of each and every one of these theories by reading the post. The descriptions are
brief and to the point and make for good reading. I also appreciate the fact that the student
disagrees with whatever is advocated by the theory of egoism. However I am surprised with the
student’s acceptance of the theory of altruism since it comes across as quite selfish and vain to a
person like me. We are entitled to our opinions of course and the justification provided in this
post for adhering to or being in favor of altruism has been well explained. Overall, the

3ETHICS
description of ethical theories as well as the acceptance and criticism of theories has been
logically undertaken in this post.

4ETHICS
References
Fuenmayor, D., & Benzmüller, C. (2019). Automated Reasoning with Complex Ethical
Theories. Deduktionstreffen 2019, 13
Loreggia, A., Rossi, F., & Venable, K. B. (2017, March). Modelling Ethical Theories
Compactly. In Workshops at the Thirty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
Lucas, K., Van Wee, B., & Maat, K. (2016). A method to evaluate equitable accessibility:
combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches. Transportation, 43(3),
473-490
Reamer, F. G. (2019). Ethical theories and social work practice. The Routledge Handbook of
Social Work Ethics and Values.
Zwitter, M. (2019). Ethical Theories. In Medical Ethics in Clinical Practice (pp. 15-22).
Springer, Cham