People generally tend to have 2 ethical systems they follow either explicitly or implicitly without even knowing:

  • Small scale like personal, immediate family and small community ethics.
  • Large scale like direction of government or large community ethics.

There are many ethical schools of though and here’s a quick brief (very simplified):

Small scale ethics:

  • Virtue ethics - cultivate good character, be just, honest, wise etc.
  • Care ethics - all about close community and relationship building, your people first
  • Deontological ethics - focus on rules and duties, never lie etc
  • Egoism - me me me, I only have one life and that’s the most important thing.
  • Existencialism - take full responsibility of your choices and persona, create your own meaning as it’s fit now.

And for large scale:

  • Utilitarianism - the most common position. Greatest good for greatest amount of people. Save as many as you can by pulling the trolley switch
  • Contractualism - society must be organized around rules we all agree on without knowing our place in it. i.e. poor and king have to agree without knowing who they are yet.
  • Deontological Priority - free speech, bodily autonomy etc. All fundamental rights must be protected even when inconvenient.
  • Communitarianism - focus on community, tradition over individual rights and freedoms
  • Libertarianism - maximize individual liberty
  • Marxist - prioritize equality and collective ownership
  • Environmental - prioritize protecting our surroundings and all life even non human. Challenge human-centered ethics.

Most commonly people fall virtue or deontological at small scale and utilitarian or deontological at large scale without even knowing much about ethics. What about you?