- Videos
Concepts Unwrapped View All 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition View All 10 short videos introduce athletes to behavioral ethics concepts. Ethics Defined (Glossary) View All 58 animated videos - 1 to 2 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts. Ethics in Focus View All One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects. Giving Voice To Values View All Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values. In It To Win View All A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story. Scandals Illustrated View All 30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies.
Video Series
Concepts Unwrapped Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition Ethics Defined (Glossary) Ethics in Focus Giving Voice To Values In It To Win Scandals Illustrated
Concepts Unwrapped View All
36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles.
- All is Not Relative
- Appropriation & Attribution
- Being Your Best Self, Part 1: Moral Awareness
- Being Your Best Self, Part 2: Moral Decision Making
- Being Your Best Self, Part 3: Moral Intent
- Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action
- Bounded Ethicality
- Causing Harm
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Conflict of Interest
- Conformity Bias
- Ethical Fading
- Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top
- Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices
- Framing
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Fundamental Moral Unit
- Implicit Bias
- Incentive Gaming
- Incrementalism
- Intro to Behavioral Ethics
- Legal Rights & Ethical Responsibilities
- Loss Aversion
- Moral Agent & Subject of Moral Worth
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Equilibrium
- Moral Imagination
- Moral Muteness
- Moral Myopia
- Obedience to Authority
- Overconfidence Bias
- Representation
- Role Morality
- Self-serving Bias
- Systematic Moral Analysis
- Tangible & Abstract
Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition View All
10 short videos introduce athletes to behavioral ethics concepts.
- Intro to Behavioral Ethics: Sports Edition
- Conformity Bias: Sports Edition
- Framing: Sports Edition
- Incrementalism: Sports Edition
- Loss Aversion: Sports Edition
- Obedience to Authority: Sports Edition
- Overconfidence Bias: Sports Edition
- Role Morality: Sports Edition
- Self-serving Bias: Sports Edition
- Tangible & Abstract: Sports Edition
Ethics Defined (Glossary) View All
58 animated videos - 1 to 2 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts.
- AI Ethics
- Altruism
- Altruistic Cheating
- Applied Ethics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Behavioral Ethics
- Bounded Ethicality
- Cognitive Bias
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Confirmation Bias
- Conflict of Interest
- Conformity Bias
- Consequentialism
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corruption
- Deontology
- Diffusion of Responsibility
- Ethical Fading
- Ethics
- Fiduciary Duty
- Framing
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Groupthink
- Growth Mindset
- Harm Principle
- Hedonism
- In-group/Out-group
- Incrementalism
- Integrity
- Justice
- Loss Aversion
- Mercy
- Moral Absolutism
- Moral Agent
- Moral Cognition
- Moral Disengagement
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Equilibrium
- Moral Hazard
- Moral Imagination
- Moral Injury
- Moral Muteness
- Moral Myopia
- Moral Philosophy
- Moral Pluralism
- Moral Psychology
- Moral Reasoning
- Moral Relativism
- Morals
- Neuroethics
- Obedience to Authority
- Overconfidence Bias
- Prosocial Behavior
- Rationalizations
- Role Morality
- Self-Serving Bias
- Social Contract Theory
- Subject of Moral Worth
- Sustainability
- Tangible & Abstract
- Utilitarianism
- Values
- Veil of Ignorance
- Virtue Ethics
Ethics in Focus View All
One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects.
Giving Voice To Values View All
Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values.
In It To Win View All
A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story.
Scandals Illustrated View All
30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies.
- Academic Fraud at UNC
- Armstrong’s Doping Downfall
- Baylor’s Silence on Sexual Assault
- Collapse at Rana Plaza
- College Admissions Scandal
- Compounding Illness
- Countrywide’s Subprime Scandal
- Curbing Corruption: GlaxoSmithKline in China
- Daraprim Price Hike
- EpiPen: Out of Reach
- Equifax’s Breach of Trust
- FIFA Kickbacks: World Cup Corruption
- Final Exam Heist
- Making the Grade
- Michael Flynn: Under Investigation
- OxyContin & the Opioid Epidemic
- OxyContin: Whale Watching
- Packing Peanuts for Profit
- Penn State Scandal
- Raj Rajaratnam: Insider Trader
- Research Conflicts at UT Austin
- Robert Bentley: A Campaign Affair
- Samsung’s Political Connections
- Steering Student Athletes
- Tesco Cooks the Books
- Theranos’ Bad Blood
- United Airlines: Grounded
- Volkswagen’s Emissions Evasion
- Weinstein & Hollywood’s “Open Secret”
- Wells Fargo Fraud
- Curated Resources
- Case Studies
- Blog
- Glossary
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Ethics Defined
Applied ethics, also called practical ethics, is the application of ethics to real-world problems.
Applied Ethics
Applied ethics, also called practical ethics, is the application of ethics to real-world problems. Practical ethics attempts to answer the question of how people should act in specific situations. For example, is it ethical for a business owner to bluff during negotiations with another company? Or, is it morally permissible for a doctor to engage in mercy killing when a terminal cancer patient begs to be put out of her misery?
Medical ethics, business ethics, engineering ethics, and the like are all branches of applied ethics. Applied ethics is more specific than normative ethics, which is a branch of philosophy that develops moral theories – such as the ethics of care or deontology – about how people should behave. Practical ethics is also different from metaethics, a branch of philosophy that asks questions about the nature of ethics such as, “what is morality?”
Some philosophers argue that real-world ethics should start with moral theory. But finding agreement on which moral theory to apply can be difficult. With a practical approach to ethics, people don’t need to agree on a moral theory. Instead, they can agree to solutions to ethical dilemmas by reviewing the facts and related harms of a specific situation. This is one of the key strengths of applied ethics.
Related Terms
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges an action’s moral correctness by its consequences.
Deontology
Deontology is an ethical theory that uses rules to discern the moral course of action.
Moral Absolutism
Moral Absolutism is a form of deontology that asserts that certain actions are intrinsically right or wrong.
Moral Philosophy
Moral Philosophy studies what is right and wrong, and related philosophical issues.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue Ethics is a normative philosophical approach that urges people to live a moral life by cultivating virtuous habits.