<philosophical terminology> branch of philosophical ethics concerned with developing theories that determine which human actions are right and which are wrong. It is useful to distinguish normative theories according to the way in which they derive moral value from duties or rights: deontological theories hold that actions are intrinsically right or wrong, while consequentialist theories evaluate actions by reference to their extrinsic outcomes. Virtue ethics theories locate the highest moral value in the development of persons. Recommended Reading: William K. Frankena, Ethics (Prentice Hall, 1973); Stephen Darwall, Philosophical Ethics (Westview, 1998); The Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory, ed. by Hugh Lafollette (Blackwell, 2000); and Normative Ethics, ed. by Shelly Kagan, Keith Lehrer, and Norman Daniels (Westview, 1997).
[A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names]
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