IB Philosophy 4.3 Applied Ethics Key Definitions

Biomedical ethics is the branch of applied ethics that examines moral questions arising from advances in medicine and the biological sciences, including issues of life, death, patient autonomy, and the responsible use of biotechnology.

Biotechnology involves the application of scientific techniques to modify living organisms, biological systems, or their products, including genetic engineering, cloning, and stem cell research.

Business ethics is the branch of applied ethics that examines the moral norms and values governing commercial activity, including questions of fair trade, corporate responsibility, labour practices, and the relationship between profit and moral obligation.

Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative is the supreme principle of morality, commanding unconditionally. Its first formulation requires acting only on maxims that could be willed as universal laws, and its second formulation requires treating persons always as ends in themselves, never merely as means.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in global temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns driven primarily by the accumulation of greenhouse gases from human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels. The phenomenon raises urgent philosophical questions about intergenerational justice, the moral weight of future persons, and how responsibility should be distributed among nations with vastly different historical contributions to emissions.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the principle that businesses have obligations to society beyond legal compliance and profit maximization, encompassing environmental stewardship, fair labour practices, community engagement, and ethical governance.

Distributive justice is the branch of ethics concerned with the fair allocation of resources, opportunities, and burdens across members of a society, addressing who gets what and on what basis.

Euthanasia is the deliberate ending of a person's life to relieve suffering. Active euthanasia involves a direct act (such as administering a lethal dose), while passive euthanasia involves withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

Moral agency is the capacity of a being to understand moral principles, distinguish right from wrong, and be held accountable for its choices and actions.

Moral status is the property of being an entity whose interests or wellbeing deserve moral consideration. Debated criteria include sentience, rationality, being the subject of a life, or membership in a biotic community.

Singer's principle of preventing bad holds that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought morally to do it. This principle forms the foundation of Singer's argument in Famine, Affluence and Morality (1971).

Virtue ethics is an approach to morality that focuses on developing good character traits rather than on rules or consequences, originating with Aristotle and identifying eudaimonia (human flourishing) as the goal of moral life.