Ethics

Metaethics

Metaethics explores where morals come from and who decides what is unjust. One example of this ethics section is when the Canadian government banned the death penalty. In 1976 the Canadian government abolished the death penalty making it illegal. They did this because they believed that it was a violation to the one of the basic human rights: the right to life. As a higher power the government had the ability to decide that this was ethically wrong and set the ethical rude that killing is unjust no matter the crime committed by the perpetrator

When people question moral truths this falls under the category of metaethics. When people band together and protest against laws involving ethics and morals this is showcasing metaethics. One example of this happening in the real world is when hundreds of people located in Tennessee came together to demand stronger laws prohibiting the ownership of guns after a shooting occurred at a Christian elementary school.

Applied Ethics

One example of Applied Ethics is found within medial ethics. The Ontario Prescription Drug Benefit Program covers the cost of prescription drugs for youth under 24 years of age who do not have health insurance. This is an example of applied ethics because it is solving a specific dilemma-Lower income families being unable to provide healthcare that their children need. They solve this dilemma though deciding if this situation is right or wrong and after coming to the conclusion that it is unethical, they solved the issue.

Another example of Applied Ethics in the real world is the government providing access to abortion across the country. Abortion is a widely popular ethical debate all around the world. The government has decided that it is wrong or unethical for women to have any kind of barrier preventing them from receiving reproductive healthcare including safe abortion services. This is why they have donated over $4.2 million in funding from the Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund to the University of British Columbia Contraception and Abortion Research Team as well as Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights.

Normative Ethics

An example of Normative Ethics in the real world is when the supreme court of Canada legalised assisted suicide. This falls under the category of Normative Ethics because the government used their judgement and opinion to decide if assisted death was considered morally "wrong" or "right" and took action based off of their conclusion. This also provides an example of normative ethics because since this law was passed doctors now have to use normative ethics to decide weather a patient will be permitted access to this service. They will do this by deciding if it is morally right to allow them to end their lives.

Another example of normative ethics is the spike in students cheating as tests and exams began to be held online due to the pandemic. When students began to take unsupervised tests online while at home, the percentage of people caught cheating skyrocketed. This is an example of normative ethics because the individual students had to decide weather cheating on the test was ethically right or wrong.