Ethics for Kids

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 Ethics for Kids Facts

Ethics, or moral philosophy, is a system of moral principles.

They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.
It is also concerned with what is good for individuals and
society and is also described as moral philosophy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml

ETHICS DEFINED
● The word “ethics” is derived from the Greek word ethos which
can mean custom, habit, character, or disposition.
● Ethics is based on standards of right and wrong, prescribing
human roles in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society,
fairness, or specific virtues.
● It is also closely related to moral philosophy, the discipline
concerned with moral good and bad, following the language of
right and wrong.
● It consists of the primary issue of decision making, based on
the standards that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and
loyalty.
● Ethical theories are divided into three areas: metaethics,
normative ethics, and applied ethics.
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 Ethics for Kids Facts
METAETHICS
● Metaethics studies moral thought
What does it and moral language.
mean to say ● It seeks to understand the nature
something is of ethical evaluations, basically
"good"? answering the questions How do
we know what is right or wrong?
where do moral values from? Are
some things morally right or
wrong for all people at all times?
NORMATIVE ETHICS
● Compared to metaethics’ pursuit of the nature of ethics,
normative theory is concerned with criteria of what is morally
right and wrong.
● Normative ethics focuses on the major theoretical approaches
to the content of moral reflection to determine which actions are
right and wrong.
APPLIED ETHICS
● Applied ethics is the application of
normative ethics to particular issues
such as animal rights and cloning.
Simply put, it determines how ethical
principles are applied in personal life,
business, moral problems, and other
real-life situations.
● It also addresses the moral permissibility
of specific actions and practices. For Applied ethics
question: Do you have
example: Does a citizen have a moral to post to social media
obligation to actively participate in the that you are helping?
nation building? To what extent?
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 Ethics for Kids Facts
SOME KNOWN EARLY ETHICISTS
● Ethicists are people who specialize in or write on ethics or who
are devoted to ethical principles.
● Socrates (469-399 BCE) was a
Greek ethicist and philosopher
who presupposed that reason
and good deeds are essential
for good life.
● He also stated that no one
chooses evil and no one
chooses to act in ignorance.
Left: Socrates, Right: Plato
● Plato (428-348 BCE) was another Greek ethicist who proposed
that happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) was the highest aim
of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues (aretê:
'excellence') were the skills and dispositions needed to attain it.
● Confucius (551–479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher who
introduced the:
○ Four Cardinal Principles: integrity (廉), propriety (禮),
righteousness (義), and shame (恥);
○ Eight Virtues: loyalty (忠), honesty (信), filial piety (孝),
benevolence (仁), love (愛), harmony (和), justice (義), and
peace (平).
● Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a German philosopher
whose ethical perspective was called “categorical imperative”, a
universal ethical principle stating that one should always respect
the humanity in others, and only act in accordance with rules
that could hold for everyone.
● Hammurabi (1810–1750) was the sixth king of the First
Babylonian dynasty who published one of the earliest legal
texts, the Code of Hammurabi.
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 Ethics for Kids Facts
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by
reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which
is easiest; and third by experience, which is the
bitterest.” - Confucius
● His code introduced the principle
of “presumption of innocence”.
● The 282 rules also established
standards for commercial
interactions and set fines and
punishments to meet the
requirements of justice.
● Niccolò Machiavelli
(1469–1527) was a Renaissance
Left: Hammurabi, Right: Machiavelli
ethicist.
● The theory that “the end justifies the means” sums up his
political and moral thought. In politics, he believed that leaders
should be more feared than loved and should differentiate
public and private morality.
ANCIENT VS. MODERN ETHICS
● Ancient ethics
○ Socraticism: Wisdom is the chief good. Happiness consists
in acting in the right way, and evil is the result of ignorance.
○ Platonism: Happiness is achieved by excellent virtues.
○ Aristotelianism: Our proper function is to use reason, and
this is the way to live a satisfying life.
○ Cyrenaicism: The primary purpose of life is the
moment-to-moment experience of bodily pleasures.
○ Epicureanism: Aim for the greatest amount of pleasure
possible in a lifetime, but in moderation to avoid suffering
due to overindulgence.
○ Cynicism: The purpose of life is to live a life of Virtue in
agreement with Nature (bare necessity).
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 Ethics for Kids Facts
“The sense of justice is continuous with the love of
mankind.” John Rawls
○ Stoicism: Developing self-control and fortitude to overcome
destructive emotions. It holds that becoming a clear and
unbiased thinker allows one to understand universal
reason.
● Modern ethics
○ Kantian-style deontology: The Categorical Imperative
determines whether certain acts have moral worth or not. If
the maxim is universalized, then it is valid and one must
act upon it.
○ Utilitarianism: Introduced “hedonic calculus”, the action
that produces the “highest pleasure” should be put into
practice or at the least being more heavily weighed than
so-called “lower pleasures”.

MODERN ETHICS QUOTES

● “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the
misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, will
invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to
diminish something of their pains.” ― Jeremy Bentham
(1747-1832, Utilitarian ethicist)
● “I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires,
rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” ― John Stuart Mill
(1806 - 1873, Utilitarian ethicist)
● “We ought not to do to our future selves what it would be wrong
to do to other people.” ― Derek Parfit (1942-2017)
● “If doing the most you can for others means that you are also
flourishing, then that is the best possible outcome for everyone.”
― Peter Singer (born 1946, specializes in applied ethics).

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 NAME:

GREAT MINDS
Other than the great ethicists or ethical philosophers introduced
in the facts section, get to know the others who contributed to the
field of ethics. Match them to their great quotes.

“Man is an
"The world is
animal that
divided into
makes
men who have bargains: no
wit and no other animal
religion and does this - no
men who have dog exchanges
religion and no René bones with Adam Smith
wit." Descartes another.”

“Being deeply “The degree of

loved by one's emotions
someone gives varies
you strength, inversely with
while loving one's
someone knowledge of
deeply gives the facts.”
you courage.” Ibn Sina Dalai Lama

“Happiness is
“Cogito ergo not something
sum.” (I think, ready made.
therefore I It comes from
am.) your own
actions.” Bertrand
Lao Tzu Russell

Understand each quote by asking adults. Have them give you

examples to put the quotes into perspective.

ETHICS FOR KIDS WORKSHEETS KIDSKONNECT.COM

 GREAT MINDS
ANSWER KEY

“Man is an
"The world is
animal that
divided into
makes
men who have bargains: no
wit and no other animal
religion and does this - no
men who have dog exchanges
religion and no René bones with Adam Smith
wit." Descartes another.”

“Being deeply “The degree of

loved by one's emotions
someone gives varies
you strength, inversely with
while loving one's
someone knowledge of
deeply gives the facts.”
you courage.” Ibn Sina Dalai Lama

“Happiness is
“Cogito ergo not something
sum.” (I think, ready made.
therefore I It comes from
am.) your own
actions.” Bertrand
Lao Tzu Russell

Understand each quote by asking adults. Have them give you

examples to put the quotes into perspective.

ETHICS FOR KIDS WORKSHEETS KIDSKONNECT.COM

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Thank you!

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 Thank You!
Thank you so much for downloading this resource.

We hope it has been useful for you in the classroom and that your
students enjoy the activities.

For more teaching resources like this, don’t forget to come back and
download the new material we add every week!

Thanks for supporting KidsKonnect. We can provide teachers with

low-cost, high-quality teaching resources because of our loyal
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- The Entire KidsKonnect Team :)

KIDSKONNECT.COM