People generally tend to have 2 ethical systems they follow either explicitly or implicitly without even knowing:
- Small scale like personal, immediate family and small community ethics.
- Large scale like direction of government or large community ethics.
There are many ethical schools of though and here's a quick brief (very simplified):
Small scale ethics:
- Virtue ethics - cultivate good character, be just, honest, wise etc.
- Care ethics - all about close community and relationship building, your people first
- Deontological ethics - focus on rules and duties, never lie etc
- Egoism - me me me, I only have one life and that's the most important thing.
- Existencialism - take full responsibility of your choices and persona, create your own meaning as it's fit now.
And for large scale:
- Utilitarianism - the most common position. Greatest good for greatest amount of people. Save as many as you can by pulling the trolley switch
- Contractualism - society must be organized around rules we all agree on without knowing our place in it. i.e. poor and king have to agree without knowing who they are yet.
- Deontological Priority - free speech, bodily autonomy etc. All fundamental rights must be protected even when inconvenient.
- Communitarianism - focus on community, tradition over individual rights and freedoms
- Libertarianism - maximize individual liberty
- Marxist - prioritize equality and collective ownership
- Environmental - prioritize protecting our surroundings and all life even non human. Challenge human-centered ethics.
Most commonly people fall virtue or deontological at small scale and utilitarian or deontological at large scale without even knowing much about ethics. What about you?