Ethics: Facts Vs Values

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Mark Einsiedel (mse12) PHIL 101 Q: Describe your main question about the theory of ethics. My main question with respect to the theory of ethics is what are the distinctions between facts and values (with regard to ethics) and what weight and implications do these distinctions carry? Moreover, why are they so consistently confused and interjected with one another? Essentially, I feel as though it boils down to the major distinctions between what is and what ought to be. What is includes thoughts or ideas that can be discovered to be true via means of reason, philosophy, science, or the like. What ought to be, on the other hand, includes those ideas which are generally agreed upon, though not necessarily proven via the means described above. For example, a fact would be how tall the Key Bank building in downtown Cleveland is. However, a value is subjective. For example, a value would be whether or not working on Sundays is acceptable. Because of the nature of their differences, factual issues and value issues will contribute different kinds of problems to a conflict. As such, we must be able to sort these out, handling each type appropriately, in order to be able to address a conflict constructively. A fact depends not upon who believes it, whether anyone believes it at all. By the same token, something that is simply wrong, whether the result of a mistake or a lie cannot be a fact. The easiest kinds of facts to understand are those that can be verified by others. By performing a scientific experiment or a thorough investigation, we can become convinced that a claim is an authentic fact. Other kinds of facts, though, may be more difficult to find, or may even be completely unknowable. For example, it might not be possible to know whether the global warming trend is part of a natural long-term cycle or is being caused by human activity. This doesn't mean

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