Secular ethics
Secular ethics grounds moral judgment and conduct in human reason, welfare, or shared social values rather than religious authority.
Moral philosophy: The philosophical study of right and wrong, good and bad, and the principles that guide action. Secular ethics is one approach within the broader study of morality.
Utilitarianism: The ethical theory that evaluates actions by their consequences for overall well-being. It grounds moral judgment in the welfare effects of choices.
Divine command theory: The view that moral obligations depend on the commands or will of God. It makes divine authority, rather than secular grounds, the source of moral obligation.
Human rights: Basic rights and freedoms held by people by virtue of being human. Secular arguments often defend these rights through dignity, interests, and equal status.
Is–ought problem: The challenge of deriving claims about what ought to be done solely from statements about what is the case. It raises a problem for grounding moral duties in facts about human welfare.
Moral realism: The view that at least some moral claims are true independently of individual attitudes or conventions. It offers one account of how secular moral judgments can be objectively true.
Deontology: The ethical approach that judges actions by duties, rules, or constraints rather than consequences alone. It shows how secular ethics can rely on duties instead of religious commands.
Euthyphro dilemma: A philosophical challenge asking whether actions are good because God commands them or God commands them because they are good. It questions whether divine commands can independently explain moral goodness.
Bioethics: The study of ethical questions arising in medicine, biology, and health care. Its disputes require public reasons about welfare, consent, and harm.
Moral motivation: The question of how moral judgments relate to reasons, desires, and motivation to act. It asks whether rational moral conclusions can motivate conduct without religious incentives.