Ethics (moral philosophy) concerns categorizing, discussing, and offering ideas about acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Utilitarianism holds that correct (or “good”) actions maximize happiness. Ethics includes meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Questions to help clarify their differences:
Meta-ethics – What does good mean?
Normative ethics – What actions should we take?
Applied ethics – Are gods necessary for objective morality?
Theists argue that morality is meaningless without a god and, consequently, atheists have no moral foundation. Even if we pretend that gods do exist, the position is unfounded. Morals can be asserted through contractarianism many ways, including:
Self-defense needs neither rationalization nor justification.
Community defenses and benefits surpass nomadic exile.
Agreeing to societal rules rewards communal privileges.
Further, societal rules defined by secular ethics improve over time; whereas, morality based on biblical texts does not.
