According to Spinello the purpose of ethics is to help us behave honourably and attain those basic goods that make us more fully human. Ethics of this type, often called normative ethics, is distinct from the discipline of metaethics. Spinello defines metaethics as 'The study of moral discourse, the meaning of ethical terminology, and provability of ethical judgements. It deliberately eschews the old Socratic questions that are also asked by Aristotle: "How should life be lived?" or "What is the good life?"'

Normative ethical inquiry, on the other hand, is a quest 'For the practical truth of how one's choices and actions will be good and worthwhile.' Thus Spinello concludes: 'Whereas the goal of metaethics is an appreciation of the structure of moral language, the goal of normative ethics is an identification of the true human good.'

Hence, normative ethical inquiry seeks a basis for choosing proper actions and the right way of life. However, ethics is not an exact science and therefore the same levels of objective truth that is possible in the rational sciences or mathematics cannot be attained. But the fact that ethical judgements do not have the same deductivity and objectivity as scientific ones does not imply that ethics consists merely of emotional and subjective opinions. Moral judgements should be based upon rational moral principles and sound, carefully reasoned arguments. Normative claims are supported by 'An appeal to defensible moral principles, which become manifest through rational discourse.'

Also, simply because there is no unique, correct solution to a moral dilemma, it does not follow that all solutions are equally valid. A moral position can be assessed according to objective criteria, in terms of whether they respect or violate basic 'Human rights, remain open to human fulfilment, maximise the social good, etc.' and therefore these criteria disqualify some solutions to ethical dilemmas in favour of others. Some basic moral principles and theories that can serve as normative guidelines for addressing the ethical issues invoked by computers will be considered later in the chapter. These guidelines constitute a framework for the ethical analysis of cases where ethical and professional issues may have been invoked. The initial step in conducting an ethical analysis is to establish one or more issues to be analysed. Then for each issue the law and principles presented in each of the four processes of the framework are applied. For each issue one or more alternative options are often highlighted. The analysis will disqualify some options to the ethical issue in favour of others. The intention of an analysis is to present these alternative options to a user and allow them to rationally examine these and choose the correct one.

The normative guidelines described below are those that appear in the Kallman and Grillo (1996) framework.

However, the danger of making an appeal to as many ethical principles as possible is that sometimes they conflict. In analysing an action, the course of action that is suggested by one ethical philosophy might contradict the course of action that is suggested by another. For example, Egoism focuses on self-interest. This ethical principle is used as justification when something is done to further an individual's own welfare. The principle of Utilitarianism embodies the notion of operating in the public interest rather than for personal benefit. However, an appreciation of ethics allows individuals to be aware of all possible ethical resolutions and their respective implications. An appropriate course of action for an individual should only be arrived at after thinking through all the implications. The intention behind an ethical analysis should not be to prescribe a particular set of ethical values for resolving ethical issues invoked by computers. But allow an individual to appreciate all the possible course(s) of action that can be taken according to the differing, and often conflicting, sets of ethical values and then make a judgement as to which is applicable for them in the real world.