Chapter 7: Ethics

Ethics

is the study of morality; it involves reflecting on one’s moral standards or the moral standards of a group or a society, and asking whether they are reasonable.

Cultural relativism

affirms that societies differ in their moral standards.

Ethical absolutism

view that there is one and only one correct set of moral standards that everyone should follow everywhere and always.

Ethical relativism

argues that because societies differ in the moral standards they accept, it follows that there is no single correct set of moral standards everyone should adopt

Ethical egoism

claims that a morally right action is one that produces more good and fewer bad consequences for oneself than any other action.

Hedonist egoists

claim that good consequences are those that produce pleasure for oneself, whereas bad consequences are those that produce pain.

Utilitarianism

claims that a morally right action is one that produces more good and fewer bad consequences for everyone than any other action.

Act Utilitarianism

claims that the right action is the one that itself produces more pleasure and less pain for everyone than any other action

Rule Utilitarianism

claims that the right action is the one that follows those moral rules that will produce more pleasure and less pain if followed by everyone

Divine command theory

a nonconsequentialist theory that says the morally right action is the one that God commands for example, in scripture

natural law ethics

says that human nature has certain natural tendencies and that morally right actions are those that follow these natural tendencies

principle of double effect

says that when an action has both a good and a bad effect—it produces one good but destroys another

autonomy

the ability to decide for oneself the moral laws one will follow

heteronomy

to let something or someone else decide what moral laws one will follow

Kant’s categorical imperative

to be a morally good person I must never do something unless it is what I believe everyone ought to do

Kant’s second categorical imperative

* (1) Every human being is an end in himself—a person whose capacity to choose for himself must be respected
* (2) we should always treat people as ends in themselves—as persons whose capacity to choose for themselves must be respected—and not *only* use them as means to achieve our own goals.

Aristotle’s theory of virtue

only by fulfilling their specific purpose, which is to exercise their reason, and to do so in an excellent or virtuous way

Gilligan

argued that Kohlberg’s levels are those through which men’s morality develops, but women’s morality develops through a different sequence of levels based on caring for oneself and for others.

Kant

Who argued this?

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* (1) A person with a good will does what he does because he believes it is morally right to do it.
* (2) To believe it is morally right to do something, is to believe it is what all human beings ought to do.
* (3) Therefore, to be a person of good will—to be a good person—one must do what one believes all human beings ought to do.

The Noble Eightfold Path

What is this?

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* (1) Whatever is tied to our individuality, such as birth, age, disease, death, and pain, brings suffering.
* (2) We suffer because we crave things: pleasure, life, power.
* (3) Only putting an end to craving will end our suffering.
* (4) Craving can be ended only by following the Noble Eightfold Path of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

five buddhist precepts

What are these?

* (1) Harm no living thing
* (2) do not take what is not given
* (3) do not misuse the senses
* (4) refrain from wrong speech
* (5) do not eat or drink anything that clouds the mind.

Kohlberg

Whose argument is this?

* a preconventional level, focused on the self
* a conventional level, focused on being accepted by a group and accepting the group’s conventional morality
* a postconventional level, focused on moral principles.

Gilligan

Whose argument is this?

* (1) a level in which they are overly devoted to caring for themselves
* (2) a level in which they are overly devoted to caring for others
* (3) a level in which they balance caring for others and for themselves.

buddhism

considers volitional actions as supremely important because they contribute to a person’s karma, which then determines a person’s future

The Four Noble Truths

What are these?

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* (1) Whatever is tied to our individuality, such as birth, age, disease, death, and pain, brings suffering.
* (2) We suffer because we crave things: pleasure, life, power.
* (3) Only putting an end to craving will end our suffering.
* (4) Craving can be ended only by following the Noble Eightfold Path of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

*da-na*

the willingness to give when need arises

*metta*

loving kindness

*Philia*

brotherly love

*Eros*

an intensely passionate love

*agape*

the love that God or a Christian has for every person even if there is nothing good, pleasurable, or useful about that person