ETHICS: MODULE 5 ULTIMATE GOOD

Egoism
Altruism
Virtue Ethics

Theories of Summum Bonum (ULTIMATE GOOD):

• Actions which, if constantly pursued, will lead to the best possible life

Egoism

• The “self” philosophy

  • Descriptive/Psychological Egoism

  • Normative Egoism

  • Conditional Egoism

Descriptive/Psychological Egoism
Inherently
Wired
Natural

• Humans are _ selfish because such is the manner they are _.

• It is _ for humans to act based on fulfilling or maximizing their self-interests and there is no point in claiming and/or proving the contrary.

Normative Egoism
ought
Before

• Humans _ to be selfish by promoting oneself over others.

• “Ethics has to recognize that egoism comes _ altruism. The act required for self-preservation is the first requisite to universal welfare. Unless each duly cares for himself, his care for all others is ended in death, and if each thus dies, there remain no others to be cared for.”

  • Rational Egoism

  • Ethical Egoism

Rational Egoism
Rejects
Actor
Beneficiary

• It is right for a man to live his own life.

• Selfishness is a proper virtue to pursue.

"Rand _ the idea of selfless selfishness and argues that, "the _ must always be the _ of his action and that man must act for his own rational self-interest."

Rational Egoism

The Prisoner’s Dilemma:

• The prisoner’s dilemma shows that _ fails because 2 people acting strictly in their own self-interest can end up with a worse result than if they cooperated. It proves that personal selfishness does not always create the best outcome for everyone involved, including the selfish individuals.

Ethical Egoism
my

• The moral thing to do is to act based on maximizing our self-interests.

• Individual

  • An individual ethical egoist would hold that all should do whatever benefits "_" self-interest.

• Personal

  • One should act in their self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do

• Universal

  • Everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest.

Conditional Egoism
betterment
Whole
Improved
Ought

• Self-interested behavior can be accepted and applauded if it leads to the _ of society as a _; the ultimate test rests not on acting self-interestedly but on whether society is _ as a result.

"If egoistic behavior lends itself to society’s detriment, then it _ to be stopped."

Altruism
Expense

• The “others before self” philosophy

• involves acting out of concern for the

  well-being of others at the _ of one's own

  interests.

former excludes the self

Altruism differs from utilitarianism in such a way

that the _ in discerning

the moral equivalence of an action, while the latter

could do such in its determination of which action

accrues the greatest amount of happiness.

Virtue Ethics

• Aristotle

It emphasizes the character of the moral agent,

rather than the morality of their actions (i.e.,

consequentialism) or the primacy of moral duty

(i.e., deontology).

Telos
Apart from himself

Aristotle provides that everything has a _ (i.e., end).

• Instrumental

Those used to attain something apart

from itself (e.g., money to buy food;

things to create something else)

• Final

Those found at the end of the chain

of cause and effect (e.g., satisfaction

of hunger; the created something)

• Supreme

Those considered to be unconditionally final or

chosen for their own sake and nothing else.

Eudaimonia
good
spirit
Happiness
Excellence
Rationality

• eu (_) + daimon (_)

• is the kind of happiness that transcends its fleeting

nature. It must be the kind of _ that flourishes an

individual for them to attain _ in their lives.

• is humans’ supreme end.

• Happiness is understood in light of reason since

  for humans, the possession and enjoyment of

  _ is what separates them from beasts

  that derive different happiness from mere

  satisfaction of base desires.

Arete
Intellectual virtues
Moral virtues

Aristotle highlights that to attain happiness, one must possess and practice _.

• Man must possess two kinds of virtues: _ (those aligned with academic excellence, pursuit of knowledge, comprehension of theoretical, abstract, and universal ideas) and _ (the character we project or act upon).

• For Aristotle, the former bears more importance than the latter, yet he also spends a lengthy discussion for the latter.

The Golden Mean
Vice
Virtues
Vices

• The things that we do are associated with our thoughts and emotions, and to have too much or too little of a particular emotion may lead to a _.

• According to Aristotle, our actions usually fall under two (2) categories:

  • _ and

  • _.