Ethics

ethics

from the Greek words meaning “one’s character” and “nature”

• a branch of philosophy that deals with defining right and wrong behavior

• e.g. what is right and wrong behavior?

metaethics

• “after ethics”

• investigates the origin and meaning of ethical concepts

  • where do ethical values come from? God or ourselves?

  • what is the nature of ethics?

ethics

from the Greek words meaning “one’s character” and “nature”

• a branch of philosophy that deals with defining right and wrong behavior

• e.g. what is right and wrong behavior?

metaethics

• “after ethics”

• investigates the origin and meaning of ethical concepts

  • where do ethical values come from? God or ourselves?

  • what is the nature of ethics?

normative ethics

• investigates rules or standards for determining good and bad ethical behavior

  • is it ethically wrong to lie?

  • are all lies ethically wrong?

  • are ethical standards universal?

  • are ethical standards relative depending on the society?

applied ethics

evaluates specific, controversial ethical questions

• what rights should animals have?

• how should we treat criminals?

• what rights should people generally have?

• what should euthanasia laws be?

moral realism

• there are objective, universal moral values

• therefore, there are universal truths to questions of morality and ethics

  • e.g. “it is always wrong to steal from someone you don’t know”

moral anti-realism

• there are no objective moral values

• therefore, moral and ethical rightness or wrongness is dependent on time, culture, situation, etc.

  • e.g. “the rightness or wrongness to steal is totally dependent on the time and place you are living”

deontology

• an action is right or wrong based on the action itself, and not its outcomes

• the end does not justify the means

  • e.g. “lying is always wrong regardless of the situation

divine command theory

• God created the universe, which includes “good” and “bad”

• an act is only morally good or bad as dictated by God

  • e.g. “all moral answers are found in the bible, regardless of how you personally feel”

consequentialism

• an action is morally right if it produces positive outcomes

  • e.g. “it is moral to lie or to kill an enemy soldier if it will save the lives of innocent people”

negative consequentialism

• an action is morally right if it minimizes bad consequences

  • e.g. choosing not to get sushi with your 10 friends if you know 1 of them absolutely hates it

utilitarianism

• the happiness or well-being of the greatest number of people is ethically correct

  • e.g. choosing to kill one person in order to save the lives of four

altruism

• an action is morally right if it produces the best outcomes for other people minus yourself

• involves some sacrifice

hedonism

• pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind

  • e.g. “pursuing happiness and pleasure first is completely ethical”

egoism

• an action is correct if ti benefits the self

  • e.g. “taking care of myself first is perfectly ethical - everyone should take care of themselves first”

The Ring of Gyges

• from Plato’s Republic

• the ring of Gyges presents the wearer with the ability to become invisible and essentially do whatever they want

Plato’s conclusion:

• we only act morally because we fear legal consequences and negative judgments of our reputations

• he argues that we are essentially hedonists if given enough power

the experience machine

• from Robert Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia)

• amazingly complex machine you could plug into - programmed to give you any experience you want

• connects your brain + senses are stimulated, so that you believe what you’re experiencing is real

• you can program the machine to create simulations for you for as long as you want

• you could choose a variety of different programs, like a week of vacationing followed by a week of survival games

• you could choose to forget your real life once in the machine, so your happiness is not spoiled by the realization that it’s a simulation

Nozick’s conclusion:

• people would ultimately not choose to plug into the experience machine for life

Reasons why people would ultimately not choose to plug into the experience machine for life:

1. people prefer to do things rather than just experience them

2. people want to choose to be a certain way - being hooked up would forfeit control to the machine

3. the machine would limit our contact to the outside world

4. we prefer control over our real lives instead of control over a fake one

Mencius’ child in a well

• imagines a child playing along the edge of a deep well

• Mencius argues that if anyone were to witness this, they would immediately feel distress and runt o protect the child

• your motivation to protect the child would not be based on reward, praise, or a desire to be better friends with the parents

  • it would be based on innate human compassion

Drowning Child thought experiment

by Peter Singer (Australian philosopher)

• ur walking home form school and notice a child is drowning in a pond nearby, but you’re wearing expensive shoes and clothes

  • do you risk getting your shoes and clothes dirty to save the child’s life?

  • you answered yes - of course it would be ethical to save the child even if it ruins your shoes

• but what about donating a few dollars to buy mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa?

Argument:

• you would feel more obligated + better about saving the drowning child than donating to a cause that would save as many or more lives

• our obligation to help others is tied to our locality to them

The Land of Certus

by Thomas D David

• wanderer gets lost in forest, meets farmer who leads him to the town of Rechsten in the Land of Certus

• some people have their faces lit up with either green or red light

• farmer said that God said when u do smth good, light = green, when you do smth bad, light = red

• wanderer had some doubts - where he’s from, they don’t believe in god, so he thinks maybe the lights are naturally occurring or open for interpretation

  • farmer says no - it’s God

• went to drink, learned that drinking is fine if in moderation

• notice vile man named George who drinks too much, wants to do bad things, and wants everyone to do the same - is “corrupting the children”

• cannons placed on wall of Rechsten to defend the ppl from neighboring town who think that written laws are a better system than the lights

  • if you compared the written laws and the light system, there would be a lot of similarity, but the farmer says that just shows the cleverness of the devil

• at town square, George is tortured and executed for being a bad influence - everyone’s faces are green and the wanderer’s light turns red for disagreeing with their punishment

the eightfold path

1. right understanding

2. right thought

3. right speech

4. right action

5. right livelihood

6. right effort

7. right mindfulness

8. right concentration

goal: to reach Nirvana

the 3 ethical values associated with Buddhism

1. non-violence

2. treating all with compassion

3. patience

what constitutes a “good life” in Confucianism / Taoism

searching for peace and enlightenment by achieving harmony

how Confucianists and Taoists view people

not individuals, but part of a whole

Epicurus + his philosophy on hedonism

Greek philosopher who lived during 4th century BCE

• pleasures of the mind were more important

who founded stoicism?

Zeno of Citium

stoicism

• the good life involves living happily

• the universe is a well-ordered place — happiness is achieved through wisdom

stoic conduct in everyday life:

• eliminate desire

• accept things that cannot be controlled

virtue ethics

• emphasizes the role of character

• belief that a good person = a virtuous person

  • someone whose moral choices are guided by their good character rather than by simply weighing the consequences of specific actions

the first virtue ethicists

• socrates

• plato

• aristotle

Thomas Aquinas’ contributions to virtue ethics

• ppl can achieve perfection only by using their reason to know God

• emphasized virtue of right conduct (obeying god) instead of virtue of right character

W.D. Ross’ listed virtue ethics

from least to most important

1. fidelity - keeping promises and agreements

2. reparation - making up for committing wrongful acts

3. gratitude - repaying the favors of others

4. justice - correcting injustices

5. beneficence - improving the conditions of others

6. self-improvement - improving one’s own conditions

7. non-maleficence - not hurting others

existentialism in ethical terms

• absolute morals (such as those identified by virtue ethicists) do not exist

• authenticity - the idea of being true to oneself when making moral choices - is the only virtue worth striving for

Soren Kierkegaar’s contribution to existentialist ethics

• people must make and judge their own moral choices

• people must move beyond judging their actions according to reason or the standards of society, and become accountable only to the judgments of god

Friedrich Nietzsche’s contributions to existentialist ethics

• urged people to make their own moral choices rather than to unthinkingly accept the values of the majority

• rejected the view that people are ultimately accountable only to god

• in the absence of universal values, people must determine their own values

John Duns Scotus’ contibution to divine command theory

God’s commands define what is right

Thomas Aquinas’ contribution to divine command theory

• God commands ppl to do only things that are good and right

• God knows that is good and right through the natural law of reason

• because god and humans share the ability to reason, ppl can use this ability to come to know god’s commands

Jeremy Bentham

founded utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham’s “hedonistic calculus”

• quantifies and reasons what the correct moral action will be in a given scenario

• balances pleasure with pain

problems/criticisms of utilitarianism

• fails to define terms like pleasure and good

• maximum pleasure may not always be the best outcome

• overlooks the value of the minority in favor of the majority

Kantian ethics

• moral choices must be judged not by their consequences but by the good will of the moral agent

  • making decisions based on what you would want others to do

  • always telling the truth

  • ask whether or not such a decision should be a moral law

Ayn Rand’s contributions to egoism

• focused on the individual rather than the community

• believed in bettering yourself at the expense of others

intuitionism

a system that denies the role of logic and reason in making moral decisions

• a “gut feeling”

• e.g. the choice to save the drowning child over saving ur expensive clothes is a gut feeling

modernism

• catch-all phrase associated with forms of expression in the late 1800s and 1900s

  • includes art, architecture, literature, and philosophy

post-modernism

describes societal reactions to modernism in a variety of fields

post-modernist ethics

an ethical framework that rejects one universal moral code

Prisoners film

• examines the justification or non-justification of violence and torture in times of extreme desperation

• Keller, Franklin, Nancy = parents of the abducted girls

• Alex = the guy Franklin thinks kidnapped his daughter

• they act on less-than-certain information