AQA ethics- normative ethical theories

what type of theory is situation ethics

situationist: rejects legalism and antinominalism
teleological/consequentialist: focused on the consequences of actions
religious

what was Fletcher inspired by

agape love shown by Jesus in the new testament

quote from Fletcher about inspiration for situation ethics

“love should be the predominant christian impulse”

quote from the new testament about agape love

“my command is this: love each other as i have loved you”

4 presuppositions + quote for each

pragmatism: “the truth is what works”
positivism: God of Love is posited so ethics should be 'faith working through love’
relativism: morality is relative “situationists avoid words like never”
personalism: people are the centre of concern “accept only the law of love”

what do the 6 fundamental principles mean

how situation ethics works in practise

6 fundamental principles

love is the only thing that’s intrinsically good: “whatever is the most loving thing… is the right and good thing”
love is the only norm
love and justice are the same: “love is justice distributed”
love justifies its means
love declares there and then: eg Jesus broke the rules of the Sabbath to do loving things
love is not liking

1st strength of situation ethics

provides moral autonomy
empowers people to make their own decisions and not blindly follow laws which means they have a deeper understanding of their acts

Robinson: situation ethics is “the only morality for man come of age”

counter scholar for Robinson

Barclay: “man has not yet come of age”
situation ethics provides too much moral autonomy and people have more moral responsibility than the church

counter to Barclay

religious believers think situation ethics allows us to use our god-given free-will which supports imago dei

1st weakness of situation ethics

6 fundamental principles are subjective
love is too subjective and vague to be at the centre of an ethical system. agapeic calculus can’t measure something that’s subjective

Vardy: flexibility leaves situation ethics open to abuse (slippery slope argument)

counter to Vardy

situation ethics being flexible & relative makes it the most relevant theory, can be updated to fit unique 21st century situations unlike NML

Barclay quote against situation ethics (Catholic Church agrees)

“there are things in no circumstances that can be right”

2nd weakness of situation ethics

focuses on motive
just because you act out of love doesn’t mean you have done the right thing, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’

Callahan: “[a] good ethical theory… should be… detached from individual self-interest”

Mortimer J Adler quote supporting 2nd weakness of situation ethics

“primarily concerned with.. what the individual ought to do in order to make a good life for himself”

2nd strength of situation ethics

it’s true to the ethics of the gospels
Jesus didn’t follow absolute laws eg: encouraged people to pick and eat grain on the Sabbath even though this goes against Jewish tradition: “the sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath”

counter scholar to 2nd strength of situation ethics

Murray: situation ethics conflict the need to keep God’s commandments which is emphasised in the Bible: “if you love me you will keep my commandments”

“a persistent animosity to keeping commandments.. the only conclusion is that there is.. opposition to the testimony of Jesus”

what type of theory is NML

deontological
absolutist
religious

quote from Cicero to support NML

“true law is right reason in agreement with nature”

fourfold division of law

eternal law: God’s will
divine law: God’s will revealed through revelation
natural moral law
human law: laws which regulate society

why does Aquinas believe everyone is inclined towards NML

its universal, accessible through natural order & unchangeable

what is the synderesis principle + what does it lead to

to “do good and avoid evil”, allows for beatific vision (union with God after death which is the purpose for humans)

what are primary precepts used for

to fulfil synderesis principle

5 primary precepts

protect innocent life
reproduce
worship God
live in an ordered society
educate children

what are secondary precepts

absolute rules that come from primary precepts eg: abortion is wrong because it goes against protecting innocent life

4 cardinal virtues

fortitude, temperance, justice, prudence

3 theological virtues

faith, hope, love

real vs apparent goods

real: are in line with primary and secondary precepts and get you closer to the ideal human nature

apparent: derived through pleasure and aren’t actually in line with primary and secondary precepts

interior and exterior act

intention and the act itself must be good for an action to be considered moral

double effect

actions that have a good and bad outcome can be permissible if they follow

nature of the act condition
means-end condition
right intention condition
proportionality condition

proportionalism

McCormick
modern NML: in extreme cases, satisfying the right intention condition and the proportionality condition may be sufficient to make an action morally permissible

1st strength of NML

objective foundation for ethics
grounds principles in objective facts about human nature which means that it’s a secure basis for moral decision-making in an increasingly complex world

Waters: NML manages the tendency towards nihilism and “avoids morality from [being] influenced by the individual’s emotions”

counter to Waters

NML doesn’t apply to secular societies because it requires faith, atheists wouldn’t agree with primary precept of worshipping God so NML is useless

Karl Barth NML

NML puts too much emphasis on human capacity to deduce morality but the Bible shows that reason is compromised due to the fall

counter to secular weakness of NML

Finnis: made a list of seven primary goods: eg: life & knowledge which doesn’t appeal to religious believers

1st weakness of NML

assumption of a universal human nature is false
values for the primary precepts are different across cultures and time making NML not universal

Pojman: “We may have many purposes, and our moral domain may include a certain relativity”

counter to Pojman

NML promotes the development of virtues
prudence puts emphasis on moral autonomy which makes NML less absolutist

2nd weakness of NML

may lead to immoral outcomes
secondary precept rejecting contraception means the Catholic Church discourages contraception which has led to an increase in the spread of sexually transmitted infections like HIV

Barry Schwartz: over-reliance on deontology causes us to lose moral wisdom

counter to 2nd weakness of NML

proportionalist double effect: taking contraception may be permissible from right intention and proportionality

McCormick: NML has become “magisterium-dominated” so a more flexible approach is needed to reflect Aquinas

3rd weakness of NML

requires a religious standpoint
derived from eternal and divine law, secular thinkers would not agree on Aquinas’ primary precepts that satisfy the synderesis principle & would not believe in beatific vision

Dawkins: ethics that appeal to religion lack authority because God is “a misogynistic, megalomaniacal bully”

2nd strength of NML

simple but detailed decision-making procedure
precepts are easy to understand and apply and double effect can be used to decipher difficult moral situations

what type of theory is virtue ethics

character based: focuses on a person developing into a virtuous person
secular

4 material causes + quotes for each

material cause: “immanent material a thing comes into being”
formal cause: “the definition of the essence”
efficient cause: the person that makes the thing “from the change… first begins”
final cause: “the sake of what a thing is”

outline Aristotle’s function argument

• all living things have the nutritive, appetitive, and locomotive soul

• humans are unique because we have a rational soul and its function is to exercise reason

• cultivated people agree that a virtuous life is better than an un-virtuous one so the good of humans is to exercise reason well

relationship between goodness and function + quote

goodness is based on how well something fulfils its purpose eg a kife is good because it cuts things well

“the good and the well is thought to reside in the function”

eudaimonia

supreme good & flourishing

what does Aristotle believe about eudaimonia

• you need lesser goods like health & wealth to lead to it

• you can’t achieve it in a short period “a short time doesn’t make a man blessed and happy”

• being a virtuous person contributes to achieving eudaimonia

function of humans for Aristotle + quote

to look for their unique reason and exercise it well
“the function of man… to be an activity of the soul”

what does the irrational soul contain

appetitive and nutritive soul

what does the rational soul contain

theoretical reason: contemplation
practical reason: phronesis

quote for the rational soul

“requires experience and time”

contemplation

“most continuous” action humans can do because we will always have unique reason throughout life

how do virtues come about + quote

from exercising the rational and irrational soul
“come about as a result of habit”

phronesis

practical wisdom
virtuous people can make informed, ration decisions
“a true and reasoned state of capacity.. with regard to… good and bad for man”

doctrine of the mean

virtues lie between 2 vices, deficiency and excess
using our phronesis & doctrine of the mean we can assess situations and decipher the most virtuous action

1st strength of virtue ethics

avoids the pitfalls of deontological and consequentialist ethics
deontological: following rules could lead to immoral outcomes
consequentialist: may perform immoral actions for good outcomes

Anscombe: too focused on reward and punishment or consequences means that they don’t have the foundations to provide ethical guidance

counter to Anscombe

using your phornesis can be subjective so each person might decipher the ‘most virtuous’ action

2nd strength of virtue ethics

holistic
it takes development of character into account, developing virtues can be seen as a worthwhile life-long activity. allows for people to self-reflect and act as virtuous role models

counter to 2nd strength of virtue ethics + example

theory is elitist
Aristotle is a philosopher so he is biased saying that the function of humans is to exercise our rational soul

the hedonists, politicians, and philosophers strive for different things (pleasure, honour, contemplation)

3rd strength of virtue ethics

doesn’t require religious beliefs so its applicable to everyone

1st weakness of virtue ethics

vague theory
doesn’t give us set rules (deontological) or outcomes to strive for (consequentialist)
Aristotle only says that to become virtuous you should practice virtuous acts but doesn’t say how you should go about this
process of moral decision-making is left to the individual

Pojman: suffers from a “problem of application”

counter to scholar Pojman (virtue ethics)

Machyntire: morality should be focused on developing your telos so it’s applicable for modern situations, virtue ethics should only be a basis

2nd weakness of virtue ethics

anthropocentric

Aristotle thinks that animals don’t have a rational soul so they can’t achieve eudaimonia. Their only purpose is nutrition and growth, they aren’t worthy of moral consideration

counter scholar to 2nd weakness of virtue ethics

Naussbaum: virtue ethics can be updated to contain more relevant virtues like compassion, believes that animals can flourish too

3rd weakness of virtue ethics

meta-ethical issues
Aristotle doesn’t explain why the 11 virtues are virtuous so you couldn’t convince a moral sceptic why they should follow virtue ethics
outdated, different societies see different values in different traits