ethical theories

Kanthian Ethics- must do your duty discoverable through categorical imperative e.g. universalizability, persons as ends and kingdom of ends

deontological, absolutist

relies on a rational world, which is not guaranteed

ignores the outcome of a situation even though some are foreseeable

ignore human emotion (mackie’s ethic of fantasy)

Foot’s lack of a categorical motivation

Can’t explain conflicting duties

If reasoned properly every single person would make the same decision when reasoned correctly.

Duty is better than our emotions, inclinations and intuitions as these change constantly but our duty remains the same.

We cannot predict outcomes and therefore it is wrong to base our decisions on them.

natural law-

derived good and bad from observing the natural world

4 tiers

synderesis, telos

primary precepts are not particularly controversial as they are goods which are valued by all societies

some flexibility in application as the secondary precepts allows us to take situation into account

assures certain human rights such as the right to life and education as fundamental properties in the world.

commits the is-ought fallacy observes what happens in the world and assumes that is what must/should happen.

tension between absolutism and flexibility

you can argue natural law is impractical in its application as the primary precepts are too vague to cover your day to day ethical decisions of the more complex ones.

utilitarianism

principle of utility, greatest bounds of good over evil

act and rule

difficult to argue that happiness isn’t a good thing as all people would argue that they want to be happy

secular ethical theory and does not rely on God or other metaphysical ideas that cannot be proved in order to justify its decisions

democratic in that everyone counts equally regardless of whom they are- each person’s potential pains or pleasures are considered. requires thta we are impartial in our decision making and do not count those nearer to us as more significant than a stranger.

application is quite convulted as there are many factors and variables especially when we start trying to use the hedonic calculus for each action as it takes time and is impractical.

utlitarianism requires that we are able to make a reasonable prediction to the outcome of each action. however, we cannot predict the future.

we cannot make accurate decisions to measure pleasure/ pain and happiness.

disregards moral agency e.g. jim and the indians- may be the right thing to do even if it is difficult as we are moral agents who hae to live with ourselves after the act so demands we violate our moral agency.

act is better than rule

• case by case decision making allows flexibility recognsies that 2 situations are the same

• could be argued that rule is incoherent as the theory ends up collapses into act utiliatarianism anyways so more and more exceptions are allowed (Smart)

rule is better than act

• offers a quicker approach to decision making and recognises case by case decision making is unecessary and very time consuming.

• allows us to make rules that uphold justice and rights which may be lost in individual case in act utiliarian.

situation ethics - always try to produce the most loving outcome

teleological, relativistic, agape

if everyone just tried to do the most loving thing all the time many people would be more ethical and love is also very hard to object to.

it is very flexible offering an answer to every exceptional situations avoiding the struggle stricter theories like natural laws may face.

quick to apply to any situation

doesn’t offer much guidance for the moral agent on what to actually do with the most loving thing to do as also subjective.

no moral boundaries on our actions as everything can be permitted given an extreme situation- some actions might be intrinsically wrong.

asks us to base our actions and moral decisions on predicitons of the future which is unreliable.

makes a decision we need to know what to take into account however it is unclear when situation begins and ends.