Traits of Moral Principles

Moral principles

serve as action-guiding rules for individuals and society.

Prescriptivity

○ Universalizability

○ Overridingness

○ Publicity

○ Practicability

The Five Pillars: To function effectively as guides to conduct, moral principles

generally possess five specific traits:

– Prescriptivity

This is the commanding aspect of morality.

Prescriptivity

It is intended for use—to advise people, influence action, and appraise

behavior.

Prescriptivity

It is used to assign praise and blame, often producing feelings of satisfaction or

guilt in the agent.

Universalizability

Moral principles must apply to all people who are in a relevantly similar

situation.

If an act is judged right for one person, it must be right for any

other person in that same context.

Golden Rule

("Do to others what you would want them to do to

you")

Universalizability

It is an extension of the principle of consistency, requiring us to be stable

in our moral judgments.

Overridingness

Moral principles have predominant authority and take precedence over other

considerations.

Overridingness

When morality clashes with aesthetic, prudential

(self-interested), or legal principles, the moral principle should "win".

Publicity

Moral principles must be made public so they can guide our collective actions.

Publicity

Since we use these principles to give advice and assign praise or blame,

keeping them a secret would be self-defeating.

Practicability

A moral principle must be workable and not lay too heavy a burden on

ordinary people.

Practicability

Ethical systems must take human frailty into account to avoid

causing moral despair or deep guilt from "overly idealistic" requirements.

John Rawls

As philosopher _______ noted, principles should be

ones that average moral agents can reasonably follow without extreme hardship.

Command/Imperative

core concept of Prescriptivity

Prescriptivity

To direct and evaluate

behavior.

Consistency

core concept Universalizability

Universalizability

To ensure fairness for all

similar cases.

Highest Authority

core concept of Overridingness

Overridingness

To resolve conflicts between

values.

Openness

core concept of Publicity

Publicity

To allow principles to serve

as social guides.

Realism

core concept of Practicability

Practicability

To ensure the rules are

followable by humans.