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ETHICS: DISCOVERING RIGHT AND WRONG

Louis Pojman, James Fieser

Book Outline to Sixth Edition

Prepared by James Fieser

1. WHAT IS ETHICS

1)Introduction

i)Kitty Genovese example

2)Ethics and its subdivisions

i)Philosophy

(a)Clarify concepts, analyze and test propositions and beliefs

(b)Major task is to analyze and construct arguments

ii)Ethics vs. morality

(a)Both terms derive their meaning from the idea of “custom”, that is, normal behavior

(b)Moral: Latin word “mores”

(c)Ethical: Greek “ethos”

iii)The study of ethics draws on three subdivisions

(a)Descriptive morality: actualbeliefs, customs, principles, and practices of people and cultures

(b)Moral philosophy (ethical theory): the systematic effort to understand moral concepts and justify moral principles and theories

(c)Applied ethics: deals with controversial moral problems, e.g., abortion, premarital sex, capital punishment, euthanasia, and civil disobedience

3)Morality as compared with other normative subjects

i)Religion

(a)Morality can be independent of religion

(b)The practice of morality need not be motivated by religious considerations

(c)Moral principles need not be grounded in revelation or divine authority

(d)Limitation: we don’t agree about the authority behind religious rules

ii)Law

(a)Many laws are instituted in order to promote well-being, resolve conflicts of interest, and promote social harmony, just as morality does

(b)Ethics may judge that some laws are immoral

(c)Some aspects of morality are not covered by law

  1. e.g., helping others in need
  2. It is impractical to have laws against bad intentions, but bad intentions are still immoral

(d)Limitation: you can’t have a law against every social problem, or enforce every desirable rule

iii)Etiquette

(a)Etiquette determines what is polite behavior rather than what is rightbehavior in a deeper sense

(b)Limitation: it doesn’t get to the heart of what is vitally important for personal and social existence

4)Traits of moral principles

i)Prescriptivity: the practical, or action-guiding, nature of morality; involves commands

ii)Universalizability: moral principles must apply to all people who are in a relevantly similar situation

iii)Overridingness: moral principles have predominant authority and override other kinds of principles

iv)Publicity: moral principles must be made public in order to guide our actions

v)Practicability: moral principles must be workable and its rules must not lay a heavy burden on us when we follow them

5)Domains of ethical assessment

i)Action

(a)Right act:permissible

  1. Obligatory act: morality requires you to do
  2. Optional act:neither obligatory nor wrong to do
  3. Neutral act
  4. Supererogatory act: exceed what morality requires

(b)Wrong act:you have an obligation, or a duty, to refrain from doing

(c)Deontological ethical ethics: something is inherently right or good about such acts as truth-telling and promise-keeping and inherently wrong or bad about such acts as lying and promise-breaking

  1. e.g. Ten Commandments, Golden Rule, Kant’s Categorical Imperative

ii)Consequences

(a)If the consequences are on balance positive, then the action is right; if negative, then wrong

(b)Teleological ethical theories: focus primarily on consequences in determining moral rightness and wrongness

iii)Character: moral assessment based

(a)Virtue theories: moral assessment is based on good or bad character traits of people

iv)Motive

(a)Two acts may appear identical on the surface, but we may judge them differently based on the motives of agent

2. ETHICAL RELATIVISM

1)Introduction

i)Examples: missionaries imposing their values on tribal cultures

ii)Ethnocentrism: the prejudicial view that interprets all of reality through the eyes of one’s own cultural beliefs and values

iii)Moral objectivism: there are universal moral principles, valid for all people and social environments

iv)Ethical nihilism: no valid moral principles exist, that morality is a complete fiction

v)Two kinds of ethical relativism

(a)Subjective Ethical Relativism (subjectivism): all moral principles are justified by virtue of their acceptance by an individual agent him or herself

(b)Conventional ethical relativism (conventionalism): all moral principles are justified by virtue of their cultural acceptance

2)Subjective Ethical Relativism (Subjectivism)

i)Moral judgments are person-relative

ii)Criticism: notions of good and bad cease to have interpersonal evaluative meaning

3)Conventional Ethical Relativism (Conventionalism)

i)The diversity and dependency theses

(a)Diversity Thesis: What is considered morally right and wrong varies from society to society, so there are no universal moral standards held by all societies

  1. Anthropological contention, also called “cultural relativism”

(b)Dependency Thesis: Whether or not it is right for an individual to act in a certain way depends on or is relative to the society to which he or she belongs

ii)Argument for intercultural tolerance (anthropologist Melville Herskovits)

(a)The argument

  1. If morality is relative to its culture, then there is no independent basis for criticizing the morality of any other culture but one’s own
  2. If there is no independent way of criticizing any other culture, then we ought to be tolerant of the moralities of other cultures
  3. Morality is relative to its culture
  4. Therefore, we ought to be tolerant of the moralities of other cultures

(b)Criticisms of the argument for tolerance

  1. Tolerance is a value that some societies could adopt, and others reject

4)Criticisms of Conventional Ethical Relativism

i)Undermines important values

(a)Can’t criticize anyone who espouses heinous principles (Hitler’s genocidal actions)

(b)Moral reformers are always wrong (civil disobedience isn’t justifiable)

(c)Unless we have an independent moral basis for law, it is hard to see why we have any general duty to obey it

ii)Leads to Subjectivism

(a)Problem: since we are members of different subcultures, we can be morally right and wrong at the same time (e.g., a Catholic having a legal abortion in the US)

(b)Relativists might reply that we can choose which subgroup to follow; however, this collapses into subjectivism since individuals would essentially be creating their own values by selectively choosing their subgroup

iii)Moral diversity is exaggerated

(a)There are some core moral values that we see throughout the world (O.E. Wilson, rejection of the diversity thesis)

(b)e.g., duties of restitution and reciprocity, regulations on sexual behavior, obligations of parents to children, a no-unnecessaryharm principle, and a sense that the good people should flourish and the guilty people should suffer

iv)Weak dependency does not imply relativism

(a)Two dependency theses

  1. Weak view: the application of moral principles depends on one’s culture
  2. Strong view: the moral principles themselves depend on one’s culture

(b)The non-relativist can accept the weak view

(c)Relativists need the strong view, which is difficult to prove since it requires ruling out all rival sources of substantive moral principles

v)The indeterminacy of translation (Quine)

(a)Languages are often so fundamentally different from each other that we cannot accurately translate concepts from one to another; thisseems to imply that each society’s moral principles depend upon its unique linguistically-grounded culture

(b)Criticism: we do learn foreign languages and learn to translate across linguistic frameworks

3. MORAL OBJECTIVISM

1)Introduction

i)Example of enslaved girl from Mali

ii)Moral objectivism: there are universal moral principles, valid for all people and social environments

iii)Moral absolutism: there are nonoverridable moral principles that one ought never violate

2)Aquinas’s Objectivism and Absolutism

i)Natural law theory

(a)Natural law: morality is a function of human nature, and reason can discover valid moral principles by looking at the nature of humanity and society

(b)Three features of natural law theory

  1. Human beings have an essential rational nature established by God, who designed us to live and flourish in prescribed ways (from Aristotle and the Stoics)
  2. Even without knowledge of God, reason, as the essence of our nature, can discover the laws necessary for human flourishing (from Aristotle; developed by Aquinas)
  3. The natural laws are universal and unchangeable, and one should use them to judge individual societies and their positive laws. Positive (or actual) laws of societies that are not in line with the natural law are not truly laws but counterfeits (from the Stoics)

ii)Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE)

(a)Moral laws are absolute, but the DDE allows for the resolution of some moral dilemmas under strict conditions

(b)Four conditions for an act to be moral

  1. The nature-of-the-act condition. The action must be either morally good or indifferent. Lying or intentionally killing an innocent person is never permissible
  2. The means-end condition. The bad effect must not be the means by which one achieves the good effect
  3. The right-intention condition. The intention must be the achieving of only the good effect, with the bad effect being only an unintended side effect. If the bad effect is a means of obtaining the good effect, then the act is immoral. The bad effect may be foreseen but must not be intended
  4. The proportionality condition. The good effect must be at least equivalent in importance to the bad effect

(c)Examples

  1. Abortion: abortion is not permissible but if the mother has cervical cancer and her life is at risk, she can have a hysterectomy which will kill the fetus as the unintended effect
  2. Also used to condemn contraception use and defend strategic bombing

(d)Problems with the DDE

  1. Some of the prescriptions implied by the DDE are counterintuitive
  2. Trolley car example
  3. Different ways of describing an act
  4. DDE tied too closely with human purposes ordained by God, which runs counter to evolution

(e)Conclusion about absolutism

  1. Alternative to DDE and absolutism: prima facie duties: valid rules of action that one should generally adhere to but that, in cases of moral conflict, may be overridable by another moral principle
  2. Absolutism is not necessary for objectivism

3)Moderate objectivism

i)Argument against moral relativism

(a)Acceptance of at least one objective moral principle

(b)“It is morally wrong to torture people for the fun of it”

ii)Core morality

(a)Do not kill innocent people

(b)Do not cause unnecessary pain or suffering

(c)Do not lie or deceive

(d)Do not steal or cheat

(e)Keep your promises and honor your contracts

(f)Do not deprive another person of his or her freedom

(g)Do justice, treating people as they deserve to be treated

(h)Reciprocate: Show gratitude for services rendered

(i)Help other people, especially when the cost to oneself is minimal

(j)Obey just laws

iii)Argument for core morality from our common human nature

(a)Human nature is relatively similar in essential respects, having a common set of basic needs and interests

(b)Moral principles are functions of human needs and interests, instituted by reason to meet the needs and promote the most significant interests of human (or rational) beings

(c)Some moral principles will meet needs and promote human interests better than other principles

(d)Principles that will meet essential human needs and promote the most significant interests in optimal ways are objectively valid moral principles

(e)Therefore, since there is a common human nature, there is an objectively valid set of moral principles, applicable to all humanity (or rational beings)

4)Ethical situationalism

i)Ethical situationalism: objective moral principles are to be applied differently in different contexts

4. VALUE AND THE QUEST FOR THE GOOD

1)Introduction

i)Automobile example: valuing convenience over risk

ii)Rescher’s list of eight basic values

  1. Material and physical value: health, comfort, physical security
  2. Economic value: economic security, productiveness
  3. Moral value: honesty, fairness, kindness
  4. Social value: generosity, politeness, graciousness
  5. Political value: freedom, justice
  6. Aesthetic value: beauty, symmetry, grace
  7. Religious value: piety, obedience, faith
  8. Intellectual value: intelligence, clarity, knowledge

2)Intrinsic and instrumental value

i)Intrinsic goods: are good because of their nature, and are not derived from other goods

(a)e.g., pleasure and pain: we do not need any arguments to convince us that pleasure is good or that gratuitous pain is intrinsically bad

ii)Instrumental goods: are worthy of desire because they are effective means of attaining our intrinsic goods

3)The value of pleasure

i)Hedonism: all pleasure is good, that pleasure is the only thing good in itself, and that all other goodness is derived from this value

(a)Sensualism: equates all pleasure with sensual enjoyment

  1. Aristippus: the good is sensual pleasure

(b)Satisfactionism: all pleasure with satisfaction or enjoyment, which may not involve sensuality

  1. Epicurus: a broader notion of pleasure that includes “sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and avoidance”

ii)Nonhedonists: deny that pleasure is the highest good

(a)Monists: there is a single intrinsic value, but that it is not pleasure

(b)Pluralists: pleasure is one of many intrinsic goods along with knowledge, friendship, aesthetic beauty, freedom, love, moral goodness, and life itself

iii)Mill: there were different qualities of pleasure, some higher, others lower

4)Are values objective or subjective?

i)Values are objective

(a)Plato: goods have an independent existence of values apart from human or rational interest

(b)Moore: Good is a simple, unanalyzable quality known through intuition

(c)Weaker objectivism: values are emergentproperties or qualities in the nature of things

ii)Values are subjective

(a)Perry: values as merely products of conscious desire

5)The relation of value to morality

i)Whether the moral notions of right and wrong are themselves intrinsic values

6)The good life

i)How values are connected with human happiness and the good life

ii)Objectivism: happiness is a single ideal for human nature

(a)Human purpose or telos: we have an innate purpose towards which we all strivePlato: happiness is “harmony of the soul.”

iii)Subjectivism: happiness is in the eyes of the beholder

(a)I am the only one who decides or knows whether I am happy

iv)Combination view: incorporates both objectivism and subjectivism

(a)Rawls’s “plan of life” conception of happiness: there are primary goods that function as the core from which may be derived any number of possible life plans

v)Missing ingredients of the happiness machine:

(a)Action: we are entirely passive in the machine

(b)Freedom: we want to make choices

(c)Character: we want to be something and someone

(d)Relationships: there are no real people in our Happiness Machine life

5. SOCIAL CONTRACT AND THE MOTIVE TO BE MORAL

1)Introduction

i)Immoral car dealership example

ii)Social contract theory: the moral and political theory that people collectively agree to behave morally as a way to reduce social chaos and create peace

iii)Two specific questions

(a)Why does society need moral rules?

(b)Why should I be moral?

2)Why does society need moral rules

i)Hobbes and the State of Nature

(a)Human nature

  1. Human beings always act out of perceived self-interest
  2. We are equally able to harm others, and have equal desires to satisfy our goals

(b)State of nature

  1. A war of all against all where there are no common ways of life, no enforced laws or moral rules, and no justice or injustice

(c)Social contract

  1. We give up some of our liberty in exchange for peace
  2. We establish rules of law and create a government assures that we follow the rules out of fear of punishment

(d)Morality is a form of social control

ii)Hobbesian Morality and“Lord of the Flies”

(a)Boys ages six to twelve from an English private school, cast adrift on an uninhabited Pacific island, create their own social system, which dissolves into chaos

(b)Problem: the devil emerges from the depths of the subconscious whenever there is a conflict of interest or a moment of moral laziness

(c)Solution: we need social rules (formed over the ages and internalized within us)to hold us back anddefeat thedevil in society

iii)Social Order and the Benefits of Morality

(a)Five social benefits of establishing and following moral rules

  1. Keep society from falling apart;
  2. Reduce human suffering;
  3. Promote human flourishing;
  4. Resolve conflicts of interest in just and orderly ways;
  5. Assign praise and blame, reward and punishment, and guilt

3)Why should I be moral?

i)The Story of Gyges

(a)Story: Shepherd finds a ring that makes him invisible; he thus uses it to kill the king, seduce the queen and become king himself

(b)Point: If I can break moral rules when they benefit me without getting caught, what motivation is there for me to accept the moral viewpoint at all

ii)Plato’s first answer: we should choose the life of the “unsuccessful” just person because it’s to our advantage to be moral

(a)Criticism: the harm that good people sufferis in fact not compensated by one’s inner goodness

iii)Plato’s second answer: God will reward or punish people on the basis of their virtue or vice

(a)Criticism: we do not know for certain whether there is a God or life after death

4)Morality, self-interest and game theory

i)Game theory: models of social interaction involving games in which players make decisions that will bring each of them the greatest benefit

ii)Game 1: The Prisoner’s Dilemma

(a)Each player will be forced to look out for his or her own best interests and violate their original agreement to stay silent

(b)Implication for ethics: it’s better for me to secretly violate society’s rules, regardless of what other people do

(c)Criticism: the prisoner’s dilemma is a poor model since it inaccurately depicts moral choices as a one shot event

iii)Game 2: Cooperate or Cheat

(a)In this game it is best to follow the principle “Always cooperate if the other fellow does and cheat only ifhe cheats first.”

(b)Implication for ethics: rational self-interest over the long run would demand that and you and I cooperate

iv)Conclusion: the reason that I should be moral is that it is reasonable for me to allow some disadvantage for myself so that I may reap an overall, long-run advantage

5)The Motivation to Always be Moral

i)The paradox of morality and advantage

(a)Lingering problem: why should I be moral all of the time

(b)Expressed in this paradox