Contemporary Moral Problems

By: James E. White

Submitted By:
Uson, Juan Miguel Carlos M.

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Table of Contents:

Ethical Theories
James Rachels: Egoism and Moral Scepticism………..1

John Arthur: Religion, Morality, and Conscience…….2

Friedrich Nietzsche: Master- and Slave- Morality…….3

Mary Midgley: Trying Out One's New Sword…………4

John Stuart Mill: Utalitarianism………………………..5

James Rachels: The Debate over Utilitarianism…………..6

Immanuel Kant: The Categorical Imperative…………..7

Aristotle: Happiness and Virtue…………………………..9

Joel Feinberg: The Nature and Value of Rights…………………10

Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights Seriously…………………….12

John Rawls: A Theory of Justice…………………………….14

Annette Baier: The Need for More Than Justice………………….12

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Chapter 1:
James Rachels: Egoism and Moral Scepticism
What I Expect to learn:

I expect to know what are the differences in egoism and moral scepticisim.

Review:

In this chapter, James Rachles examined about the psychological egoism and ethical
egoism. He defined psychological egoism that all human actions are self interested and that
ethical egoism is that all actions are ought to be self interested. Meaning, psychological egoism
is more on thinking about yourself and ethical egoism is more on doing thing that are supposed
to be done for yourself.

James Rachels also wrote in this chapter about Glaucon in Book II of Plato's republic.
He told us that Glaucon which is a Sheppard, found a magic ring in a place where an
earthquake occurred. James Rachels said that when Glaucon wore that magic ring from the
earthquake spot, he became invisible and could go anywhere and could do anything
that he wanted without being seen by anyone. This means that when Glaucon became
aware of the power that he was capable of when he wore that ring, Glaucon could do
anything that he wanted and that act falls on psychological egoism because he only did
things for himself. But on the other hand, if he did things that would not only benefit
himself but also benefit others, it would fall on ethical egoism because he would be
doing things not only for self interest.

This Chapter shows us that we should be aware of what are the things that we
do, and that if possible, we should think of what we are going do would fall on
psychological egoism or maybe fall in ethical egoism.

What I learned:

• I learned about the author.

• I now know the story about Glaucon.

Integrative Questions:

• Who is Glaucon?
• What did Glaucon find in the fissure opened by an earthquake?
• What are some works of James Rachels?
• What is psychological egoism?
• What is egoism?

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Chapter 2:
John Arthur: Religion, Morality, and
Conscience
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn about the differences of religion, morality and conscience.

Review:
John Arthur defined these Religion, Morality and Conscience in this chapter.
First, John Arthur said that we need religion because with religion, people would be
expected to do the right thing because of religious motivation. Secondly, John Arthur
said that Morality is something that shows whether what we do is wrong or right. John
Arthur also talked about conscience. and John Arthur said that conscience is one of the
psychological things that push us people to do what we think is right. Conscience
sometimes fights what we believe in and pushes us to do something else. Although
some people would consider conscience as something that would only interfere with our
decisions.

John Arthur also talked about Religious Motivation, that without this, people
would not be expected to do the right things. The reason why John Arthur talked about
this, he believed that people are supposed to do the right thing. Likewise with Morality, it
is needed by people because without morality in people, we would just tend to do
whatever we want anytime, anywhere. And for conscience, for some time, we would
need it because sometimes it tells us things that are surprisingly right.

If we look at Religion, Morality, and Conscience good in a bigger picture, we can

see that religion, morality and conscience is almost the same in some way. And when
we perfect this thought, i think that we can always do things that is not only right in our
perspective, but also to other people this may seem right.

What did I learn:

• I learned the difference of the three.

• I learned the some of the things that would happen if religion would be missing.

Integrative Questions:

• How important is Religion?

• What would happen if religion would be missing?
• Who is John Arthur?
• Why do we need Religion?

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Chapter 3:
Friedrich Nietzsche: Master- and Slave-
Morality
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn what Friedrich Nietzsche's Master and Slave Morality is all
about.

Review:

In this chapter, Friedrich Nietzsche's emphasized on the Master and Slave

concept. Friedrich Nietzsche's gave some examples on this topic. One of the examples
he included in this chapter was about the French Soldiers being slaves of the Upper-
class Men who were the King's. This concept is very well known, especially nowadays.
People tend to gain power because of this act. Some people would want to be slave's of
other people so that when their master would gain the power that they desire, they think
that they would be entitled to that power as well, without thinking that, even though that
their master would get that power, they would still be slaves. Also, someone could only
be a master if they were wealthy, well known and the like. As for those who were
powerless, poor, disrespected people, they would be the so called Slaves of the rich
men.

Some people say that Power can get you anywhere. But for me, I think that if you
want power, you have to earn it the clean and hard way. not the dirty and easy way.
Because if you do it like that, you would end up being one of the most hated people
where you are and people would not be happy with what you are doing. You may be
happy having all the things that a man could ask for, but people around you would suffer
the things that you would be doing. This is basically the concept of Friedrich Nietzsche's
Master and Slave Morality.

What have I learned:

• I have learned some values.

• I have learned about Friedrich Nietzsche's Master and Slave morality

Integrative Questions:

• How can you become a master?

• Who are considered to be the slaves?
• Who is Friedrich Nietzsche?
• In this chapter, what makes a person good

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Chapter 4:
Mary Midgley: Trying Out One's New
Sword
What I expect to learn:

I expect to know why Mary Midgley titled this "Trying Our One's New Sword".

Review:

This chapter of Mary Midgley mainly talks about the cultures of certain
countries mashed up with other cultures and its result. An example of this would be if for
example there would be a foreigner(family) in a country. And the culture of that family
would be that if their daughter would get raped, their family would be honored to kill their
daughter. but for the country where they are staying in, it would be immoral for them to
do such thing because that act would contradict with their culture in that country.

In this chapter, Mary Midgley also talked about "moral isolationism". Mary
Midgley said that we should not isolate ourselves in one culture. For sometime, we
should also try other cultures and understand why they do such things and what is the
basis of what they are doing. Mary Midgley also talked about the tsujigiri. A tsujigiri is a
sword that have been tried out because if it did not work well, they would have to try the
tsujigiri on a human slashing through human flesh and cutting them in half so that they
would know whether the tsujigiri would is good to use or not. For some people, they
would think that this act if very much wrong, but for some Japanese people, this is what
they believe in, and this is what they will be doing until that culture gets extinct.

What have I learned:

• I learned about moral isolation.

Integrative Questions:

• What is moral isolation?

• What is culture?
• Who is Mary Midgley?
• What are some of Mary Midgley's works?

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Chapter 5:
John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn about utilitarianism and know if some people still use this
philosophy.

Review:

This chapter of John Stuart Mill basically talks about the happiness of people in
life. John Stuart Mill said that in order for people to be happy he/she must be satisfied
with what he has. People would think that being sad is mostly done by events or things
that would make us feel bad, but people never really think that we people could choose
to be happy if wanted to. For example, majority of the people would be happy about one
thing, the other people should also be happy. At least that is what I understand about
John Stuart Mill concept on Utilitarianism. People nowadays would obviously choose to
be happy rather than to be sad. Of course, why would people choose to be sad when
can be happy. But for some people, it would just be hard to put themselves in a position
that no matter what they do to achieve happiness, it just doesn't work out for them. All
that John Stuart Mill is saying in this concept of utilitarianism is that people should just
be happy with what they have and what they are doing. No matter what decision you
make in life, you should always be looking on the bright side and be happy instead of
being sad.

What have I learned:

• I learned why people should be happy.

• I learned that sometimes people don’t know why they are happy.

Integrative Questions:

• Why should we be happy?

• Who is John Stuart Mill?
• What are some works of John Stuart Mill?

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Chapter 6:
James Rachels: The Debate over
Utilitarianism
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn why James Rachels wrote something also about Utilitarianism.

Review:

In this chapter, James Rachels said the hedonism is the idea that happiness is
the ultimate good and unhappiness the one ultimate evil. People should not be do
things that they think is right, but in fact is not right for other people. One example given
was about the Negroes. James Rachels said that the things that they do like killing
some inocent people are wrong, i definitely agree with that. Because I believe that
people should have the chance to defend themselves and try to right the wrong that
they have made. By that, they might have the chance to live and not be killed or
anything else. This is clearly written to kind of contradict to what John Stuart Mill meant
in his chapter on Utilitarianism. James Rachels kind of tweaked and gave some
opinions about the so called philosophy of John Stuart Mill which is Utilitarianism. And
the approach that James Rachels made on this chapter was very much effective
because it made readers know much more about Utilitarianism.

What have I learned:

• I learned about Utilitarianism.

• I kind of learned why James Rachels made this philosophy.

Integrative Questions:

• Who is James Rachels?

• What are some of the works of James Rachels?
• What is Hedonism?
• Why did James Rachels make this philosophy?

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Chapter 7:
Immanuel Kant: The Categorical
Imperative
What do I expect to learn:

I expect to understand what Immanuel Kant's "Categorical Imperative"

philosophy is all about and see if this philosophy is applicable to people nowadays.

Review:

This chapter generally talks about "The Good Will" and "Duty". The reason why
these two are in this chapter is because they are the key factors to look at regarding
Immanuel Kant's philosophy which is "The Categorical Imperative".

Immanuel Kant believed that "It is impossible to conceive anything at all in

the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except a
good will.". What he meant by that was not all the things that we think is good is always
good. It will always depend if the will is good or not. That is why ones Character is
always a big thing for people because that is where people will see you for who you
really are. Also in this chapter, he talked about good will and its results. Immanuel Kant
said that, a good will is not good because of the good results that you may gain from
doing something that you think is right, but what matters most is willingness alone.

He also talked about The Motive of Duty in this chapter. Immanuel Kant said that
it is hard to perceive whether something is a duty or something that has an addition to
an immediate inclination to the action. Duty is something that is that is mandatory to all
human beings. An example of a duty is to help others where one can. Another example
in the chapter is that the inclination of honour, deserves praise and encouragement, but
not esteem, not from inclination, but from duty. By performing duties, ones character will
begin to show and it will let people see that the person who shows good character does
well, not from inclination, but from duty itself.

Lastly, the chapter talked about The Categorical Imperative, wherein both Duty
and Good Will may be present. Categorical Imperative mainly means, asking yourself if
your decisions are right and asking yourself if your maxim would become a universal
law.

What I have learned:

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 • I understood the meaning of Duty
• I understood the meaning of Good Will
• I learned a new word ---> maxim

Integrative Questions:

• What is Categorical Imperative?

• Who was one of the most important philosopher of all time?

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Chapter 8:
Aristotle: Happiness and Virtue
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn where happiness comes from and how would you know if what
you feel is happiness and not something else. And i also expect to understand the word
virtue much better.

Review:

Aristotle is one of the most well known philosophers in the world because of his
contributions and philosophies. One of his contributions is his philosophy in "Happiness
and Virtue". He believed that all human beings seek happiness, and that happiness is
not pleasure, honor, or wealth, but an activity of the soul in accordance to virtue. and
that virtue on the other hand is basically being morally good.

Nowadays, people tend to think that happiness comes from pleasure, wealth, and
the like. Some people of superior refinement think differently because they identified
happiness with honor. But i think the main source of happiness comes from the person
himself. This is where virtue also comes in the picture. Virtue is mainly the act of doing
something morally good or righteous. I think virtue is almost similar to the good will
because both of them seem to have the same concept of doing good.

According to this chapter, I think that a person with virtue can easily achieve
happiness because there would be a lot of results after doing good to people around
them. May it be a good result or a bad result, it will always be something to think about if
what you do is morally good, and eventually, people would think that you are a good
person after all. All we need in order to feel Happiness is virtue and good intentions.

What I have learned:

• I learned more about the word "Happiness"

• I now know the meaning of virtue.

Integrative Questions:

• Where does happiness come from?

• How can you achieve happiness?
• Do we need virtue?

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Chapter 9:
Joel Feinberg: The Nature and Value of
Rights
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn where rights come from and what is the value of rights in our
lives. I also expect to gain more knowledge in terms of rights.

Review:

John Feinberg has an interesting philosophy named "The Nature of Value and
Rights". The way he illustrated this philosophy was by imagining something out of
nothing. He made his readers use their creativity and rationality in thinking about this
philosophy. This philosophy is very true and very important for people around the world
to understand because if they misunderstood or apply these rights improperly, it might
result to something very bad.

John Feinberg said that we should think about a place where there would be not
rights at all and that people could do anything they would want, may it be good or bad,
the people in that place would not be accountable for anything they would do, and that
place is what he would like to call Nowheresville. He experimented a lot on this
philosophy, even making him add some philosophies of other philosophers like
Immanuel Kant. He managed to merge his philosophy on "The Nature of Value of
Rights" with Immanuel Kant's philosophy on "Duty". He described Nowheresville as a
place wherein there would be no rights at all. but if you put in Immanuel Kant's
philosophy on duty, it would make a difference in Nowheresville because John Feinberg
believed that when implement Duty in Nowheresville, along with Duty, will come some
rights and laws.Now that duty is in now implemented in Nowheresville, we can now
have duties of the sort imposed by positive law. A legal duty will also be present in
Nowheresville, wherein a person should follow the law and is required to do that law
whether they would like it or not, and if they disobey that law, they will be subjected to
something that would repay their debts. In that place for example 2 cars in
Nowheresville would crash, neither of the two would be accountable to what happened,
and no one has any sound grievance or "right to complain".

What have I learned:

• How rights are very important.

• It would be chaotic to have a place similar to Nowheresville.
• Abide by the rules of the country.

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Integrative Questions:

• How important are the rights and laws of a person.

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Chapter 10:
Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights
Seriously
What I expect to learn:

I expect that by the time I finish reading this chapter I would know why there
are rights and how important they are to us people.

Review:

In this chapter, Ronald Dworkin talked about rights in general. He sub-divided

rights to three different sections. The three division are composed of "The Rights of
Citizens", "Rights and the right to break the law" and "Controversial Rights". Ronald
Dworkin also asked the question "Why take rights seriously?" to his readers, and
answered it in his own perspective.

We all know that all people and even some animals and other living things
have rights. Ronald Dworkin explained in this chapter his point of view regarding the
rights of citizens. He asked his readers many questions like, if our Government respects
the moral and political rights of citizens, and the like. Ronald Dworkin also said that
some philosophers did not approve the thought that people have rights apart from what
the law happens to give. Ronald Dworkin also explained that someone may have the
right to do something that is the wrong thing for someone to do. Meaning that, for
example a person would spend his money on gambling. Spending too much money on
gambling would be kind of a bad move because you could do a lot more with the money
that you have rather than spending it in gambling.

The reason why us people should be aware of our rights and should take them
seriously is because that if we do not practice our rights that well, we might be fooled by
people by making us do things that we think are right, but in fact if we do it, we would be
breaking the law.

What have i learned:

• I learned that we should be aware of our rights.

• I learned about Ronald Dworkin.

Integrative Questions:

• Who is Ronald Dworkin?

• What are some the works of Ronald Dworkin?

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 • Why do have to take rights seriously?
• a
• a

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Chapter 11:
John Rawls: A Theory of Justice
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn and know where Justice came from, how does if affect
people, and if it is important for us people to have.

Review:

In this chapter John Rawls said that there are two principles of justice. One
principle involves equal basic liberties and the second principle involves the
arrangement of social and economic inequalities. John Rawls aims to make the theory
of justice clear to his readers. This chapter of John Rawls says that we do know who we
are and that is not that easy to look for our real selves. We do not even know our status
in this world and because of this, no one can use anything as an advantage against
another person. This chapter talks about the first principle that for example, a man is
experiencing something that is not that good to experience, another person should be
experiencing the exact thing that the other person if experiencing. By this way, all
people would be equal and no one would be above another person. And the second
principle of John Rawls says that there should be an equal distribution of wealth and
that there should be no one that should be above other people in terms of wealth. All
people should be equal.

What have I learned:

• I learned about John Rawls principles.

• I learned that people should be equal.

Integrative Questions:

• What does the first principle of John Rawls talk about?

• What does the second principle of John Rawls talk about?
• How many principles does John Rawls have in this chapter?

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Chapter 12:
Annette Baier: The Need for More than
Justice
What I expect to learn:

I expect to learn about Annette Baire's philosophy on the need for more than
justice.

Review:

In this chapter, Annette Baire's disapproves some of the perspective of

philosophers like Emmanuel Kant, John Rawls and the like. Annette Blaire wrote down
the perspective of each and other philosopher that she indicated at the beginning.
Nowadays, the most popular issue is racism. Especially on the side of the so called
blacks. The blacks should not be discriminated just because of their color. People
should think that color does not matter and we should think that we are all equal no
matter what race or color. Annete Baier also talked about the western traditions. Annete
Baier said that women as being compared to men are not equally treated. The reason
for this is because that women as we all know are more on doing the easy stuff and do
the thinking work and men just do the hard stuff that women normally cant do. The need
for more than justice is determined by the type of place you are in and the people in that
place. Just like what Annete Baier said about racism, it is very well known because of
the attitude of people towards other people that they are not familiar with.

What have I learned:

• I learned why justice is important

• I learned about Annete Baier.

Integrative Questions:

• What is justice?
• Why do we need justice?
• Who is Annete Baier?
• What are some of the works of Annete Baier?

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