Study Notes for Ethics

Preliminaries:
1. What actions are morally right and morally wrong?
2. What makes actions morally right or wrong?

Students will generally approach this question from one of two dismissive stances:
1. that there are no reasons behind ethical decisions, that it is merely a matter of personal preference, or,
2. all ethical questions are clear and definite and that there is an absolute means of determining all answers, often
through adherence to religious doctrines.

In our study of ethics, we will proceed through three steps:

1. to undermine the barriers to rational moral deliberation.
2. to look at the five different factors we do appeal to deciding what is the morally best way to act.
3. To look at cases in an effort to be clearer and more careful in being able to explain why we hold
certain choices to be the right ones.

Some ethical/moral vocabulary:

@Ethics comes from the Greek ethos, meaning character.
@ Ethics pertain to the individual character of a person or persons.
@Morality comes from the Latin moralis, meaning customs or manners.
@Morality points to the relationships between human beings.
@Morally necessary: status of an action one is morally obliged to carry out.
@Morally permissible: status of an action one is morally free to choose or not choose.
@Morally impermissible: status of an action one is obliged to avoid.
@Ethical system: a definition of moral terms that allows us to determine an act’s moral status.
@Ethical subjectivism: the moral system by which an act is morally permissible for an individual if and
only if that individual thinks it is.
@Cultural relativism: the moral system by which an act is morally permissible in a given culture if and
only if it is approved of by the culture
@Ethical egoism: the moral system where an act is morally necessary if it brings about the best
consequences for the agent
@Psychological egoism: the view that human beings can only act out of self-interest, no other
motivation for human action is possible.
@Virtue: a positive human attribute
@Value - qualities that signify what is important and worthwhile qualities that signify what is important
and worthwhile.
@ Amoral means having no moral sense or being indifferent to right and wrong.
@Nonmoral means out of the realm of morality altogether.
@Manners or etiquette refers to
1. the socially correct way of behaving; or,
2. the prevailing systems or modes of social conduct of a specific
society; or,
3. matter of taste.
The terms “good” or “bad’ are usually referred to human beings.
The terms “good” or “bad’ should be defined in the context of human experience and human relationships.

The terms “right” or “wrong” are usually referred to the action of that human beings.

Moral deliberation involves the use of reason.

Goals:
1. Students should be able to express reasons in support of a moral claim.
2. Students should understand that there are better and worse reasons for making a moral decision.
3. Students should be able to explain the difference between an act being morally permissible and
being morally necessary.

Ethical Status

When we judge an action, we tend to think in terms of an act being either “morally right” or “morally wrong.” We need
to think in terms of three moral statuses.

1. An act is morally necessary if we are morally bound to do it. To do the right thing, you need to do
this.
2. An act is morally permissible if we are free to choose to do it if we wish. It is not morally problematic
to do it, but also not morally problematic not to do it.
3. An act is morally forbidden if we may not do it.

Three impediments to rational moral deliberations:

1. Ethical subjectivism ( please see uploaded material)
2. Cultural Relativism ( please see uploaded material)
3. Divine Command Theory

Divine Command Theory

- is the view that an act is morally necessary if God commands it and morally impermissible if God forbids it.

Morality and Religion

Can there be a morality without religion? Must God or gods exist in order for there to be any real point to morality? If
people are not religious, can they ever be truly moral? And if belief in God is required in order to be moral, which
religion is the real foundation for morality? There seem to be as many conflicts as there are different religions and
religious viewpoints.

Religion is one of the oldest human institutions. We have little evidence that language existed in prehistoric times, but
we do have evidence of religious practices, which were entwined with artistic expression, and of laws or taboos
exhorting early human beings to behave in certain ways. In these earlier times, morality was embedded in the traditions,
mores, customs, and religious practices of the culture.

Furthermore, religion served (as it has until quite recently) as a most powerful sanction for getting people to behave
morally. That is, if behind a moral prohibition against murder rests the punishing and rewarding power of an all-
powerful supernatural being or beings, then the leaders of a culture have the greatest possible sanction for the morality
they want their followers to uphold. The sanctions of tribal reward and punishment pale beside the idea of a
punishment or reward that can be more destructive or pleasurable than any that one’s fellow human beings could
possibly administer.

However, the notion that religion may have preceded any formal legal or separate moral system in human history, or
that it may have provided very powerful and effective sanctions for morality, does not at all prove that morality must of
necessity have a religious basis. Many reasons can be given to demonstrate morality need not, and indeed should not,
be based solely on religion.

Assumptions:
1. The existence of a God or gods
2. Asserts that morally acceptable human behavior is that which is in line with the Divine Will.
3. An act is morally necessary if God or the gods command it.
4. An act is morally permissible if it pleases God or the gods.
5. An act is morally impermissible if God or the gods forbid it.

Problems with Divine Command Theory

1. If moral permissibility, necessity, and impermissibility derive from God's desires, then for anyone to
know how to act, one would have to know the mind of God.
2. It is difficult to prove conclusively the existence of a supernatural being.
3. Religious people can be immoral.
4. Nonreligious people can be moral, too.
5. It is difficult to provide a rational foundation for religion, which makes it is difficult to provide such a
foundation for morality.
6. If religion were to be the foundation of morality, which religion would provide this foundation and
who would decide?
7. There is a difficulty in resolving the conflicts arising from various religiously based ethical systems
without going outside of them.

Ethical Systems

There are five important elements of the moral situation that get used as the primary feature of the major ethical
systems:

1. who did it?,

2. what was done?,
3. what happened as a result of doing it?,
4. to whom was it done?, and
5. how did it affect the agent's relationships with other people?

Each of these elements is relevant to determining whether the act was morally necessary, permissible, or impermissible.

A. Who did it?

 "What kind of person would that make you?“

Who we are ethically is a function of what we do. Our actions define our moral character. What that act would mean
in terms of our character.” Aristotle gives us an ethical system called virtue ethics which is based upon consideration of
"who did it, " that is, what effect does the action have upon the agent's character.

B. What was done?

“What is in the act itself?”

When judging the moral status of an action, surely the first place to look is at the act itself. Immanuel Kant gave us an
ethical system called deontology in which there are absolute moral duties and an act is morally necessary if we have a
duty to do it and morally impermissible if we have a duty not to. There are absolute moral rules and we need to follow
them regardless of the situation.

C. What happened as a result of doing it?

‘What are the consequences of my actions?”

We live in a world with other beings who are affected by our actions. When we act, we change other people's lives, we
bring them pleasure or pain, we open up opportunities for them or shut off possibilities from them. The choices we
make in behaving one way or another could make the world a better place or a worse place. Jeremy Bentham
championed an ethical system called utilitarianism according to which the moral status of an action is determined by the
results of that action. Since we change the world by acting or choosing not to act, our choices need to be guided by a
desire to make this the best possible world for everyone.

D. To whom was it done?

“Who is affected by my action?”

If you want to look at whether an act was morally permissible or not, surely you need to look at the person to whom it
was done. What we can and cannot do is constrained by the rights of others. Rights-based ethics contends that we have
freedom to do whatever we choose as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others.

E. How did it affect the agent's relationships with other people?

“What is the moral weight of my action to my personal relationships with others?”

Human beings are not independent of each other. We have relationships and with them come moral responsibilities.
Advocates of care-based ethics contend that part of being human is having and fostering these deep interpersonal
relationships and the needs of those we care about will mean that we will have moral obligations to do or not do certain
things.
5 major ethical systems
1. Virtue ethics
2. Deontology
3. Utilitarianism
4. Rights-based ethics
5. Care-based ethics