Moral Theory

Mark Pursley
Issues in Moral Theory
 Do statements  Are relativist or
containing value subjectivist accounts
terms have a truth of moral language
value? plausible?
 If so, what are the  How does a
truth conditions for community reach a
value claims? consensus about
moral issues?
Virtue Theory
 Plato and Aristotle
offer virtue theories
of ethics.
 Virtue theories rely
on an analogy
between health (the
good of the body)
and eudaimonia (the
good of the mind).
Aristotle on Human Excellence
 A virtue (arete, excellence) is a
character trait, acquired by practice,
that disposes a person to adopt the
right course of action in morally
charged situations. Virtues are life-
skills that enable a person to realize
their potential for living the good life as
a rational, social, animal.
Are we not more likely to hit
the mark if we have a target?
 Good= the aim,  Pleasure? No, too
end, or goal (telos) Brutish.
of an activity. What  Wealth? No, it’s a
is the goal (final means, not a final end.
end) of living a  Honor? No, it’s not self-
sufficient.
human life? All
Virtue? No, it’s not
agree: Happiness 
complete.
(eudaimonia, well-
The end sought must
being, flourishing).

be final, self-sufficient,
 What is happiness? and complete.
What is the function of human
life?
 To find the human good, find the
human function (ergon, what a thing does
that makes it what it is). What is the
characteristically human activity? Nutrition
and growth? (No, all living things);
Sensation? (No, all animals); Rational activity.
Function of a good human: rational activity in
accordance with virtue. [Objectors ask: Are
evil people irrational?]
Becoming Excellent
 As a skill or craft,  Moral virtues control
virtue is acquired by natural feelings
practice. Patterns of (passions, appetites)
behavior produce and actions, making
states of character. them arise in the
Good character right amounts at the
produces good right times for the
behavior. If you right reasons (such a
imitate good people, rule or principle as would
arise in the mind of the
you’ll become one. practically wise person).
Virtue: a mean between
extremes
 Confidence, appetites, anger, giving $.
 Excess Mean Deficiency
 Foolhardiness Courage Cowardice
 Indulgence Temperance Insensibility
 Hot head Cool head Apathetic
 Too generous Generous Stingy
Character Types
 Heroic:  Incontinent: Try's,
extraordinary but fails, to control
goodness. bodily desires, and
 Virtuous: Takes so does evil.
pleasure in doing
good.  Vicious: Takes
pleasure in doing
 Continent: Must
control bodily evil.
desires in order to  Bestial: Subhumanly
do good. wicked.
Immanuel Kant (1724-
1804)
 Defends a deontological
approach to morality.
 Everyone must admit
that if a law is to be
morally valid…then it
must carry with it
absolute necessity.
The ground of
obligation…must be
sought apriori in the
concepts of pure
reason.
Kantian Ethics
 Morality is a sacred duty, not a means
to happiness. (A good will is more
important than a good life.) Reason can
discern the moral law. The will chooses
which actions to perform. Inclination
reflects how one feels about one’s
options. When reason (not inclination)
directs the will, one does one’s duty.
The motive of duty.
 Acting from inclination  The cold, uncaring
or acting from duty. An person who helps
action has moral worth others because duty
if and only if it is done commands it, has moral
from the motive of worth.
duty. The prudent  Hypothetical imperative,
shopkeeper acts if you want x, do j.
honestly because it is Conditional.
good policy. Such acts  Categorical imperative:
have no moral worth. Unconditional
Nor do the kind acts of commands. Do X!
helpful people. (Whether you like it or not.)
The Categorical Imperative
 Act only on a maxim which you could (at that
time) will to become a universal law.
 Act as if the maxim of your action would
instantly become a general law of nature.
Maxim: I do action x in circumstances C to obtain end E.
1. Find the maxim; 2. Universalize; 3. Imagine the universalized
maxim as a natural law; 4. Ask “Is this a possible law of nature?”
5. Ask “Can one will this to be a law of nature?”
CI 3: Act so as to treat humanity (yourself and others) always as
an end, never merely as a means.
Consequentialism
 Consequentialist
theories hold that
the goodness or
badness of actions
resides in the
consequences those
actions produce.
J.S. Mill’s
Utilitarianism is the
leading theory.
Mill’s Utilitarianism
 Greatest Happiness Principle: Actions are
right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness, wrong as they tend to promote
the reverse of happiness. Happiness is
pleasure and freedom from pain.
Unhappiness is pain and the privation of
pleasure. Not an invitation to indulgence: A
beasts pleasures do not satisfy a human
being’s conception of happiness.
Ways to Measure Pleasure:
Quantity and Quality.
 Pleasure is not just a  Aim of utilitarianism:
matter of quantity. An existence exempt
Higher quality as far as possible
pleasures (like using from pain, and as
one’s mind, rich as possible in
creativity, doing enjoyments, both in
good deeds, having point of quantity and
friends) are more quality. Morality
desirable and make consists in the rules
life more worth which, if followed,
living than mere would secure this
bodily sensations. end for all sentients.
Utilitarianism and Justice
 A standard objection to utilitarianism alleges that the
theory will require the use of unjust means whenever
doing so is likely to produce a greater balance of
pleasure. This would permit a policy of punishing the
innocent to avert a riot, to deter wrongdoers, etc.
 Utilitarians may respond by pointing out that, in fact,
no society which falsely accuses innocent citizens will
promote a greater balance of pleasure in the long
run. The greater good can only be attained in a
society that upholds basic principles of justice (e.g..
the guilty are punished and the innocent acquitted).
Alfred Jules Ayer 1910- 1989
 Language, Truth, and
Logic.
 A defense of “radical
empiricism.”
 Logical Positivism
 Argues that
metaphysical,
theological, and moral
propositions are
meaningless.
Ayer’s Critique of Utilitarianism
 Verificationism: An  We cannot agree that to
empirical hypothesis is
significant (legitimate)
only if some possible
sense experience is
relevant for determining
its truth or falsity.
 Utilitarianism claims
actions are good if they
produce pleasure or
reduce pain.
call an action right is to
say...it would
cause...the greatest
balance of
pleasure...because it is
not self-contradictory to
say it is....wrong to
perform the action that
would...cause the
greatest happiness.
Ayer’s Emotivism
 Since absolutist theories are unverifiable, and
naturalistic theories violate linguistic convention,
moral propositions are simply expressions of approval
or disapproval.
 Adultery is wrong just means I disapprove of
adultery, or Boo! adultery!
 Realist response: Moral propositions may express
emotions but it is still legitimate to ask about the
sorts of conditions that appropriately evoke approval
or disapproval.