ETHICS

Philosophy 120
Also
Also known
known as
Religious Studies 120

Professor Marcella Norling

• “We are discussing no small matter,
but how we ought live.”
Socrates, in Plato’s Republic
The Oxford English Dictionary
definition of PHILOSOPHY:
• Use of reason and argument in seeking
truth and knowledge of reality,
especially knowledge of the causes and
nature of things and of the principles
governing existence
• Particular system or set of beliefs
reached by this
 Branches of Philosophy
• Epistemology: What is knowledge?
• Ontology: What is the nature of
existence?
• Aesthetics: What is beauty?
• Ethics: What should I do?
 Ethics, or moral philosophy, ask basic
questions about the good life, about what
is better and worse, about whether there
is any objective right and wrong, and
about how we know it if there is.
 An ethical theory is
• A systematic exposition of a particular
view about what is the nature and basis
of good or right
An ethical theory provides reasons or
norms for judging acts to be right or
wrong and attempts to give a
justification
 DESCRIPTIVE: Factual,
describes what IS

NORMATIVE: Evaluative,
describes what SHOULD BE
 WHAT
SHOULD
I DO?
 EGOISM
You should act in your own best interest
 UTILITARIANISM
You should act to create the greatest
good for the greatest number
 KANTIANISM
You should do your moral duty by
following the Categorical Imperative:
• Form 1) Do only that which you would
will to be a universal law
• Form 2) Treat all people as ends, never
as merely means
 VIRTUE ETHICS
You should be a good (virtuous) person
 NATURAL LAW ETHICS
You should act in accordance with your
human nature and with the natural laws
of the universe
 FEMINIST ETHICS
• Recognize and care for all people as
equally human, and attend ethically to
the full range of human experience
however shaped by gender.
 If NO objective truth exists:
• Relativism: Do what your society says is
right
• Subjectivism: Do what you think is right
• Emotivism: Do what you feel is right
• Nihilism: Do whatever. Or not. Doesn’t
matter.
 DIVINE COMMAND
• Do what your religion says is right
 What is ethical relativism?
• The view that ethical values and beliefs
are relative to the various individuals or
societies that hold them.
• The view that NO objective right or
wrong exists.
 Two forms of ethical
relativism:
• Cultural ethical relativism

• Individual ethical relativism

 Arguments FOR and
AGAINST ethical relativism
• Moral Diversity
• Moral Uncertainty
• Situational Differences
 Moral Diversity
• FOR ER: • AGAINST ER:
• There is no • Disagreement does
agreement on basic not prove there is no
moral principles truth.
• Some apparent
disagreements are
factual, not moral
 Moral Uncertainty
• FOR ER • AGAINST ER
• We just don’t know • Maybe we just don’t
know YET
for sure what is
• We may be unsure if we
right, or if anything
can know, but not
is right or wrong knowing does not prove
we can’t know
• We act as if we believe
some things are better
than other things
 Situational Differences
• FOR ER: • AGAINST ER:
• Times and places • There may be same
are so different, one underlying values,
moral code could just expressed
not possibly be right differently
for all • Objective truth may
exist without being
absolute
 Objective is not the same as
absolute
• OBJECTIVISM: • ABSOLUTISM:
says truth • Says rules or
exists,objectively principles have NO
• Something may be EXCEPTIONS
right, good, true, but • Context and the
exceptions may particular are not
exist in various considered
contexts
 Some attempts to come up
with a universal morality:
• Four Directives of the Parliament of the
World Religions
• United Religions Initiative
• United Nations Universal Declaration on
Human Rights
• Nuremberg Code
• Geneva Conventions
 Declaration of the Parliament of the
World’s Religions (1993)
Four Irrevocable Directives
1. Commitment to a culture of non-violence and
respect for life
2. Commitment to a culture of solidarity and a
just economic order
3. Commitment to a culture of tolerance and a
life of truthfulness
4. Commitment to a culture of equal rights and
partnership between men and women.
 Psychological Egoism
• The view that we all act in our own
interest all the time

• Descriptive: It is a claim about how

people ARE

• NOT an ethical theory, just a possible

foundation for a theory
 Psychological Egoism
• Is TRUE because: • Is NOT True because:

– We do what we want – We sometimes act

so our actions are out of a sense of
selfish obligation
– Even ‘unselfish’ – Our own pleasure
actions bring us may be a by-product
pleasure
of unselfish actions,
– People do what they not a motivation
can get away with
 ETHICAL EGOISM
• An ethical theory which claims that we
all SHOULD act in our own interest

• NORMATIVE, makes a claim about how

humans SHOULD act
Arguments for Ethical Egoism
• Psychological egoism is true; we all are
selfish, therefore we all should act
selfishly
• Since everyone else will be selfish you
should be too or you will lose out
• Everyone will be better off if we each
look after our own interests
 Arguments against Ethical
Egoism
• Psychological egoism is untrue

• If PE is true, it is superfluous (unnecessary)

to tell us to act selfishly if we all do anyway

• Cannot get “Ought” from “Is” (if something IS

a certain way, does not prove it SHOULD be
that way)
 Arguments against Ethical
Egoism (cont.)
• We seem inhuman if we truly do not
care about others; we ought not hurt
them even in self interest
• It is inconsistent and contradictory for
me to will you to act in your interest
when it may not be in my interest that
you do so
 Famous Egoist: Thomas Hobbes
• Published “Leviathan” in
1651
• Without strong central
government, Hobbes
says we will be in a “war
of all against all”
• Life in time of war is
“solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish and short”
 Famous Egoist: Adam Smith
• Published “Wealth of
Nations” in 1776
• Intellectual foundation
of capitalism
• Claims everyone will be
better off if we each act
in our own interest
• “Invisible hand” of free
market keeps balance
 Famous Egoist: Ayn Rand
• Author, screenwriter
• Emigrated to US
from USSR in 1926
• Promoted egoism
which she called
“objectivism”, or
‘rational self-interest’
• Wrote “The Virtue of
Selfishness”
 Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN
Ch XIII Of the Natural Condition of Mankind Concerning
their Felicity and Misery

• Nature hath made man so equal in the faculties of the

body and the mind…the weakest has strength to kill
the strongest…by secret machination or by
confederacy with others.
• As to the faculties of the mind…I find yet a greater
equality among men, for such is the nature of men…
they will hardly believe there be any so wise as
themselves.
• From this equality of ability arises equality of hope in
the attaining of our ends.
 Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN
Ch XIII Of the Natural Condition of Mankind Concerning
their Felicity and Misery

• Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live

without a common power to keep them all in awe,
they are in that condition which is called war, and
such a war is of every man against every man.
• In such condition, there is no place for industry,
because the fruit thereof is uncertain…no
commodious building…no arts; no letters; no society;
continual fear and danger of violent death; and the
life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and
short.
 Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN
Ch XIV Of the First and Second Natural Laws, and of
Contracts

• The Right of Nature is the liberty each man has to

use his own power…for the preservation of his own…
life.
• For as long as every man holds this right of doing
anything he likes, so long all men are in the condition
of war.
• Right is laid aside, either by simply renouncing it or
transferring it…
• The mutual transferring of right is that which men call
CONTRACT.
 Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN
CH XV Of the Other Laws of Nature

• But when a covenant is made, to break it is

unjust: and the definition of INJUSTICE is no
other than the non-performance of the
covenant.
 Hobbes’ LEVIATHAN
Part II: Of Commonwealth
Ch XVII Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a
Commonwealth
• …covenants without swords are but words…
• …the laws of nature… are contrary to our
natural passions…
• The only way to erect…a common power…is
to confer all their power and strength upon
one man or upon one assembly of men…
 Utilitarianism
• We should act to create the
GREATEST GOOD for the GREATEST
NUMBER

• GGGN
Jeremy Bentham
• Godfather to JS Mill
• Promoted utilitarian
ideas
• Created the Hedonic
Calculus to measure
pleasure
 Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus
• The Hedonic • Intensity
Calculus is an • Duration (length of time)
instrument for • Certainty (likelihood)
measuring the • Propinquity (proximity,
nearness in space/time)
amount of pleasure
• Fecundity (fertility, ability
to be created by a to increase upon itself)
particular act • Purity (pleasure minus the
amount of pain )
• Extent (effects overall)
John Stuart Mill
• ‘Utilitarianism” 1861
• Godson of Jeremy
Bentham
• Raised on principle
of utility by Bentham
and Mill Sr.
• Improved upon
Bentham’s ideas on
utility
• INTRINSIC good: Good in and of itself

• INSTRUMENTAL good: Good for

getting to something else
• MILL said we must measure
both QUANTITY and
QUALITY when measuring
pleasures
• MILL said there are
HIGHER and LOWER
pleasures.
Humans can appreciate
higher pleasures; pigs
cannot.
• ACT Utilitarianism: Consider the
consequences of this act alone

• RULE Utilitarianism: Consider the

consequences of this act as a general
practice (if most people did it most of
the time)
Immanuel Kant
• 1785, published
Fundamental
Principles of the
Metaphysics of
Morals
Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Form One
I. I am never to act otherwise than so that
I could also will that my maxim should
become a universal law

(Modern version: Do only that which you

would will to be a universal law)
Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Form Two
II. So act as to treat humanity, whether in
thine own person or in that of any other,
in every case as an end withal, never as
a means only

(Modern version: Treat all people,

yourself included, as an end, never as
merely a means)
Nothing can possibly be conceived in
the world, or even out of it, which can
be called good without qualification,
except a Good Will.
Even if it should.... lack power to
accomplish its purpose... like a jewel, it
would still shine by its own by its own
light, as a thing which has whole value
in itself
• Kant’s four examples of how to apply
the Categorical Imperative:
1.Suicide
2. Lying Promise
3. Rusting Talents
4. Aid the Needy
• How to become virtuous, according to
Aristotle:
• 1. Practice habits of virtue
Intellectual virtues: can learn from a teacher
-Moral virtues: can only learn through
experience and habit
2. Aim for the Golden Mean
The Golden Mean is the midpoint between
extremes, between deficiency and excess
• An example of the midpoint is the virtue
of courage:
• Too little=cowardly
• Courage= just enough (the mean)
• Too much=foolhardy

• 3. Strive for excellence (arete)

• Develop your character to be the best it
can be
• The word “natural” can mean
• The Norm: characteristic of most
members of a species
• Right purpose: Using something as
intended, for its intended purpose
• Occurring in nature: not created
artificially, happens on its own without
human intervention
• Sociobiology:
Systematic study of the biological basis of
all forms of societal behavior in all
species
• St. Thomas Aquinas accomplished the
GREAT SYNTHESIS
• Combining Aristotle with Christianity to
produce a religiously based concept of
the ordered universe with natural laws
operating in it
Natural Law? Used and abused:
Social Darwinism: Applies biological
principles to societal constructs; survival
of the fittest; justified exploitation of
workers by industrialists
Racism: Presumes biological inferiority of
some groups; used to justify slavery, legal
inequality, limit access to goods
Sexism: Woman and men “naturally” have
different roles; used to justify unequal
legal, educational, and economic rights
DO men and women reason
differently about morality?
 IF men and women reason
differently about morality, WHY
might that be?
• Explanations for a difference MIGHT
include:
• BIOLOGY
• SOCIAL TRAINING
• PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
 BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
• Brain structure
• Hormones
• Physical strength/ body and muscle
mass
• Being able to get pregnant
• Giving birth
 SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCE
• Socialization from birth
• Education
• Expectations (vocational, familial)
• Role training as caregivers
 PSYCHOSEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Freud
• Male life task: differentiate from
feminine, develop autonomy
• Female life task: seek similarity to, and
relationship with, feminine
 Traditional Ethical
Perspectives
• FEMININE: • MASCULINE:
• Responsibility • Rights
• Relationship • Individual
• Solidarity • Autonomy
• Personal • Impersonal
• Partial • Impartial
• Private • Public
• Natural • Contractual
• Feeling • Reason
• Compassionate • Fair
• Concrete • Universal
 Traditional justice theories of
Ethics see people as:
• Detached (digital, isolated units)
• Self-sufficient
• Equal in social power
• Calculators and planners
Traditional idea of rationality :
• Leaves out a lot
• Exaggerates the role of reason
• Is a highly abstract idealization
 CARE ETHICS
• We are all embedded in a web of social
relationships
• Ideal self of other theories is false, and
it is not the only model
• Morally crucial work takes place in
‘private’ areas of lives