Ethical Theories

Christianism
• Augustine (354- 430)

Fig. 1. Taken from Google at:

http://lecorvomecanique.blogspot.com/2010
/07/analisis-de-confesiones-de-san-agustin.
html
 Thomas Aquinas (1225- 1274)
Fig. 2. Taken from Google at: Thomas Aquinas - Crystalinks
crystalinks.com

• Christianized Aristotle.
• Men is form by soul and body, free & God’s creature.
• Men tends towards good but chooses freely.
• We should concern on the nature of human
well-being that turns toward divinity. You should try to be
virtuous and avoid vicious. The virtuous man follows his reason,
that leads to satisfaction and moreover to happiness.
• For judging an act in good or bad, we should consider:
– Object.
– Circumstances. – Aggravating and mitigating factors.
– End. or intention(purpose)
The 3 had to be good .
 Modern Ethics

• It starts with the renaissance in the XVII

century.

Fig. 3. Man centre. Taken

from Google:
http://www.pacifica.org.a
u/files/Hildegard.jpg/imag
e_preview
. 19/I/09
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Formalism
Fig.4. Kant. Taken from Google: http://kahome.co.uk/kant.gif.
19/I/09
• Good acts come from good will.
• He made a difference between:
• A) Objective law
• categorical imperative

• B) Maxim
• hypothetical imperative.
• HR & C.
 Relativism
Fig. 5. Relativism. Taken from Google:
http://www.carm.org/graphics/vista/p_relativism.gif 20/I/09

• Two main types:

• A) Descriptive ethical relativism

• B) Normative ethical relativism

Fig. 6. Marx. Taken from Google: http://www.marxfaq.org/glossary/people/m/pics/marx.jpg.
19/I/09

Marx (1818-1883)
Fig. 7. Factory taken from Google:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Factory.svg/502px-
Factory.svg.png 2/II/09
• The man is a product of the nature, but as the nature is
not fixed, the man must humanize.
• Man humanizes by work and in the society.
Nevertheless, historically the society has robbed him
the fruit of the work to the man alienating it. This
became serious in the industrial revolution where the
boss remains with super habit produced by the
worker.
• It is necessary that the man frees itself of the capitalist
structures for finding itself again.
• The good thing will be what it takes to the man to be
owner of itself and of its work.
• Religion is the opium of towns.
• -“Convivencia sin Violencia” says that each
weekend 300 teenagers die in Mexico because
of accidents related with alcohol and violence.
2007.
• - More than 60% of the boy’s high-school
soccer matches of one nearby school end in
fights and is the 100% in another school.
• - Youtube has 621 videos on fights.
• - The “antros” won’t ever recognize it, but when
Bandasha closed one of the interviewed guards
said there was at least one fight each week-end.