DEFECTIVE

NORMS OF
MORALITY
 ■ Hedonism

■ Utilitarianism
Some defective views on ■ Moral Rationalism
the nature of man, his
actions and purpose
lead to a fallacious
■ Moral Positivism
answers to this
questions, such as: ■ Moral Evolutionism

■ Moral Sensism

■ Communisim
Hedonism

■It is an ethical theory which holds that the supreme endof

man consists in the acquisition of pleasure, and thataction are
good or bad according to whether they giveor do not give wordly
pleasure or temporal happinessto man.

■The good action is the

pleasant action.
■The bad action is that we
produces pain.
 ■It is a theory very much akin to Hedonism.

■It makes utility the norm of morality

■Good is that which administers to the temporal

welfare and happiness ofman, bad which obstructs
Utilitarianism or hinders or retards this happiness.

■The goodness or baldness of an action would

depend on the effects orconsequences of the action.

■An act is good if and when it gives good results,

if it works, if it makesyou successful, if it makes
you attain your purpose; bad if it doesn’t.
 ■Individual or egoistic utilitarianism or simply egoism
-the norm of morality resides in the usefulness of an action
for the production of thetemporal happiness of the
Two types of individual.

utilitarianism:
■Social or altruistic utilitarianism or simply altruism.
-a type of utilitarianism which holds that an act is good
when it is conductive to thesocial good or well-being.
-it is also called altruism as distinguished from the first
which is called egoism
 ■Rationalism is a theory of knowledge which maintains that all
knowledge and alltruths are derived from human reasons.
Human reasons, therefore, according to thetheory, is the source
of all truths, all laws, and all principles.

Moral
Rationalism ■Immanuel Kant – German philosopher

Exposition of the Theory ■Human reason is the source of all moral laws, and all moral
obligation.

■Categorical Imperative-reason commands and the commands of

reason areabsolute and unconditional, absolute binding on all
men of all times

■“Good must be done simply because we must. Virtue must be

practiced for virtue’ssake; goodness’ sake.
 ■It is the theory that holds that the basis or source
of all moral level is the laws of the State.

■Good is that which is in accordance with the laws

of the State;bad isthat which is forbidden by the
State.
■Hobbes-an English philosophers, the greatest
Moral exponent of this theory.
Positivism
■ Nature primitivism was in the state of universal
war. Man is a wolf untohis fellowmen (Homo
homini lupus).
■There was no law, no morality, no distinction
between right and wrong.
Moral Evolutionism

■Federich Nietzsche, a
■It is a theory of all those who
German philosopher, believed
hold that morality is never
■It is the application of theory that morality- thedistinction
fixed orabsolute, but is
of biological evolution to between right and wrong- did
continually changing and
morals. not exist in the beginning.
evolving gradually into a
Godis that which anybody
perfect morality.
desired.
 ■An ethical theory which holds that man is endowed with a
special moralsense(other than reason) by virtue of which man
distinguishes betweenright and wrong in much the same way that
our sense of taste candistinguish between sour and sweet; or as
sense of sight distinguishes between dark and bright. This view is
expressed when we say he has “nosense of morality,” “no moral
Moral Sensism taste,” and similar expressions.

■Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitateis a sound maxim.

It isthe basis of the principle of parsimony which demands that as
far as possible we must reduce to the minimum the number of
theories andhypothesis.
Communisim

■A primarily an economic
theory but, it has someof its
basic teachings intimately
related andinextricably
intertwined with fundamental
moral principles.
■It is the logical consequence
of its metaphysicsor view of
reality known as dialect
materialism.
From this view of reality
logically follow:
■The denial of the existence of God; since God is a spirit and
nothingexists but the material.
■The denial of the freedom of the will in man; since matter, the
soleexistence reality, is determined in all its movements by the law
ofdialectic;
■The denial of immortality; since Communism denies the
existence ofthe spirit and, furthermore, teachers that the goal of
man is hisearthly happiness in a classless society.