Transcript What is Ethics?

How to
study
ethics?
About the course
• Lecturer: Mr. Tang Chak Kin
• Email: [email protected]
• Website:
appliedethics.webnode.com
About the course
• You can download PowerPoint
files – as well as lecture notes and
other stuff – from the course
website.
• Links to useful information and
resources can also be found on
the website.
About the course
• You may now sign up for tutorials.
• Tutorial dates, times and
classroom arrangements can be
found on the course website.
Fact and value
• In ancient Greece, the subject
matter of ethics was ‘eudaimonia’
(flourishing) or ‘the good life’.
• In modern times, ethics is about
questions of moral judgment, i.e.
questions about what is right and
what is wrong in human actions
and practices.
Fact and value
• Unlike science, there are no wellrecognized standards or methods
in ethics that can be used to
examine people’s ethical
judgments.
• Moral judgments, therefore, are
much less certain than scientific
facts.
Fact and value
• Susan believes that light travels
faster than sound, while Dave
believes that sound travels faster
than light.
• Anyone who has good scientific
knowledge will agree that Susan’s
belief is true whereas Dave’s
belief is not true.
Fact and value
• If your friend has committed a
crime (e.g. stealing from a
supermarket), should you report
to the police?
• Different people may have
different opinions. They may not
agree on what is the right thing to
do in a situation like this.
Fact and value
• Judgments about what is right,
what is good, what is important,
what is acceptable, what is
beautiful, etc. are value
judgments.
• Since moral judgments are value
judgments, some people think
that moral judgments are
necessarily subjective.
Fact and value
• According to these people, there
are no objective answers to moral
questions.
• They go further and argue that a
sharp distinction has to be made
facts (factual and descriptive
statements) and values
(evaluative and prescriptive
statements).
Fact and value
• A factual statement such as
‘Water boils at 100ºC’ can be
examined scientifically and
objectively to determine whether
it is true or not.
Fact and value
• The same cannot be said of
evaluative statements (such as
‘Homosexuality is evil’) and
prescriptive statements (such as
‘You must take care of your
parents’).
Fact and value
• Moral judgments, according to
this view, are subjective value
judgments and therefore simply
reflect people’s personal feelings
and attitudes.
• But why study ethics if there are
no objective answers to moral
questions?
Fact and value
• As Sam Harris puts it in his TED
talk, “...it’s often said that science
cannot give us a foundation for
morality and human values,
because science deals with facts,
and facts and values seem to
belong to different spheres.”
Fact and value
• But then, speaking of corporal
punishment, Harris asks, “Is it a
good idea, generally speaking, to
subject children to pain and
violence and public humiliation
as a way of encouraging healthy
emotional development and
good behavior? Is there any
doubt that this question has an
answer, and that it matters?”
Fact and value
• With this and other examples,
Harris argues that there are, in
fact, right and wrong answers to
moral questions that rational
people can agree on.
• The link to Harris’ talk can be
found on the course website.
Moral reasoning
• Moral judgments, therefore, are
not merely subjective expressions
of personal feelings and attitudes.
• Rational people are able to make
moral judgments on the basis of
objective knowledge of actions,
practices, situations and shared
social values.
Moral reasoning
• What is the right thing to do, in
any circumstance, should be
determined by sound ethical
reasoning.
• As all of us have the capacity of
moral reasoning, it is possible to
resolve disagreements by
appealing to moral common
ground.
Moral reasoning
• You need to think clearly and
reason well about ethical issues.
To do so, you should:
• look for relevant facts and
evidence
• analyze ideas and concepts
• compare and contrast different
viewpoints
Moral reasoning
• evaluate arguments
• develop a standpoint of your own
• be ready to justify your views with
reasoned arguments
Moral reasoning
• The main purpose of studying
ethics is to learn how to think
critically and develop skills of
reasoning and argumentation.
• Not only should you familiarize
yourself with different viewpoints,
you should also be able to
explain why you agree or
disagree with these viewpoints.
Moral reasoning
• To sum up, you should:
• learn to look at an issue from
different angles or perspectives;
• learn to think in terms of
arguments and
counterarguments;
• learn to use examples and/or
counterexamples to illustrate your
views