Transcript File - Third Semester

Shahid Iqbal
ETHICS
CASE
2012
Lecture – 2 a
Shahid Iqbal
Shahid Iqbal
Ethics Defined
Ethics (Greek ethika, from ethos, “character,”
“custom”), principles or standards of human
conduct, sometimes called morals (Latin mores,
“customs” Colere), and, by extension, the study of
such
principles,
sometimes
called
moral
philosophy.
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Ethics Defined
• Assumption: thought to be true but not yet proved
• Norm: what majority of people do in a role
(standard behaviour) called normal
• Value: ideal --- what people must do (moral /
professional behaviour)
• Belief: to feel sure of the truth of something, trust
or confidence in something / somebody
• Attitude: a way of thinking about something / sb
• Behaviour: attitude & manners {habit (doing sth.
without thinking) & customs (practice, traditional
or accepted way of behaving)}
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Ancient Mesopotamia
• Hammurabi was king of Babylon,
famous for issuing the first written
code of laws.
– If a builder builds a house for
someone, and does not construct
it properly, and the house which
he built falls in and kills its owner,
then the builder shall be put to
death.
• The rules must be Fair.
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Ancient Greece
• They believed that a vote of the
people was the best way to
make and to enforce the laws.
• Greeks introduced juries
• Greeks believed that right and
wrong were basically what the
majority of people thought were
right and wrong.
• This idea is called a group ethic.
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Ancient Greece
• People are ruled by reason, and they
do make choices. What makes them
human is this fact.
• Humans are above animals because
they can control their emotions and
instincts, and decide logically what to
do.
• Aristotle believed that this was what
made us human.
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Zoroastrian Persian
• Three principles :
– development of good thoughts,
– good words, and
– good actions.
• Achaemenid-Zoroastrian education
stressed strong family ties and
community feelings, acceptance of
imperial
authority,
religious
indoctrination,
and
military
discipline.
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Hebrews
• From the Old Testament
– Honour your father and your
mother.
– Do not kill.
– Do not steal.
– Do not tell lies against your
neighbor.
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Hebrews
• From the Old Testament
– If there be among you a poor
man, do not harden your heart,
or turn away from your poor
brother. Be generous to him,
and lend him enough for his
need.
– For the poor will always be with
us: therefore I command you to
be generous toward them.
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New Testament
• You have heard it said an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth, but I say don't fight back
against evil; if someone hits you on the right
cheek, let him also hit you on the left.
– Matthew 5, 38-39
• Anything you would like people to do for you,
you should do for them. This is the law.
– Matthew 7, 12
• The idea of compassion and concern for
another is stressed in Christianity.
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Ancient China
• Perfect virtue is according to the constant
mean!
– Confucius, Analects
This coincides perfectly with Aristotle’s
concept of the Golden Mean.
• There are three principles of conduct
which the man of high rank should follow:
that in his words and actions he keep
from violence; and he be sincere; and
that he avoid bad language.
– Confucius, Analects
•
Again this is very much in keeping
with Aristotle’s view that ethics is learned
through practice and ingrained into habit.
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Indian Dharmasutras
• Dharma means moral order, duty,
and right action.
• Dharma represents the belief that the
way things are (descriptive law), for
example, the sun rises in the East.
– Svadharma, caste, what each person is
and should therefore do
– Sanatana dharma, eternal dharma, what
all people should do: tell the truth, refrain
from killing, be virtuous, and the like
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Buddhism
• The nature of reality is
impermanent, intercausal, and
empty. Morality doesn't come
down to us from "up there," as
in the Mosaic story in Exodus.
The key question of human
existence is the question of
suffering,
which
Buddhism
defines very widely (dukkha,
usually rendered as "suffering"
in English, is a term with a
generous semantic field).
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Comparison
• Hebrews: The God you believe in tells
you what’s right.
• Hammurabi: The ruler of your country
tells you what’s right.
• Socrates: The majority of citizen’s in
your country tell you what’s right.
• Aristotle: There’s a natural human law
that determines what’s right. This is the
first basis for a universal system of
ethical standards.
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Philosophy of Quran
• Do good for your parents. Your mother suffered to
bring you into the world, and sacrificed for many
years to help you grow up.
• Idea of reciprocity
– According to this rule, you should help your parents
because they helped you.
Philosophy of Quran
• The noblest of you in the sight of Allāh is the best of you in conduct.
• And do good to your parents.
• And they (the women) have rights similar to those (men have) over
them in a just manner
• And give full measure when you measure out, and weigh with a true
balance
• And the servants of the Beneficent are they who walk on earth in
humbleness; and when the ignorant address them they say, Peace
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Philosophy of Quran
• Let not a people deride another people nor let women
deride women . . . . . Neither defame one another, nor call
one another by nicknames . . . . Shun much suspicion.
And spy not, nor backbite one another
• Say to the believing women that they cast down their
looks and guard their private parts …
• Do not enter houses other than your own houses without
permission and saluting their inmates and if it is said to you,
Go back. then go back
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Philosophy of Hadith
• B. 61:23 The best of you are those who have the most
excellent morals
• B. 78:2 Abu Hurairah said, A man came to the Messenger of
Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, and said, O
Messenger of Allāh! Who has the greatest right that I should
keep company with him with goodness? He said, "Thy
mother". He said, Who then? He said, "Thy mother." He said,
Who then? He said, "Thy mother." He said, Who then? He
said, "Then thy father.
• B. 78:57 It is not lawful for a Muslim that he should
sever his relations with his brother for more than
three days
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Philosophy of Hadith
• Tr. 10:11 The most perfect of the believers in faith is the
best of them in moral excellence, and the best of you are
the kindest of you to their wives
• B. 10:44 She ('Ā'ishah) said, he served his wife, meaning
that he did work for his wife.
B. 78: 39 Anas said,
I served the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allāh be on
him, for ten years, and he never said to me, Fie. Nor, Why
hast thou done (this)? Nor, Why hast thou not done (this)?
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The Middle Ages
• It is wrong to sell a thing for more
than its just price because it is
deceiving and injuring your neighbor.
Buying and selling is intended for the
common advantage of both parties.
Therefore there must be equality
between them.
– Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica IIII,77 simplified
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Renaissance
•After about a thousand years of
feudalism, people began to question
some of its basic ideas. This new
period in history is called the
Renaissance.
•It was a time of change in the way
people looked at their relationship with
the community they lived in.
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Renaissance
•If people were good this rule
would not hold, but because
they are bad, and will lie and
cheat you, you are not
obligated to be fair and honest
with them.
–Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince,
Chapter XVIII simplifed
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Enlightenment
• So, whatever is good for an individual’s
human nature must also be good for
everyone else’s. Therefore when people
act according to reason, and not emotion,
they will always be in harmony with each
other.
– Spinoza, Ethics - simplified
• When people live according to reason,
they try to promote what's best for their
own nature. Since other people have the
same nature, what's good for one is
what's good for all.
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Ethical Issues
1. Divine Command Theory
2. God's Benevolence
God is omnipotent (allpowerful).
God is omniscient (allknowing).
God is omnibenevolent (allloving).
Evil exists.
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THANKS
• QA
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