Transcript EthicsMoralsMorality

Ethics, Morals and Morality
Open-Ended Questions:
What are ethics?
Are ethical decisions important?
What happens without ethics?
What is the relation between society –
ethics – morals – moral judgment?
What specifically do we mean by
“Christian Ethics”?
Definitions:
Ethics – A branch of philosophy
concerned with ways of thinking
philosophically about morality, and moral
judgment.
It is the study of the moral dimension of
values,
principles,
judgments
and standards by which
to measure right or wrong.
Morality – Human conduct and
character referring to “those acts which it
makes sense to describe as right or
wrong, good or bad.”
Moral Judgment – Judgments based on
considerations of how other people are to
be treated, and how others interests are
to weigh against our own.
Read page 1 of your handout.
Using the game of soccer as a metaphor • What are the ethics of the game?
• What is the morality of the game?
• In the game of soccer what might an
example of “moral judgment” be?
Whereas ethics refers to principles and
‘rules’ of conduct and order,
morality refers to behavior and
performance.
moral judgment refers to decisions
individuals make within the game
(these may be good, bad or neutral
depending on motives, physical/mental
condition and maturity).
Simply
Ethics = rules of the game
Morality= performance within
the game (personal & group)
Moral Judgment= individual &
collective decision-making
(effects self & group)
Absolute Morality – a fundamentalist
understanding of right and wrong,
determined solely by religious dogma or
doctrine; there’s an absolute right/wrong
in every situation;
“Divine Command Ethics”
Relative Morality– The other extreme
based on the belief that anything can be
right or wrong depending on the situation;
“Situation Ethics”
Absolute Morality Leviticus 24:17
"Whoever takes a human life shall surely
be put to death.”
Leviticus 20:9
“For anyone who curses one’s father or
mother shall be surely put to death.”
Relative Morality/ Moral Relativism The position that moral or ethical
propositions do not reflect objective/
universal moral truths, but instead make
claims relative to personal or cultural
circumstances.
Moral relativists hold that there is no
universal standard (e.g., Divine) by which
to assess truth. This is moral subjectivism;
it is the opposite of moral absolutism.
Relative Morality -sees moral values as applicable in the
context of individual or cultural
preferences (= moral subjectivism) --e.g., terminating an “inconvenient
pregnancy”; honor killing.
Catholic Morality – is based on the belief
in “Natural Law” --- i.e., an objective,
divine moral order in the universe.
But right and wrong have to be determined
by weighing out various circumstances and
principles within any situation.
Therefore, it is neither absolute or
purely relative.
Rather, the use of CONSCIENCE (moral
judgment using reason) is emphasized.
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
Taught that real
faith seeks understanding
("fides quaerens intellectum”)
Understanding requires REASON to discern
right from wrong,
good from evil,
truth from falsehood.
Reason employs CRITICAL THINKING.
The consistent ethic of life
is a clear example of faith seeking
understanding in that it adheres to the
principle of Natural Law (following
what is natural, as God’s will).
This ethic does not contradict itself.
Take out a piece of scrap paper!
Do not put your name on the paper, this
is anonymous!
Would you cheat on an important exam?
“Yes or No”
A survey of American students showed
that 65% would cheat!
Were you truthful?
Why do people cheat?
Is it ever ethical to answer falsely?
Who gets hurt when people are unethical?
What if GM cheated you when
they built your car?
Where do ethics come from?
Parents
Religion
Peers
Technology
Parents
Parents instill ethics and morals in
children. Example: A child yells at their
friend – calling them a name.
How does the parent respond?
Other ways?
Religion
Most religions set guidelines on how to
make moral judgments.Example: In
Judeo-Christian religion the Ten
Commandments serve as guidelines for
making ethical and moral judgments.
What do Muslims, Hindus, and those in
other religions use?
Religion
Christians have “the Golden Rule”
What do Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and
those in other religions use?
Peers
Friends effect your moral judgments.
Example: A friend or acquaintance
might coax you to use drugs.
Peer pressure can sometimes cause
people to make moral and ethical
decisions.
Others?
Technology
Technology provides many opportunities to
make moral and ethical decisions. Example:
Copying computer games and violating
copyright laws.
1. Does having a radar detector give you the
right to break the law and speed?
2. Is it ethical to slash and burn the rain
forests to feed more people?
3. Should you drive your car to work or school
when it is in within walking distance?
Right, Wrong and Grey areas?
Unclear situations in ethics,
many times they are personal and hotly
debated in politics (e.g., right to die).
Black and white – Fairly clear – straight
forward, most people feel the same way
about (e.g., stealing, murder, honesty,
charity).
Any others?
Grey areas!
Separation of Church and state
Environmental impacts of technology
Internet
Crime
Gun control
Others?
What about these?
Drunk driving?
Radar detectors
Your father illegally dumping pollutants.
What would you do?
Examples of Ethical Decisions
Small Group -
Newspaper: Do any stories involve
ethical issues/decisions?
Any employing either Absolute or
Relative Morality ?
Be prepared to explain.
Examples of Ethical Decisions
An American journalist, the first, to visit the Soviet Union after the
Chernobyl accident found a very provocative story. He was taken on
a tour of the plant with some American engineers after the 1986
explosion. What he found out about what happened the night the
reactor exploded was frightening. It seems that night two of the
engineers were playing around with one of the reactors, in what
later the Soviets described as an "Unauthorized experiment." The
engineers were trying to see how long a turbine would free-wheel if
they took the power off it. To do this they had to take reactor four
off-line. They by- passed six different security systems with warning
lights saying "extremely dangerous do not continue." They shut off
the alarms rather than the experiment. The engineers even
padlocked open the valves on the reactor so they wouldn't
automatically close. These engineers were two of the people
considered excellent in their field. If they had been in America they
would have been seen as Yale, Harvard, or MIT, graduates. They
would have had 4.0 GPA's and highly revered.
Based on the definitions you just learned-• what are the ethics of this situation?
• what is the morality in this situation?
• what is the particular moral judgment
applied in this situation?
What ethical decisions were involved
in this story?
What kind of ethical decisions
did the engineers make?
Think back to the Engineers
How ethical were the Engineers?
How moral were the Engineers?
What is the difference?