Transcript Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong

Ethics: Discovering
Right and Wrong
Louis J. Pojman
and James Fieser
Seventh Edition
Chapter One:
What is Ethics?
•What is it to be a moral person?
•What is the nature of morality?
•Why do we need morality?
•What function does morality play?
•How do I know what is the good?
What is Ethics?
•Are moral principles absolute?
•Are moral principles relative to social
groups or individual decisions?
•Is morality only in the view of the
person being moral?
•Is there a time for me to act
immorally?
•How can I justify my moral beliefs?
What is Ethics?
•What is the basis of morality?
•Which ethical theory best justifies
and explains moral life?
•What is morality’s relationship with
religion?
law?
social etiquette?
“Moral” vs. “Ethical”
•Terms “moral” and “ethical” are often
used interchangeably but both derive
their meaning from the idea of
“custom”
•The term “moral” comes from
the Latin (meaning “mores”)
and
the Greek (meaning “ethos”)
“Morality” refers to
•Certain Customs
•Certain Precepts
•Certain Practices of Peoples and
Cultures
•Positive or Descriptive Morality:
is used to describe actual beliefs
and customs of a culture
“Moral Philosophy”
•Refers to philosophical or theoretical
reflection on morality
•Your author terms these theories
“Ethical Theories”
•These theories come from moral
philosophical reflections.
“Ethics”
Refers to the whole domain of
morality and moral philosophy
Both areas are connected by common
concerns in different ways through:
Values, Virtues, Principles
And Practices
Ethics and its Subdivisions
(1) Descriptive morality
(2) Moral philosophy (ethical theory)
(3) Applied ethics
(1)Descriptive Morality
Refers to actual beliefs, customs,
principles, and practices of people
and cultures.
Example: Sociologists pay attention to
moral practices of social groups and
treat them as cultural “facts”
(2) Moral Philosophy
The systematic effort to
understand moral concepts and
justify moral principles and theories.
Moral Philosophy analyzes key ethical
concepts such as “right”, “wrong”,
and “permissible”.
(2) Moral Philosophy
Explores possible sources of moral
obligation such as God, human
reason, or the desire to be happy
Seeks to establish principles of right
behavior that may serve as action
guides for individuals and groups
(3) Applied Ethics
Deals with controversial moral
problems such as abortion,
premarital sex, capital punishment,
euthanasia, and civil disobedience
Morality as Compared with
Other Normative Subjects
Morality has a distinct action-guiding,
or normative, aspect which is also
shared with other practices such as
religion, law and etiquette.
Morality differs from religion, law and
etiquette.
Morality and Religion
Moral behavior is usually essential to
religion’s practice
Neither the practices nor principles of
morality should be identified with
religion
Practice of morality need not be
motivated by religious considerations
Moral principles need not be grounded
in revelation or divine authority
Morality and Religion
Religious ethics grounded in revelation
or divine authority
Ethics is characterized by its grounding
in reason and human experience
Some versions of religious ethics hold
that reason can discover what is right or
wrong even apart from divine revelation
Morality and Law
Many laws are instituted in order to:
–promote well-being
–resolve conflicts of interest
–promote social harmony
Morality and Law
Morality also does all of these three.
Ethics may judge that some laws are
immoral without denying that they have
legal authority
Law and Morality Differ
Some aspects of morality are not
covered by law, ie. Lying in general
Intention plays a role in determining
legal character of an act, once the act
has been committed but bad intentions
themselves are not illegal but can be
immoral
Morality and Etiquette
Etiquette determines what is polite
behavior
Morality determines what is right
behavior in a deeper sense
To disregard or defy etiquette in some
cases can be considered immoral
Limitations of Religion, Law, & Etiquette
Religion –Rests on authority that may
lack certainty or agreement on
authority credentials or how authority
would rule in new cases. Reason may
not be able to persuade.
Law – Every social ill cannot have a
law and not all rules can be enforced
Etiquette – Does not go to the heart
of what is important for existence
Traits of Moral Principles
Central to morality are moral principles
which have have these five traits:
Prescriptivity
Universalizability
Overridingness
Publicity
Practicability
Prescriptivity
The practical or action-guiding, nature
of morality.
Moral principles generally put forth as
commands or imperatives
Intended for use: to advise and
influence action
Used to appraise behavior, assign
praise and blame, and produce
feelings of satisfaction or guilt
Universalizability
Moral principles must apply to all
people who are in a relevantly similar
situation.
Exemplified in the Golden Rule
Applies to all evaluative judgments.
An extension of the principle of
consistentcy
Overridingness
Moral principles have predominant
authority and override other kinds of
principles
Take precedence over considerations
including aesthetic, prudential, and
legal ones
Religion is a special case where a
command may override a normal
moral rule
Publicity
Moral Principles must be made public
in order to guide our actions
Necessary because principles are
used to prescribe behavior, give
advice, and assign praise and blame
Keeping a moral principle secret
would be self-defeating
Practicability
A Moral Principle must be workable
and its rules must not lay a heavy
burden on us when we follow them
Rules must take human limitations
into consideration so as to prevent
moral despair, deep or undue moral
guilt, and ineffective action
Domains of Ethical
Assessment
Most
ethical analysis falls into one or more
of the following domains:
Action
Consequences
Character
Motive
Action
Actions
are usually termed
right or wrong.
‘Right’ can be an ambiguous term.
Right can mean
Obligatory or
Permissible
Right Action
1. A right act is an act that is permissible for
you to do. It may be either:
a. An obligatory act – is one that morality
requires you to do; it is not permissible for
you to refrain from doing it
b. An optional act – An act not obligatory or
wrong to do; not your duty to do or not to do
Wrong Action
2. A wrong act is one you have an
obligation, or a duty, to refrain from doing:
It is an act you ought not to do; it is not
permissible to do it.
Supererogatory Acts
These
actions are within the range of
permissible acts.
Also known as highly altruistic acts.
These acts are neither required nor
obligatory
They exceed what morality requires.
They go beyond ‘the call of duty.’
Complete Scheme of
Acts
1. Right act (permissible)
a. Obligatory act
b. Optional act
(1) Neutral act
(2) Supererogatory act
2. Wrong act (not permissible)
Deontological Theories
Emphasize
the nature of the act
Some acts are inherently good or right and
some acts are inherently wrong or bad
Kant defended a principle of moral duty he
calls the categorical imperative
Deontological theories have in common
the view that we have an inherent duty to
perform right actions and avoid bad actions
Consequences
Actions
based on the foreseeable outcome
of a course of decision
Ethical theories that focus primarily on
consequences in determining moral
rightness or wrongness are called:
Teleological Ethics
Utilitarianism is the most famous of these
and requires us to do what is likeliest to
have the best consequences
Character
Ethical
theories that emphasize character,
or virtue are virtue theories
Good character traits are virtues
Bad character traits are vices
Aristotle maintained that the development
of virtuous character traits is needed to
ensure that we habitually act rightly
Vital to empower our character with the
tendency to do good
Motive
Ethically
assess situations by examining
the motive of the people involved
Virtually all ethical systems recognize the
importance of motives
For a full assessment of any action it is
important to take the agent's motive into
account
Seemingly identical acts may differ morally
due to a difference of motives
Conclusion
Ethics has enormous practical benefits:
Can free us from prejudice and dogmatism
Has comprehensive systems from which to
orient individual judgments
Helps us to think more clearly about moral
problems
Shows how principles and values relate to
one another
Gives us some guidance in how to live
Answering Initial
Questions
What
is the nature of morality, and why do
we need it?
What is the good, and how will I know it?
Is it in my interest to be moral?
What is the relationship between: morality
and religion?
morality and the law?
morality and etiquette?