Ethics
Ethics: the branch of philosophy that studies morality, or right and wrong behavior.
Metaethics asked what is morality?
Moral Realism: the belief that there are morale facts, in the same way that there are scientific facts.
Moral Antirealism: the belief that morale proposition don’t refer to objective features of the world at all — that there are no morale facts.
Moral Realism:
- Moral Absolutism
- Moral Relativism
- Cultural Relativism
Moral Antirealism:
- Moral Subjectivism: refer to people’s attitudes, rather than their actions.
Ethical Theories
Natural Law Theory: relies on the starting assumption that god created the universe according to a well-ordered plan.
Utilitarianism: relies on the starting assumption that all beings share a common desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
Divine Command Theory: the belief that what’s moral and what’s immoral — is commanded by the divine.
Dilemma: a situation in which you’re forced to choose between two options, both of which lead to unpleasant results.
The Divine Command Theory solved the Ground Problem. Plato discussed in Euthyphro Problem:
- Are right actions right because God commands them?
- Are right actions commanded by God because they are right?
If God determines the rightness and wrongness of everything, just by saying so, then the entire concept of goodness and value becomes vacuous.
If there’s some standard of goodness that God has to stick to when making commands, then that means there must be things that God can’t command, therefore, God is NOT omnipotent.
If the ethical rules of the universe come from some source other than God, then why can’t we just go straight to that source, too, and figure out morality for ourselves, the same way God did?
Thomas Aquinas proposed the Natural Law Theory that God created the world according to natural laws — predictable, goal-driven systems whereby life is sustained, and everything functions smoothly. We were created to seek the Basic Goods:
- Life
- Production
- Educate one’s offspring
- Seek god
- Live in society
- Avoid offense
- Shun ignorance
Jean-Paul Sartre agreed with Aquinas.
Why there are killing and so many violations of the laws? Ignorance and emotion, explained by Aquinas. It solved the Grounding Problem, and give us a reason to be moral.
David Hume argued with Is-Ought Problem:
It’s fallacious to assume that just because something is a certain way, that means that it ought be that way.
Categorical Imperative
Immanuel Kant proposed categorical imperative.
Categorical Imperatives: commands you must follow, regardless of your desires. Moral obligations are derived from pure reason.
It include four formulations:
The Universalizability Principle Act only according to that maxim which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.
The Formula of Humanity Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end, and never as a mere means.
We should expect the way other treat us as we treat others, also not use people as mere means. This imbues us with an absolute moral worth, which means that we shouldn’t be manipulated, or manipulate other autonomous agents for our own benefit.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism: moral theory that focuses on the results, or consequences, of our actions, and treats intentions as irrelevant.
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Epicurus agreed that
Actions should be measured in terms of the happiness, or pleasure, that they produce.
Or Hedonistic, the good is equal to the pleasant, and morally to pursue pleasure and happiness, and work to avoid pain.
Utilitarianism is not egoism, which only focuses self-interest; it is other-regarding:
We should act always so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.
Principle of Utility, thus you’re no more special than anybody else.
You’ve chose the action that would produce the most overall happiness for the group, even though it produced less happiness for you than other alternatives would have.
Utilitarian suggests that we make our moral decisions from the position of a benevolent, disinterested spectator.
Two types of utilitarianism:
- Act Utilitarianism: you should choose the action that produces the greatest good for the greatest number.
- Rule Utilitarianism: version of the theory that says we ought to live by rules that, in general, are likely to load to the greatest good for the greatest number.
Contractarianism
Thomas Hobbes described the the life with no rules to govern our behavior as
Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short.
Hobbes proposed anytime a group of free, self-interested, rational individuals living together, morality will just merge.
Contractarianism: right acts are those that do not violate the free, rational agreements that we’ve made.
Explicit vs. Implicit
Implicit Contracts: contracts that we never actually agreed to, but just sort of find ourselves in.
Rights imply obligations, when we enjoy the good that system provides, — you’re also expected to pay in.
Virtue Theory
Aristotle argued that nature has built into us the desire to be virtuous. Virtue is the golden mean between vices, deficiency and excess. It can only learned by experience, aka practical wisdom.
Virtue Theory: Ethical theory that emphasizes an individual’s character rather than following a set of rules.
Being virtuous can achieve pinnacle of humanity, Eudaimonia.
Eudaimonia: a life well lived. Human flourishing.
Moral Luck
Moral Responsibility: acts or state of affairs for which you can praised or blamed.
Ought implies can
Thomas Nagel pointed
- Constitutional luck
- Circumstantial luck
Harm and wrongdoing are separate things.