- •Metaethics: where our ethical principles come from (for example, Social construction? Will of God?) and what they mean
- •Applied Ethics: examining specific areas (for example, business ethics) and specific controversial issues (for example, abortion, capital punishment)
- •1) Difficulty of proving Supernatural Existence
- •2) Religious people can be immoral.
- •4) Different religions promote different ethical systems.
- •In Aristotle’s ethics (arete) is “excellences of various types.”
- •Virtue ethics is about character (agent-centered)
- •1) Psychological egoism:
- •2) Ethical egoism
- •Values of Traditional Society:
- •Impartiality and equality
- •Intensity
- •In other words with his/her choice man is setting an example of what he/she thinks is the right thing to do
- •Niccolò Machiavelli
- •Is the corporation a moral agent?
- •Favored by just cause advocates: legally.
- •Favored by at-will advocates: through the promotion of a vibrant labor market in which jobs are frequently created and readily available.
- •It can create a climate of support for attitudes that harm women
- •Issues in Euthanasia:
- •Voluntariness and Non-consequentialism
- •Bioethics: stem cell research
- •1953: Watson and Crick determine the molecular structure of dna
- •2000: Human Genome Project
- •Individuals with rare genetic disorders
- •In 1992 in Orlando, Florida, 5% of the drivers were black or Hispanic, but they accounted for 70% of those who were stopped and searched.
- •Information, computer and roboethics
- •Intellectual property
- •Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (1942, I Robot):
- •56 Nations are developing robotic weapons
What is philosophy?
Philosophy is that movement through which a person detaches - with efforts and hesitation, dreams and illusions - from what was acquired as true. Philosophy is the displacement and transformation of frameworks of thought, the changing of received values, the whole work you do to think differently, to become something else from what you are.”
What is ethics?
Ethics, or Moral Philosophy, is that branch of Philosophy dealing with the questions of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, trying to assess what moral duty is.
What is Morality?
Morality is the effort to guide one's conduct by reason – that is, to do what there are best the best reasons for doing = while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision
Impartiality means that each individual’s interests are equally important
What is Ethics?
THREE AREAS
Metaethics
Normative ethics
Applied Ethics
Metaethics: where our ethical principles come from (for example, Social construction? Will of God?) and what they mean
Meta…=“beyond”
Meta ethics is the study of the origin and meaning of ethical concepts.
It deals with the question where our ethical principles come from
Will of God? Law, religion, tradition, dominant group, movies?
1.Objectivism – moral values are absolute, eternal; they never change; they apply to all rational creatures around the world and throughout the time
2. Relativism
Relativism denies the objective status of moral values
Individuals create their own moral standards
Moral values are context specific (culture)
Normative Ethics: propose moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct (for example, What are our duties? Are consequences important?)
Normative ethics is about moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct/behavior (What are our duties? Are consequences important?)
For ex. The Golden Rule: we should not do to others what we would not want others to do to us
1) Virtue theories
Virtue theories: development of good habits of character
Virtue is a trait of character manifested in habitual action, that it is good for anyone to have (Rachels 2012, p.159)
Aristotle: virtues are midpoints between extremes- the one of excess and the other of deficiency
Plato: wisdom, courage, self-respect, and justice
The importance of moral education and reason
2) Deontological theories
Deontology derives from the Greek words for duty (deon) and science (or study) of (logos)
Deontological Theories are about what we ought to do; our duties
The morality of an action is grounded by some form of authority independent of the consequences that such actions generate. (For example, God)
Emmanuel Kant
3) Consequentialist theories
Consequentialist or Teleological theories:
‘Telos’ = Greek word for end or purpose
Actions are evaluated as moral or immoral depending on whether they help or hinder in the achievement of the chosen end.
An action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable
The correct moral conduct is determined solely by a cost-benefit analysis of an action’s consequences
Examples of Teleological Theories: (Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus)
Ethical Egoism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable only to the agent performing the action. (The ultimate end - happiness and pleasure).
Ethical Altruism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except the agent.
Utilitarianism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. (General good or well-being of human kind)
Applied Ethics: examining specific areas (for example, business ethics) and specific controversial issues (for example, abortion, capital punishment)
Different areas and specific problems:
Business Ethics
Media Ethics
Political Ethics
Legal Ethics
Medical Ethics
Computer Ethics
War Ethics
Ethics and religion
All religions have certain moral prescriptions
Religion is one of the oldest human institutions and served (serves) as a way for providing a moral code sanctioning people’s immoral behavior. Those sanctions were (are) even more powerful than any human being can possibly administer (for example, going to Hell)
Problems with basing morality entirely on religion