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Why Study Ethics?

Moral concerns are unavoidable in life. Analogy: morality is a lot like nutrition.

– Principal concern: health– The role of experts– Disagreement– Doing, not just saying, the right thing leads

to joy.

Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory

5th ed.

By Lawrence M. Hinman

Ch 1 The Moral Point of View

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Ethics as an Ongoing Conversation

Professional discussions of ethical issues in journals.

We come back to ideas again and again, finding new meaning in them.

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Ethics and Morality

Morality: first-order set of beliefs and practices about how to live a good life

Ethics: a second-order, conscious reflection on the adequacy of our moral beliefs.

Public and Private Moral Beliefs

Distinguish between overt and covert moral beliefs.

Self-knowledge required for awareness of moral beleifs.

One aim of the course is discussion to promote this self-knowledge.

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Moral Health

The goal of ethical reflection is moral health.

Thus we seek to determine what will nourish our moral life and what will poison it.

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Ethical Inventory

Take the ethical inventory on pp. 7-9 It is a first step in self-knowledge of your moral beliefs.

Return to your answers after finishing each chapter.

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The Moral Point of View

What makes something a moral issue?– Content:

• duties, rights, human welfare, suffering, character, etc.

– Perspective: • impartial, compassionate, etc.

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Example: Cheating

Imagine a situation in which you see a classmate cheating. There are several elements from a moral point of view:– Some people are hurt by the cheating– There is deception in the situation– Cheating seems to be unfair to those who

don’t cheat– There are conflicting values—honesty, loyalty,

etc.– There are questions of character.

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The Language of Moral Concerns

Some philosophers have argued that moral issues are characterized by a particular kind of language—terms such as duty, obligation, right, and good.

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Impartiality

Many philosophers have argued that the moral point of view is characterized by impartiality, that is, I don’t give my own interest any special weight.– Immanuel Kant– John Stuart Mill

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Compassion

Other philosophers have seen the origin of the moral life to be in compassion, feeling for the suffering of other sentient beings.

Josiah Royce: “Such as that is for me, so is it for him, nothing less.”

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Universally Binding

Moral obligations, some philosophers maintain, are universally binding and that is what gives them their distinctive character.

Kant: morality is a matter of categorical imperatives. – Distinguish between hypothetical and

categorical imperatives.

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Concern for Character

Philosophers from Aristotle onward have seen the primary focus of morality to be character.

Two questions:– What ought I to do? (Kant and Mill)– What kind of person ought I to be?

(Aristotle)

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The Point of Ethical Reflection

Ethics as the Evaluation of Other People’s Behavior– We are often eager to pass judgment on

others Ethics as the Search for Meaning and

Value in Our Own Lives

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Ethics as the Evaluation of Other People’s Behavior

Ethics often used as a weapon Hypocrisy Possibility of knowing other people The right to judge other people The right to intervene Judging and caring

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Ethics as the Search for Meaning and Value in Our Own Lives

Positive focus Aims at discerning what is good Emphasizes personal responsibility

for one’s own life

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What to Expect from a Moral Theory

Functions of theory: Describe Explain Give strength (Stockdale) Prescribe

– Open new possibilities– Wonder

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What to Expect from a Moral Theory, 2

What is ethics like? Physics

– Clear-cut, definitive answers Engineering

– Several possible ways of doing things, many ways that are wrong

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Conclusion:Ethics & Good Health

Ethics is like nutrition– One studies bodily health, the other

moral health– Significant disagreement in both fields– Still there is a significant common

ground.