Ethics in Public Lifelecture 1

Mapping ethics

Streaming ethics: deontology

Dr. Maciej PichlakUniversity of Wrocław

Faculty of Law, Administration and EconomicsDepartment of Legal Theory and Philosophy of Law

The task of ethics

Ethics as a critical reflection on moral experience

The task of ethics:

to clarify and verify the existing moral beliefs.

Spaemann: 'It is an attempt to understand. Yet, this understanding does not leave that what is understood untouched.'

Between faith and scepticism

- no certain knowledge or ultimate authority; a need for argumentation

- practical (critical and/or normative) tasks, not merely descriptive or analytical

Mapping ethics

Mapping ethics

Deontology (morality) vs. Teleology (ethics)

Greek: beauty vs. good

Public ethics vs. Individual ethics

Mapping ethics

Basic streams of moral philosophy:

TELEOLOGY DEONTOLOGY

UTILITARIANSM

VIRTUE ETHICS

ETHICS OF RIGHTS

CONTRACTUALISM

DISCOURSE ETHICS

ETHICS OF DIALOGUE

POSTMODERN ETHICS

Morality of duty and of aspiration

● Morality of duty embodies the most moral obvious demands of social living, which means basic requirements of social living. Whereas the morality of aspiration is the morality of good life, of excellence, of fullest realization of human powers.

● We do not praise men for doing their duties but we do praise them for moral excellence. On another hand, we do condemn people by breaching their duties but we may only feel sorry for those who do not realize their aspirations.

● Morality of duty generally requires only forbearance while morality of aspiration is in some sense affirmative.

● Morality of duty can be enforced more or less by law whereas morality of aspiration cannot.

● Moral duties are ‘sticky and inflexible’ while it is the nature of all human aspirations towards perfection to be liable and responsive to changing conditions.

Part two

Streaming ethics:

DEONTOLOGY

Deontology

Definition

Deontology: "a type of moral philosophical theory that seeks to ground morality on a moral law or norm which moral agents have an obligation to conform to. Deontological ethics, in this sense, is law-based, and envisages the morally right and the good as determined through relevant norms."

O. Kuusela, Key Terms in Ethics

Greek deon - duty, what ought to be done

Some varieties of deontological ethics

- stoic

- religious

- rational [Kant]

-contractualism [Rawls]

-- discourse ethics [Habermas et al.]

Problems of deontology

1. How to justify moral duties (rules)?

2. How to establish the content of moral duties?

3. How to reason from general rules to concrete cases?

Kantian deontology

Apriorical foundations of morality:

Good will

Duty vs. inclination

Kantian deontology

Why only duty may form an apriorical ground for morality?

Empirical character of inclinations

A concept of the autonomy of (moral) subject

Kantian deontology

How do I know what a duty requires?

The test of universalization.

Categorical imperative:

Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.

Categorical imperative

Alternative formula:

So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.

Categorical vs. hypothetical imperative

Supplementary playlist (in Polish only):

http://2ryby.pl/film/piosenka-filozoficzna-kant/