MORALITY AND ETHICS

(cont.)

Debate Teams 1) “Cigarette Smoking Should be Banned in Public Areas”

Support: Oppose: Fish Ida Julius Lok Kit

2) “It is wrong to eat meat”

Support: Oppose: Kate, Chan Hoi Kei Lai Weng Ian (Cecilia) Cindy Lei Sin I Tau Chi Hou (John) Carol Kong Chi Ian Cheng Tat Fai (Danny)

3) “Great Apes Should Have Human Rights”

Support: Oppose: He Xinying Liu Yueyang Huang Fangyi Xie Yuanchen Tao Xue Tadashi

Virtue Ethics

The good life

People are virtuous in order to cultivate their own soul and achieve a higher happiness

Focus on motivations for actions, rather than consequences

The goal is self-realization: to be noble, honorable, decent

What kind of people do we want to be?Do we want to be the kind of people who

would do that?

Problems with virtue ethics

Do people really have a telos? If not, how can the virtues be justified?

Is cultivating the virtues really the best way for an individual to maximize his human potential?

People can do the wrong thing for the right reasons

Surely the action is wrong even if the motivation is right

Deontological Ethics

Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher

Rightness of actions is independent of consequences.

The Categorical Imperative defines our moral duties.

Moral duties, e.g.not to kill or harm innocent peoplenot to lieto keep promisesto respect the rights of others

The Categorical Imperative can be understood through reason.

Deontological Ethics (cont.)The Categorical Imperative can be worked out through the principle

of universalizability:

"Always act according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will", and is the "only condition under which a will can never come into conflict with itself…"

(Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals)

Rational beings have an intrinsic worth and dignity.

The end (purpose) of morality is in preserving the well-being and dignity of all rational agents:

“Act with reference to every rational being (whether yourself or another) so that it is an end in itself in your maxim…“

(Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals)

You must never treat a person as a means, but always as an end.

Problems with deontological ethics

Problem of justification for Categorical Imperative – where does it come from

Not all good actions can be universalized

Rigide.g. if we have a categorical imperative not to lie, it is wrong to lie even if by lying to a mad gunman, we can save an innocent person’s life

It is not always possible never to treat a rational agent as an end, e.g. war

Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), English philosopher

A form of consequentialism

An act is judged to be moral or immoral according to its consequences.

Instrumentalist good vs. Intrinsic good

Instrumentalist good: good as a means by which to realize an intrinsic good, e.g. medicine

Intrinsic good: something good in and of itself, e.g. happiness

Utilitarianism (cont.)

Happiness and the absence of suffering are the ultimate intrinsic goods.

The goal of morality is to maximize happiness (“the greatest good for the greatest number”)

An act is good if it maximizes the collective happiness and minimizes the collective suffering.

Problems with Utilitarianism

Seemingly immoral acts can be judged moral, e.g. killing an innocent person.

Consequences are often difficult or impossible to predict.

The morality of an act may depend on chance (how the consequences

How can you calculate units of goodness (utiles)?

Happiness and lack of suffering may not be the only intrinsic goods.

Varieties of Utilitarianism

Act utilitarianism classic utilitarianism

Preference utilitarianism aim to maximize the fulfillment of people’s preferences,

rather than happiness

Rule utilitarianism act in accordance with rules that, in the long run, tend to

maximize happiness/preferences

Suggested readingsStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, at: http://plato.stanford.edu/

Entries on: Consequentialism and Deontological Ethics and Virtue Ethics

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism (1863), available at: www.utilitarianism.com/mill1.htm

Required readings

Traditional Ethical Theories (excerpt from Online Guide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy at: caae.phil.cmu.edu/Cavalier/80130/part2/sect9.html), available on Moodle

Stephen Law, The Philosophy Gym, Chapter 17, “Killing Mary to Save Jodie”. available on Moodle