© 2013 Rey Ty Philosophy Made Simple: Ethics ©2013 Rey Ty Northern Illinois University
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
© 2013 Rey Ty
Philosophy Made Simple: Ethics
©2013 Rey TyNorthern Illinois University
© 2013 Rey Ty
Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Ethics•“a code or set of principles by which live” (p. 1).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Ethics1. Classical Ethics
2. Modern Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Classical Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Classical Ethics•“if we know what the good life is, we will naturally act in such a way as to try to achieve it” (pp. 2-3).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Classical Ethics1. Platonism2. Aristotle’s Mean3. Epicurus: Hedonism4. Cynicism5. Stoicism6. Christian Ethics7. Spinoza8. Bentham & JS Mill:
Utilitarianism9. Kantian Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Platonism
•“evil is due to lack of knowledge” (p. 3)•“finding the nature of the good life is an intellectual task very similar to the discovery of mathematical truths” (p. 3)•“develop virtuous habits of behavior”…& “develop their mental powers through the study of such disciplines as mathematics and philosophy” (p. 3)•“imitate and are guided by those people who have knowledge of the good” (p. 3).•“absolutism:” “there is…one and only one good life for all to lead” (p. 4) © 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Aristotelian Ethics
• Use of reason• “scientific or empirical approach to ethical
problems” (p. 7)• “The good life for people is a life of
happiness” (p. 8)© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Aristotelian Ethics
• “People ought to behave so as to achieve happiness” (p. 8)
• “golden mean” (p. 8)
• “various correct ways of living for different people” (p. 9)
•“Aristotle is both a relativist and an empiricist in ethics” (p. 9)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Aristotelian Ethics
• “golden mean:” “In order to achieve happiness, people must act moderately, they must act so as to be striving for the mean between two extremes” (p. 9)
© 2013 Rey Ty
Hedonism•“pleasure must be in some way an ingredient of happiness” (p. 11)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Hedonism
• “The ethical philosophy of Epicurus consists mainly of advice for living moderately but pleasurably” (p. 11).
• “but…if a person pursues pleasure too arduously, pain will follow” (p. 11).
• “live pleasantly without suffering from any of the undesirable effects of such living” (p. 11)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Cynicism
• “the world was fundamentally evil; in order to live properly, people must withdraw from participation in it” (p. 17)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Stoicism• “Learn to be
indifferent to external influences!” (p. 18)
• “good or evil depends upon oneself” (p. 19).
• “free oneself from desires and passions” (p. 19)
• “By practicing indifference one become independent of the world” (p. 19).
• “predestination, i.e., that all happenings in the world are fixed by God” (p. 19).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Christian Ethics
• Decalogue (10 Commandments)• Immortality (p. 23)• Neoplatonism (Augustine) (p. 23)• “favor asceticism” (p. 23)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Spinoza• “relativist”
(p. 30)
• “nothing is good or bad by itself but is so only in relation to someone” (p. 30).
• “a person will be happy when he/she comes to understand that there are limits to human power; by understanding that everything that happens must happen necessarily, one will no longer dissipate one’s energy in struggling against these events” (p. 30).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Utilitarianism• Jeremy Bentham & John
Stuart Mill
• “An action is right insofar as it tends to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number” (p. 32)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Utilitarianism• “it lays stress upon the effects that an
action has. If an action produces an excess of beneficial effects over harmful ones, then it is right; otherwise, it is not” (p. 33).
• “separate the rightness or wrongness of an action from the goodness or badness of the agent who performs the action” (p. 33)
• “a political philosophy that entails democratic government as a political institution” (p. 33).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics• “the moral law requires that people
be rewarded proportionately to their virtue” (p. 35)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics•“ a person is acting morally only if he suppresses his/her feelings and inclinations and does that which he/she is obliged to do” (p. 36).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics•“…
morality…is closely
bound up with one’s duties and
obligations” (p. 36).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics
• “the essence of morality is to be found in the motive from which an act is done” (p. 37).
• “a person is moral when he/she acts for a sense of duty” (p. 37).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics•“There is therefore one categorical imperative, namely this: act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (p. 39).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics•“So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as a means only” (p. 40).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Kantian Ethics“to behave morally one must behave consistently, i.e., ‘universalize his behavior’” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics1. Moral Realism:
Subjectivism & Objectivism
2. Naturalism, Nonnaturalism & Emotivism
3. Motivist, Consequence & Deontological Theories
4. Applied Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•“engage in philosophical analysis without necessarily being committed to giving any sort of advice for living” (p. 43).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•“that branch of philosophy that applies analysis to moral theory” (p. 43).
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•“Philosophical analysis is frequently considered to be the search for the necessary and sufficient conditions that determine the meaning of a term, although this is not its only job” (p. 44).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•“The function of analysis is to make the question precise so that we will know how to reply to it” (p. 44).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•Classification of Modern Theories: Subjectivism & Objectivism (Moral Realism) p. 45
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics
•“modern ethical theories are primarily concerned with the analysis of the language of morals” (p. 45).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Modern Ethics•“ ‘We can define ‘objectivistic’ by saying that any theory that is non-subjectivistic is objectivistic’ ” (p. 45).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivistic Ethics
•“If the theory holds that what are ordinarily called ‘ethical’ judgments (such as “Stealing is wrong’) are neither true nor false, it is subjectivistic” (p. 45).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
•“If the theory holds that ethical judgments are true or false but that they are always about the psychology of th person who utters them and only that person, then again it is subjectvistic” (p. 45).
Subjectivistic Ethics
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Naturalism, Nonnaturalism & Emotivism (p. 47)
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Naturalism•“A theory will be regarded as naturalistic if it holds both that moral judgments are true or false, and also that such judgments are reducible entirety to the concepts of some natural science (usually psychology” (p. 46). © 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Nonnaturalism
•“…it holds that moral judgments are true or false, but that they are not reducible to any natural science” (p. 46).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Emotivism•“…it contends that moral judgments are neither true nor false but are merely expressions of feelings of those who utter them and evocative of the feelings of those who hear them” (p. 46).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Emotivism•Emotivists include “A. J. Ayer, C. L. Stevenson, Rudolf Carnap” (p. 27).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Emotivism•“moral judgments are about one’s feelings” (p. 47).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Motivist, Consequence & Deontological Theories
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Motivism•“the rightness or wrongness of an action depends upon the motive from which the act was done” (p. 47).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Consequence Theory
•“rightness or wrongness of an action depends entirely upon the effects that the action has” (p. 47).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Hedonistic Consequence Theory•“rightness or wrongness of an action depends upon whether it
produces consequences that are painful or pleasant” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Agathistic Consequence Theory
•“goodness is not to be identified with pleasure, or badness with pain, but is something unique” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Deontological Theories•“rightness or wrongness of an act depends neither upon the motive from which the act was done nor upon the consequences of the act—but solely upon what kind of an act it was” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Deontological Theories
•“Because they stress the notions of obligations and duty, deontological theories are often describes as ‘duty ethics’ ” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivism•“the argument based on an analysis of the language that we use to make moral judgments” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivism“such judgments are more
than statements of descriptions of something.
They are also prescriptions” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivism•Moral judgments “are imperatives, commands to someone, and they are evaluations—expressions of one’s own personal values” (p. 48).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivism•“argument from
sentience” involving “feelings, desires,
appetites, attitudes, knowledge” (p. 49).
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Subjectivism•“reject objectivistic theories such as utilitarianism. What is the point of working for the greatest happiness of the greatest number if you personally become unhappy by so doing? In the final analysis, what can be more important than you?” (p. 49).
Egoistic argument:
© 2013 Rey Ty
Objectivism•“’a theory that responds more closely to the views of people of common sense about moral matters than does subjectivism” (p. 50).
© 2013 Rey Ty
Objectivism
•“there is no essential difference between a dispute about moral
matters and a dispute about factual ones” (p. 51).
© 2013 Rey Ty
References
•Popkin, R. H. & Stroll, A. (1993). Philosophy made easy. New York: Three Rivers Press. •Photos from the web.
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Thank You!
© 2013 Rey Ty
© 2013 Rey Ty
Ethics
Rey TyNorthern Illinois University
© 2013 Rey Ty
Philosophy Made Simple
© 2013 Rey TyNorthern Illinois University
Related Documents
