week2-ethicaltheoriesppt

8/13/2019 week2-ethicaltheoriesppt

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Ethical Theory


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The Trolley Problem: take 2

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The Transplant Surgeon

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Consequentialism & Deontology

Consequentialismrightness depends on consequences

Deontologyrightness depends at least in part on a formalmoral rule or principle

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$180 billion government bailout

A few months later...

$165 million in bonuses to 400 executives


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Relativism7

What I feel is right is right. What I feel is wrong is wrong.Jean Jacques Rousseau

Ethical Subjectivism - There are no objective moral truths only an individuals feelings or preferences.

Some Criticism:

No arbitration between views possible, other than

the exercise of power.

Anyone can harm others if it feels right to them

And we do tend to think that arbitration is possible we do it all the time. And that its wrong to harmothers for such a reason.


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Relativism8

Cultural Relativism -All (not some) moral values are nothingmore than cultural customs and laws.

Some Criticism:

Guilty of deriving ought from is (the Naturalist Fallacy).

Offers no criteria for distinguishing between reformers andcriminals

Cant explain moral progress

Encourages blind conformity to cultural norms, rather thanrational analysis of moral issues (which we think is important)

Doesnt work in pluralistic cultures (like ours)

Can lead to suspicion and mistrust of other cultures


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Following the law is notthesame thing as acting morally

Laws can be immoral

Laws can provideinsufficient direction

Laws can be ambiguous

Doing the moral minimumis doing what you are

morally obligatedto do (not doing bad)

Doing good: going beyond your obligations

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Moral Development & Maturity10

Kohlbergs stages of moral development

The more you think about your choices,the more you think about your reasonsand the reasons of others, the moreyou open your mind and widen yourhorizons, the more your moralreasoning is likely to mature!

Postconventional thinking doesnot need to reject cultural norms,but rather to evaluate them. If it

accepts them, its because theyare the right norms to have not

because they are the norms wedo have,


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Some Criticism:

Justifies any self-interested action nomatter how it effects others.

Selfishness is usually associated with

immorality, altruism with morality

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The achievement of his own happiness is mans highest

moral purpose

Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)

Ethical Egoism - everyone ought to do what is inhis or her own rational self-interest


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Utilitarianism

The greatest good for the greatest number

The morally right act for an agentAat a timet is that act available toAat t, that willmaximize the total amount of good in theworld (that will have the best consequences).

Jeremy Bentham (1748 1831)

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Hedonistic Utilitarianism

What is good?

Pleasure and the absence of pain are good

Pleasure is any sensation you would rather havethan no sensation at all; and pain is any sensationyoud rather not have than no sensation at all.

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What Bentham thinks are theadvantages of Utilitarianism

Determinate in principle in principle, you can use thehedonic calculus to get an actual answer to the questionof what should I do in this case?.

Neutralistictreats everyone in the same way

Realisticits based on real psychology. It works withpeople as it finds them and organizes society so that they

being that way actually has good consequences foreveryone.

Non-metaphysicalit doesn't make goodness/badnessright/wrongness some sort of weird qualities. What in theworld is a natural right?

Non-elitistit counts all sentient creatures. And all types ofpleasures equally

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The Hedonic Calculus

Perform the action-alternative with the highest total

Determine Intensity x duration

Determine Probability

Calculate Total = (intensity x duration) x Probability

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For each action-alternative:


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How do we regard differenttypes of pleasures?

What counts as pleasure?

Are there higher and lower pleasures?

Bentham: the source of pleasure doesnt matter

J.S. Mill: There is an objective quality to differentpleasures that should also be factor into ourcalculations

Quality comes from what people would choose ifthey had access to all possible pleasures

Bentham: Its a subjective criterion Pushpin is asgood as poetry

What about sadistic and masochistic pleasures?

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Are all goods commensurable?

Can all pleasures be roughly compared? Can theybe reduced to some sort of homogenous value?

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Utilitarianism & business

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Market view Free and unregulated markets would maximize the overall good

by most efficiently connecting supply with demand.

Administrative view Policy experts manipulate the economy to attempt to

improve the outcome beyond the capacities of a purely free market.


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Criticisms of Utilitarianism

Its too difficult to apply

People care about more than just pleasure

We can not reduce all human goods into quantifiableunits which can be aggregated and compared

There is no non-arbitrary limit to how far into the future weshould consider consequences

Intention is important for determining the moralstatus of actions, but no room for this in utilitarianism

Justifies acts that seem to be plainly wrong likemurder and rape

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Other forms of Utilitarianism

Rule Utilitarianism - Always act according tothe rule that would produce the most utility

in the world (vs.act

utilitarianism)

Preference Utilitarianism: Always act so as tomaximize satisfaction of peoples

preferences (vs. HedonisticUtilitarianism)

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Rights and duties

One way to think of a right is as a trump againstthe claims of the general welfare.

Rights hook into correlative duties: if you have a rightnot to be killed, then I have a duty not to kill you.

Negative rights are rights to non-interference

Positive rights are rights to aid

entitlements tobe provided with something

Right to due process of law in the US, to freeeducation, to healthcare coverage, etc.

A right not to be killed, have your property stolen, raped, etc.

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Kantianism

Moral actions follow from the right moral principles

To find out whether a moral principle is ok to actfrom, you see if its compatible with theCategorical Imperative (CI)

All moral rules must rest on a categoricalimperative (CI)

Hypothetical imperatives are conditional,rather than categorical/absolute

How do we know if our moral principles are good ones?

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Step 3: Imagine the world that would result fromconjoining all the laws of physics, psychology,sociology, etc. with the law you made in Step 2

The Categorical Imperative

Step 4: Test the maxim

If a maxim of action fails the CI tests, it is NOT permissible toact on that maxim! AND that means that not to do that

thing is a moral duty.

The contradiction in conception testIn the socialworld of (3) would it be possible to achieve yourend by means of the action you proposed in 1?

The Contradiction in the Will test - Could Iconsistently willthat this social world actually exist?

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Criticisms of Kantianism

Its absolutist and inflexible (What if the negative consequencesare too high?)

Some maxims which seem to be ok, fail the CI test. (e.g. Go tothe beach on a sunny day)

We have no positive formula for constructingmaxims, so it seems we may propose any numberof maxims for any action. Which should we follow?

The whole approach of basing morality onrationality, rather than feelings is mistaken.

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Some major moral principles

The Principle of Nonmaleficence We ought toact in ways that do not cause needless harm orinjury to others

The Principle of Beneficence We should act inways that promote the welfare of other people

The Principle of Utility We should act in such away as to bring about the greatest benefit andthe least harm

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Virtue Ethics

Those that your moral exemplarsposes

Virtue ethic focuses on having a good character tellsyou what kind of person you ought to be

It is action-guiding in the sense that it recommendsthat you become the kind of person that will do what

is right perhaps instinctively

How do you become virtuous?

Develop the sort of habits or instincts that a virtuousperson has through good upbringing, education,

reflection, experience, and effort

What habits or instincts are these?

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Virtue Ethics the virtues

Rationality, intelligence, tenacity, capability,patience, prudence, skillfulness, shrewdness,proficiency, etc.

Moral Virtues

Practical/non-moral virtues

Benevolence, compassion, honesty, charity, sincerity,

sympathy, respect consideration, kindness,thoughtfulness, loyalty, fairness, etc.

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Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

(1) Different cultural groups have had different,sometimes conflicting, opinions on whatconstitutes a virtue. If Virtue Ethics has no universal

basis, it leads to an undesirable cultural relativism.

(2) Virtue Ethics may praise certain charactertraits, but this provides us with no or insufficient

practical guidance about which specific actionsto perform

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Using Child labor30

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