Download PowerPoint 簡報

WHAT WOULD A SATISFACTORY
MORAL THEORY BE LIKE ?
MORALITY WITHOUT HUBRIS
12-1
 Hume- The life of a
man is of no greater
importance to the
universe than that of
an oyster.


“It [i.e. racism] is an offense against morality because
it is first an offense against reason.”
a. What reason requires, i.e. impartiality,
 b.
The requirements of social living (a good set of
rules)
 c.
Our natural inclination to care about others.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MWH AND
UTILITARIANISM
FIRST-
A person who is denied the right to choose
his or her own action is thereby denied the
possibility of achieving any kind of personal
moral worth.
SECOND-
one who treats others well deserves to be
treated well in return, while one who treats
others badly deserves to be treated badly in
return.
1. Act so as to promote the interests of everyone
alike.
 2. Treat people as they deserve to be treated,
considering how they themselves choose to behave.


We ought to act so as to promote impartially the
interests of everyone alike, expect when
individuals deserve particular response as a
result of their own past behavior.
The Moral Community



12-2
A moral community is a group of people drawn together
by a common interest in living according to a particular
moral philosophy.
Many moral communities are often associated with a
religion and advocate that religion's conception of a good
life. The congregation of a church, synagogue, or mosque
is a typical moral community. However, some moral
communities, such as the American Humanist
Association, are secular and advocate particular
interpretations of secular ethics. In itself, 'moral
community' is a value-free descriptive term, and thus, so
are the range of potential practises that are condoned
within disparate moral communities.

During the Aztec ascendancy in Mexico and
Central America, human sacrifice and ritual
cannibalism were core aspects of ceremonial
religious endeavour, designed to satisfy divine
interests. Until the nineteenth century, chattel
slavery was condoned within Western European
societies, and for one half-century, apartheid was
condoned within the moral community of white
Afrikaner inhabitants of South Africa.
12-3 JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS



Utilitarianism has been severely criticized for
failing to account for values of justice and
fairness. MWH can do it better.
The basic utilitarian ''justification'' of
punishment is in terms of treating individuals as
mere ''means''.
However, MWH provides a different view of
the matter; the punishment on someone is based
on ones past deeds/own doing.






Questions of justice arise whenever one person is treated
differently than another. In general everyone should get
equal treatment. But this begs the question, “What justifies
unequal treatment?”
For example, why promote the hard working employee?
Utilitarianism: Because everybody benefits from this
decision.
MWH: Because this person earned it by working harder.
“MHW holds that a person’s voluntary actions can justify
departures from the basic policy of ‘equal treatment’, but
nothing else can.”
And this poses a problem. How about rewarding talent?
What if the hard-worker is passed over, because the other
has special talent?(John Rawls called it “the natural
lottery”.) Is it just to reward that person for being “born
lucky”?
REVERSE DISCRIMINATION &
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The concept of reverse discrimination has two
different views. In a broad sense, it refers to
discrimination against Whites or males in
employment, education, and any other areas of
life. In a narrow sense, reverse discrimination
refers to the negative impact Whites or males
may experience because of affirmative action
policies.
 The effect of the policy is only to neutralize the
advantage(gifted teacher, up-to-date facilities,
been born into a more advantaged social position,
and simply do not have to contend with the
obstacles that have been placed in the way of
black).
