Download Ethics: A Matter of Choice?

Ethics and Human Nature
ETHICS: A MATTER OF CHOICE?
Three Questions
 What is human nature?
 Are humans free?
 Are humans inclined to be ethical or not?
Human Nature and Ethics
 Human nature tells us what is possible for us
to do or to become
 Ethics tells us what we ought to do or become
 If it is impossible for us to do or to become
something, we cannot have an ethical
obligation to do or become that
 For example, a human cannot be held
ethically responsible for breathing
underwater without some aiding device
Can We Do What We Ought?
 Different theories of ethics argue that we
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should do different things to become ethical
All theories urge us to become ethical
In general the various approaches call us to
be unselfish and to care about others
Are we as humans inclined to be ethical?
Are we instead inclined to be unethical?
Are we by nature neutral toward ethical life?
Does Choice Require Freedom?
 Hard determinists say we have no free will,
therefore there can be no ethical behavior
 There are many types of determinists and all
say what happens is inevitable
 What do you think the beliefs of these types
of determinists might be: Psychological,
theological, causal, genetic?
Freedom?
Compatibilism
 Compatibilists believe in determinism
 Yet they say we are still free
 Human nature includes the ability to
deliberate
 When we act from deliberation we are acting
freely
 This is true even though the action was
determined
 A Case
Freedom? Libertarianism
 Humans are unlike all the rest of creation in
that we are free to make choices
 This is a denial of the truth of determinism
 Rene Descartes says : Our actions are free
when they emerge from the mind (reasoning
or deliberation). Our minds can manage our
body’s actions.
 The mind or will is exempt from the laws of
physics making choice and ethics possible
Human Nature:Inclined?
 Does my nature incline me to good? Away
from good? Neither?
 Inclines us to good: Mencius and the Taoists
 Away from good: Xunzi and Hobbes
 Neither: Dong Shongshu, Yang Xiong and the
Existentialists
Humans Innately Good
 Mencius’ story of natural sympathy
 We are called to develop our natural
inclination to the good.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Taoists: Before
humans lived in society, they were in
harmony with nature
 We are called to unlearn the rules of society
and return to our natural goodness
Humans Innately Bad
 Xunzi believed that human nature is naturally
selfish, but can become good through
deliberate, conscious effort, especially in social
roles shaped by ritual education. Thus develop a
second nature or morally virtuous core.
 Hobbes was a rational egoist. He believed that
joining society leads us to make the most of
longer-term interests rather than immediate
gratification. He was pessimistic about humans
and called for authoritarian rulers.
Human Nature: Neutral
 Yang Xiong: Human nature is a pull toward
both good and bad. We develop good or bad
habits
 Dong Zhongshu the yang was good and the
yin was bad
 Both Yang and Dong:
 We feel the pull toward good, but are also
tempted to wrong
 We have the power to embrace the good
Human Nature has no ethics
 Existentialists:
 We have no tendencies to good or bad because
human nature is not ethical
 There is no moral direction to be pulled toward or
away from
 Sartre: Human condition is one of radical
freedom; we must choose our own directions;
there is no outside standard.