* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download What is Ethics?
Ressentiment (Scheler) wikipedia , lookup
Business ethics wikipedia , lookup
Kantian ethics wikipedia , lookup
Arthur Schafer wikipedia , lookup
Individualism wikipedia , lookup
Internalism and externalism wikipedia , lookup
Bernard Williams wikipedia , lookup
J. Baird Callicott wikipedia , lookup
Consequentialism wikipedia , lookup
Alasdair MacIntyre wikipedia , lookup
Value (ethics) wikipedia , lookup
Ethics of artificial intelligence wikipedia , lookup
Ethics in religion wikipedia , lookup
The Moral Landscape wikipedia , lookup
Lawrence Kohlberg wikipedia , lookup
Moral disengagement wikipedia , lookup
Critique of Practical Reason wikipedia , lookup
Morality and religion wikipedia , lookup
Morality throughout the Life Span wikipedia , lookup
Moral development wikipedia , lookup
Ethical intuitionism wikipedia , lookup
Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development wikipedia , lookup
Moral responsibility wikipedia , lookup
Secular morality wikipedia , lookup
How to study ethics? About the course • Lecturer: Mr. Tang Chak Kin • Email: [email protected] • Website: appliedethics.webnode.com About the course • You can download PowerPoint files – as well as lecture notes and other stuff – from the course website. • Links to useful information and resources can also be found on the website. About the course • You may now sign up for tutorials. • Tutorial dates, times and classroom arrangements can be found on the course website. Fact and value • In ancient Greece, the subject matter of ethics was ‘eudaimonia’ (flourishing) or ‘the good life’. • In modern times, ethics is about questions of moral judgment, i.e. questions about what is right and what is wrong in human actions and practices. Fact and value • Unlike science, there are no wellrecognized standards or methods in ethics that can be used to examine people’s ethical judgments. • Moral judgments, therefore, are much less certain than scientific facts. Fact and value • Susan believes that light travels faster than sound, while Dave believes that sound travels faster than light. • Anyone who has good scientific knowledge will agree that Susan’s belief is true whereas Dave’s belief is not true. Fact and value • If your friend has committed a crime (e.g. stealing from a supermarket), should you report to the police? • Different people may have different opinions. They may not agree on what is the right thing to do in a situation like this. Fact and value • Judgments about what is right, what is good, what is important, what is acceptable, what is beautiful, etc. are value judgments. • Since moral judgments are value judgments, some people think that moral judgments are necessarily subjective. Fact and value • According to these people, there are no objective answers to moral questions. • They go further and argue that a sharp distinction has to be made facts (factual and descriptive statements) and values (evaluative and prescriptive statements). Fact and value • A factual statement such as ‘Water boils at 100ºC’ can be examined scientifically and objectively to determine whether it is true or not. Fact and value • The same cannot be said of evaluative statements (such as ‘Homosexuality is evil’) and prescriptive statements (such as ‘You must take care of your parents’). Fact and value • Moral judgments, according to this view, are subjective value judgments and therefore simply reflect people’s personal feelings and attitudes. • But why study ethics if there are no objective answers to moral questions? Fact and value • As Sam Harris puts it in his TED talk, “...it’s often said that science cannot give us a foundation for morality and human values, because science deals with facts, and facts and values seem to belong to different spheres.” Fact and value • But then, speaking of corporal punishment, Harris asks, “Is it a good idea, generally speaking, to subject children to pain and violence and public humiliation as a way of encouraging healthy emotional development and good behavior? Is there any doubt that this question has an answer, and that it matters?” Fact and value • With this and other examples, Harris argues that there are, in fact, right and wrong answers to moral questions that rational people can agree on. • The link to Harris’ talk can be found on the course website. Moral reasoning • Moral judgments, therefore, are not merely subjective expressions of personal feelings and attitudes. • Rational people are able to make moral judgments on the basis of objective knowledge of actions, practices, situations and shared social values. Moral reasoning • What is the right thing to do, in any circumstance, should be determined by sound ethical reasoning. • As all of us have the capacity of moral reasoning, it is possible to resolve disagreements by appealing to moral common ground. Moral reasoning • You need to think clearly and reason well about ethical issues. To do so, you should: • look for relevant facts and evidence • analyze ideas and concepts • compare and contrast different viewpoints Moral reasoning • evaluate arguments • develop a standpoint of your own • be ready to justify your views with reasoned arguments Moral reasoning • The main purpose of studying ethics is to learn how to think critically and develop skills of reasoning and argumentation. • Not only should you familiarize yourself with different viewpoints, you should also be able to explain why you agree or disagree with these viewpoints. Moral reasoning • To sum up, you should: • learn to look at an issue from different angles or perspectives; • learn to think in terms of arguments and counterarguments; • learn to use examples and/or counterexamples to illustrate your views