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10/1/13
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Turn outlines in to black tray.
Papers: Resubmissions due Friday.
Ethics—college, career?
Ethics—Chalk talk—add to the list or
checkmark ones you agree with.
• Developmental psychology and ethics.
Ethics 2
Theories and Approaches to Ethics
Arguing Ethics
Ethics and Culture/Religion
Theories and Approaches to Ethics
Piaget’s Stages of Development
(1896-1980—Swiss Psychologist)
Lawrence Kohlberg
Stages of Moral Development—Began
work in this area 1958
Write a minute…(comp book)
• What are 1-2 Knowledge Issues you could
develop from Dr. Scott’s discussion on ethical
systems yesterday?
• What are 1-2 ideas that he brought to the
floor that made you think about ethics
differently, in a new way, or just think?
Theories
Self-Interest Theory: Human beings are always
selfish.
Definitional Argument
Evolutionary Argument
Hidden Benefits Argument
Fear of Punishment Argument
Self-Interest: Definitional Argument
• Being altruistic or helpful is good, but in a sense
you are still being selfish. We want people to like
us, we want to be seen as ‘good’.
“Genuine altruism is impossible” according to this
definition.
Criticism: We do have intuition that is ‘other’regarding.
10/9/13
• Reminder: Draft 1 of Paper due IN CLASS on
Friday. 50% if you don’t have it in class.
• Reminder: presentation brainstorm due next
Monday.
• Reminder: IB Exam Registration due next
Wed.
• Lady or the Tiger:
– What did the princess do? Why?
– What would you do? Why?
Self-Interest: Evolutionary Argument
• We look out for #1 because that’s how we
survive and get our genes into the next
generation.
• Criticism: Empathy and altruism aren’t
necessarily nature over nurture…although,
cooperative mammals generally survive
longer.
Self-Interest: Hidden Benefits
Argument
• We get hidden benefits (or incentives) from
acting ethically…gratitude, praise, positive
self-image, social advantages. Karma?
• Criticism: Are all incentives or hidden
benefits necessarily bad? Isn’t there a hidden
benefit behind most behavior?
Self-Interest: Fear of Punishment
Argument
• People associate with “Old Testament”: Be good
or serve eternal punishment.
• Keeps us in line and prevents us from doing
wrong (but doesn’t necessarily force us to do
what’s right!) Why don’t you murder? Because I
don’t want to go to jail.
• Criticism: Moral decisions run more deeply than
what can be done to us by other humans as a
threat if we don’t do the right thing.
Immanuel Kant
Duty Ethics
The way to decide if something is your duty is if
you can generalize it. No individual should have
preferential treatment. I is we.
What would happen if everyone did this?
Apply this philosophy to stealing, cheating,
polluting, voting, suicide.
Duty Ethics
• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• Putting the good of the group before your own.
• Obeying authority—could you pull the trigger?
• Fulfilling obligation. (NPR Clip)
Who determines our duties? Make a list!
Criticisms of Kant
• Moral Absolutism: The idea that certain rules (ie, you
should never lie) should always be followed is too rigid.
I can’t lie; we’re on our way to your surprise party.
• Rule Worship: Following rules regardless of the
consequences or details or better judgment. Someone
is bleeding to death in my car, but the light is red so I
need to wait to go.
• Moral Coldness: If we follow prescribed morals or rules
without judgment, we end of making decisions without
feeling because we are told they are ‘right’. My
commander told me that Jews were parasitic and
would poison the human race. Of course they should
be exterminated.
Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill early
1800s
• Maximize Happiness! What makes the most
people the happiest? GNH.
• Democratic theory because each individual is
considered to be the best judge of what makes
him/her happy.
• Rational theory because it encourages us to think
long term.
• Egalitarian because it justifies spreading
happiness to everyone, regardless of other
variables.
Critics of Utilitarianism
• Constant stream of pleasure=happy life?
• What is forgotten when all we focus on is
happiness?
• Too self-serving?
• Are there bad or malicious pleasures? How do we
decide bad and good pleasures?
• Does not respect obligations or rights violations.
• Sacrifice the individual for the happiness of the
group?
Rule Utilitarianism
• Base an action on if it conforms to a rule that
promotes general happiness.
– Who decides?
– Close to duty-ethics, but more flexible than Kant’s
ideas.
John Rawls
The Veil of Ignorance
• Think as though you are blind to your role in
society—you don’t know if you are upper or
lower class, what health problems you have,
what your family structure looks like,etc.
Now…approach ethical dilemmas from behind
this veil.
• Obama uses many of Rawls’ ethical
approaches.
Religious Ethics
• Plato says we cannot get ethics from religion.
• It is the source of guidance for billions of
people—
– What are some ethical guidelines provided by
religion?
– Which came first, religion or ethical behavior?
– Does religion adhere too much to the Fear of
Punishment argument?
– Are there any ‘wrong’ ethics in religion?
Where it comes from…
Aristotle’s Virtue EthicsCatholocism
Kant’s Duty EthicsProtestantism
Do religious differences boil down to a
difference in ethical philosophies, then?
• Are you able to predict someone’s moral
beliefs if you know their cultural or religious
background?
Find out what these philosophers have
to say about ethical systems :
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Camus
Aristotle
Plato
Nietzsche
Sartre
Modern Philosopher: John Rawls
Does motive matter? Should motive
matter?
• Our actions should be determined ethical or not
based on what motivated us, not the
consequences.
• I helped the old lady because I knew she would
give me $5.00.
• I cheated on my exam because I needed an A to
get into college.
• I killed that man because he was about to throw
a grenade into the orphanage.
Ethical Intuition
• We inherently know right from wrong.
• Cannot prove our moral intuitions are true; is
intuition the best way to go when it comes to
deciding a moral action?
• Is conscience part of intuition?
Consistency
Impartiality is important. You can’t apply one set
of standards to one person’s action but not the
same action performed by someone else.
Special Pleading—ie, a teacher with a really
strict tardy policy is late to class all the time.
Hypocrisy—NOT the same thing as relativism.
I hate thieves, but one of my best friends will
steal gum for me anytime I ask her.
• Do you think people are consistent, generally
speaking, or do they apply their value
judgments haphazardly?
• Think about the ad hominem fallacy!
4 Questions/Ethical Systems when
evaluating a moral dilemma
1. Did you evaluate the action with emphasis on
the moral actor and intentions?
2. Did you evaluate the action with emphasis on
features of the act itself, and principals of what
is right and wrong?
3. Did you evaluate the action with emphasis on
the effect on others—the consequences of the
action?
4. Did you evaluate the action with emphasis on
the moral code of the surrounding society?
Ethical Systems
• Based on consequence aim for maximum human
happiness.
• Based on principals present doing good as an
obligation.
• Based on care stress empathy and nurturing
relationships.
• Most people identify more strongly with one
system. Does this have anything to do with our
personality types?
Arguing Ethics
Do ethical beliefs and morals belong in every
conflict?
Arguments and Counter-Arguments
• The goal is to reach the conclusion which has
the best reasons given in support. Remember,
to strengthen your argument, acknowledge
that there is a counter-argument!
• P. 224 gold chapter
Ethical Relativism
• No such thing as right and wrong outside of
the values of the particular individual or given
society.
Ethical Absolutism
• There is such a thing as right and wrong that is
universally applicable.
Discuss…
Are there any morals that are assumed in social
media? (Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc)
What morals should there be?
Ex: New law prohibiting “Revenge Pornography”
posting—People post nude photos of their exes
on social media.
Ethical argument pattern: (generally) we appeal
to a common moral principal and then attempt
to show that a particular action falls under it.
Don’t ignore the facts!
Because arguments that involve ethics and
morals can be emotionally rich, we often ignore
the facts.
Some disputes that are seemingly about morals
are really about FACTS. Look for empirical
evidence; maybe one’s perception of the
evidence is ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ Can you think of
examples?
Example
I think your boyfriend is a jerk.
Why?
Because he never thanks me for giving him a
ride to school.
Well, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Maybe he
just forgets.
Which facts are often ignored when
arguments take place over these
topics?
• Rich people should not get tax cuts.
• Cigarettes should be outlawed.
• Rapists should be put in prison for life without
parole.
Moral Reasoning
Moral Principalfactvalue judgment.
People try to use logic and reason when
discussing ethics…is this a good approach or do
you eventually reach a point of circular
reasoning?
How can you convince someone in an ethical
debate that they are wrong?
If we can’t, does that mean that our values have
no ultimate justification?
Ethics and Culture/Religion
This is why I sometimes say that religion is
something we can perhaps do without. What
we cannot do without are these basic spiritual
properties. –Dalai Lama
RELIGION
• Do unto others as you would have done unto you is an
axiom found in nearly every religion currently
practiced. Assumes that practicing empathy is the best
way to determine what is right. What do you think?
• Do you think that religion provides a reliable source of
ethical guidance?
• Does every religion have a foundation of ethical
guidelines?
Questions
• What religious or cultural ethics do we
consider outdated? WHY?
• Should religion be taken literally or as
metaphor?
Human Rights and Global Ethics
• Are there human rights that are universal?
• Are there ethics that can be considered
global?
• http://www.ted.com/talks/gordon_brown.ht
ml
“Human Rights for a New Millennium”
Moral Relativism
• Our values are determined by the society we
grow up in and/or by what the environment
allows.
REAL LIFE EXMPLE:
NPR Clip: REI and LL Bean allow returns on anything
at anytime. Moral relativism.
• DIVERSITY Argument and LACK OF FOUNDATIONS
Argument support this.
Diversity Argument
Variety of moral practices suggests that there
are no objective moral values. Morality is in the
eye of the beholder.
Example: there really is no argument against
cultures who keep slaves, stone adulterers
(women only), beat litterers, cannibalize, etc,
because they are culturally relative values.
Lack of Foundations Argument
• Moral values are ungrounded or lacking in
foundations. There is no way to test our moral
convictions to see if they hold ‘truth.’ Logic
does not apply—we use ought in the place of
is.
Against Moral Relativism
Some core values have been accepted by all
cultures—example: socieities tend to discourage
actions that harm its own members, like theft or
rape.
*That said, people have little concern for people
outside of their community. Steal from them!
Questions
• Does moral relativism mean we should be
absolutely tolerant? Live and let live?
• The opposite of this would be cultural
imperialism, where WE are right and THE
OTHER is wrong.
• Are there actions about which you have NO
TOLERANCE?
Which cultural practices should we
tolerate?
• Stoning women as a punishment for adultery?
• Waterboarding terrorist captives for
information?
• Lethal injection for the death penalty?
• Genital mutilation for girls of marriage age?
• Imprisoning terrorist suspects without a trial?
• Infanticide?
Whistle blower…tattle tail!
• Why, if we prize ethics, do these words have
negative connotation? People associated with
these words often are outcast from a group!
Not seen as doing anything moral at all. Of
course, it’s all relative…
• Real Life Example: Edward Snowden
Social Justice
The fusing together of cultural ethics with
politics.
Ethics and History
• Consider:
– Slavery
– Women’s rights
– Reservations
– Child Labor