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Issues in Ethics-1
Descriptive morality
Normative ethics
 which moral principles are
defensible
 which actions are genuinely good
or bad
Issues in Ethics-2
Relationship to religion
 Divine command theory
 Plato's Euthyphro
Evaluating ethical issues




actions
motives
consequences
character
Why Be Moral?-1
Glaucon's question again
 Why does society need morality?
 Why should I be moral?
Hobbes
 Morality and law protect society
 Motivation for individual?
Why Be Moral?-2
Religious answers
 Because God commands it
 Out of love for God
Plato: self-interest in keeping
spiritual health
“Because it's right”
Theories of Ethics-1
Ethical relativism
 Subjective ethical relativism
 Conventional ethical relativism
Ethical objectivism
Ethical egoism
Theories of Ethics-2
Utilitarianism
Kantian ethics
Virtue ethics
Feminist ethics
Ethical Relativism
Action relativism
Moral principles relativism
Subjectivism: right or wrong is only
individual opinion
 Sophists
 Jean-Paul Sartre
Conventionalism
Defined: Morality is relative to each
society
Herodotus
Ruth Benedict: Anthropology and
the Abnormal
John Ladd
 Diversity thesis
 Dependency thesis
Ethical Objectivism
Defined: Certain moral principles are
universal and objective
Absolutism: principles can never be
overridden
Problems with relativism
Is there a core morality?
Ethical Egoism
Defined: people should always do
what is in their self-interest
Psychological egoism
Altruism
Types of ethical egoism



personal
individual
universal
Arguments for Universal
Ethical Egoism-1
Selfishness versus self-interest
Argument 1: Psychological egoism
 Bishop Butler
Argument 2: Egoism leads to the
best society
 Adam Smith
Arguments for Universal
Ethical Egoism-2
Argument 3: Egoism Is the ultimate
ethical principle
 Ayn Rand's Objectivism
 The Virtue of Selfishness
Egoism and the conflict of interests
Utilitarianism
Defined: the right action is that
which produces the greatest
happiness for the greatest number
Consequentialism, or teleological
ethics
 morality of an act depends on the
desirability of its consequences
 utilitarianism is most common
form
Bentham’s Utilitarianism
Psychological hedonism
Ethical hedonism
An Introduction to the Principles of
Morals and Legislation
A calculus of pleasures and pain
Mill’s Utilitarianism
Qualitative and quantitative
hedonism
Pleasures can differ in quality and
amount
Utilitarianism is a form of
objectivism, not relativism
The Consequences of
Consequentialism
Norcross: Comparing Harms: Headaches
and Human Lives
 “Lives for convenience”
Act-utilitarianism
 An action is right if its result is more
happiness than any other alternative
 Rule-utilitarianism
 An action is right if it is required by a
rule that would result in more happiness
Themes of Kantian Ethics
Irrelevance of consequences in
determining moral rightness
Importance of consistency
Irreducible dignity and worth of
every person
Necessity of having moral absolutes
Kantian Ethics
Deontological ethics
 nonconsequentalist
 judgment of moral rightness based
on the intrinsic moral value of the
act itself
Good will
 motivating force in all morality
Two Imperatives
Hypothetical imperative
 what means to use to achieve an end
Categorical imperative
 not dependent on prior conditions or
subjective desires
 has no qualifications
 universalizable
 reversible
Absolute Duties
Prima facie duty
 morally binding unless in conflict with
more important duty
 fidelity, reparation, gratitude, justice,
beneficence, self-improvement,
nonmaleficence
Actual duty
 duty obligated to perform after
circumstances are considered
Virtue Ethics
Arete
Virtue
The problems with the utilitarian
view
The problems with the Kantian view
The Positive Case for Virtue
Ethics-1
1. Virtues are necessary conditions for
human flourishing and well-being
2. Moral rules are inadequate unless they
are grounded in a virtue-based ethics
3. Judgments about character are more
fundamental than judgments about the
rightness or wrongness of conduct
The Positive Case for Virtue
Ethics-2
4. Virtue ethics is more comprehensive,
because it deals with the whole person
and not simply the person in so far as he
or she performs an action
5. The key to morality is found in the
character of moral role models
Aristotle
Eudaimonia
Nicomachean Ethics
Intellectual and moral virtues
Doctrine of the mean
The Virtues in Confucian
Thought
Doctrine of the mean
Analects
Characteristics of the superior
person
Feminist Ethics-1
Care-focused
 Gilligan’s In a Different Voice
 Ethics of justice
 Ethics of care
 Maternal, care-focused ethics
(Held, Ruddick)
Feminist Ethics-2
Power-focused
 Friedman’s Liberating Care