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THEORETICAL ETHICS
Dialogue
Education
2009
NORMATIVE ETHICS
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EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET).
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CONTENTS
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Page 3 – Fling the Teacher -Ethical Theory
Page 4 - Video Presentation An Introduction to Ethics
Page 5 - Normative Ethics
Pages 6 to 10 - Introductory information about Theoretical Ethics
Pages 11 to 16 - Consequentialist Approaches
Pages 17 to 24 - Deontological Approaches
Page 25 - Internalism vs externalism
Pages 26 to 28 - Moral Relativism
Page 29 - Moral Nihilism
Page 30 - Enough Rope Interview with Australian Philosopher Julian Savulescu
Page 32 – Grade or No Grade Game –Utilitarianism (See online resources for
more Games)
Page 33 - Bibiography
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FLING THE TEACHER
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Click on the image above for a game of “Fling
the Teacher”. Try playing the game with your
students at the start and the end of the unit.
Make sure you have started the slide show
and are connected to the internet.
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YOUTUBE VIDEO ON AN INTRODUCTION TO
ETHICAL THEORIES
Click on the
image to the left.
You will need to
be connected to
the internet to
view this
presentation.
 Enlarge to full
screen
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ETHICAL THEORY
Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical ethics that
investigates the set of questions that arise when we think
about the question “how ought one act morally speaking?”
Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it
examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of
actions, while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral
language and the metaphysics of moral facts. Normative
ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics, as the latter is an
empirical investigation of people’s moral beliefs. To put it
another way, descriptive ethics would be concerned to
determine what proportion of people believe that killing is
always wrong, while normative ethics is concerned to
determine whether it is correct to hold such a belief. Hence,
normative ethics is sometimes said to be prescriptive, rather
than descriptive.
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ETHICAL THEORY
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Broadly speaking, normative ethics can be
divided into the sub-disciplines of moral theory
and applied ethics. In recent years the
boundaries between these sub-disciplines have
increasingly been dissolving as moral theorists
become more interested in applied problems
and applied ethics is becoming more
profoundly philosophically informed.
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ETHICAL THEORY
Traditional moral theories were concerned with
finding moral principles which allow one to
determine whether an action is right or wrong.
 Classical theories in this vein include
utilitarianism, Kantianism, and some forms of
contractarianism. These theories offered an
overarching moral principle to which one could
appeal in resolving difficult moral decisions.
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ETHICAL THEORY
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In the 20th century, moral theories have become more complex and
are no longer concerned solely with rightness and wrongness, but are
interested in many different kinds of moral status. This trend may
have begun in 1930 with D. W. Ross in his book, The Right and the
Good. Here Ross argues that moral theories cannot say in general
whether an action is right or wrong but only whether it tends to be
right or wrong according to a certain kind of moral duty such as
beneficence, fidelity, or justice (he called this concept of partial
rightness prima facie duty). Subsequently, philosophers have been
questioned whether even prima facie duties can be articulated at a
theoretical level, and some philosophers have urged a turn away from
general theorizing altogether, while others have defended theory on
the grounds that it need not be perfect in order to capture important
moral insight.
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ETHICAL THEORY
In the middle of the 20th century there was a long hiatus
in the development of normative ethics during which
philosophers largely turned away from normative
questions towards meta-ethics. Even those philosophers
during this period who maintained an interest in
prescriptive morality, such as R. M. Hare, attempted to
arrive at normative conclusions via
meta-ethical reflection. This
focus on meta-ethics was in
part caused by the intense
linguistic turn in analytic
philosophy and in part by the
pervasiveness of logical
positivism.
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ETHICAL THEORY
In 1971, John Rawls bucked the trend against
normative theory in publishing A Theory of
Justice. This work was revolutionary, in part
because it paid almost no attention to metaethics and instead pursued moral arguments
directly. In the wake of A Theory of Justice and
other major works of normative theory
published in the 1970s,
the field has witnessed an
extraordinary Renaissance that
continues to the present day.
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ETHICAL THEORIES
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There are two main divisions in ethical theory.
They are Consequentialism and Deontological
approaches to ethics.
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CONSEQUENTIST ETHICS
JOHN STUART MILL
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CONSEQUENTIST ETHICS
Consequentialism (Teleology) argues that the
morality of an action is contingent on the
action's outcome or result.
Some consequentialist theories include:
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CONSEQUENTIST ETHICS
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Utilitarianism, which holds that an action is
right if it leads to the most value for the
greatest number of people (Maximizes value for
all people). :
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CONSEQUENTIST ETHICS
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Egoism, the belief that the moral person is the
self-interested person, holds that an action is
right if it maximizes good for the self.
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CONSEQUENTIST ETHICS
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Situation Ethics, which holds that the correct
action to take is the one which creates the
most loving result, and that love should always
be our goal.
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DEONTOLOGY
IMMANUEL KANT
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
Deontology argues that decisions should be
made considering the factors of one's duties
and other's rights.
Some deontological theories include:
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
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Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative, which
roots morality in humanity's rational capacity
and asserts certain inviolable moral laws.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
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The Contractarianism of John Rawls or Thomas
Hobbes, which holds that the moral acts are
those that we would all agree to if we were
unbiased.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
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Natural rights (law) theories, such that of
Thomas Aquinas or John Locke, which hold that
human beings have absolute, natural rights.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
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Virtue ethics, which was advocated by Aristotle,
focuses on the inherent character of a person
rather than on the specific actions he or she
performs. There has been a significant revival
of virtue ethics in the past half-century, through
the work of such philosophers as G. E. M.
Anscombe, Philippa Foot, and Rosalind
Hursthouse.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
Divine Command Theory
 Ethical issues can by decided by reference to a
sacred book, person or teaching.
Divine Command theoryThings are good or bad by virtue of a command from
a God- Divine fiat. e.g. There are 630
Commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures
Alms giving, homosexuality and the equality of
woman are issues determined by divine command
in the scriptures.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORIES
Problems
• Are the moral facts fixed for all times e.g. polygamy
was moral in the 5th Century BC but not in the first
century AD. Does God change his mind?
• Does God lay down the moral laws independently
of himself or is God constrained by the moral
laws? If the later this is a problem for those who
believe God is all powerful. If the former could not
God have chosen different moral laws. Are the
divine commands arbitrary?
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ETHICAL THEORY
Internalism vs externalism
Internalism
An internal reason is, roughly, something that one has in light of one's own
"subjective motivational set"---one's own commitments, desires (or wants), goals,
etc. Internally reasoned responses to moral issues determine decisions.
e.g. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative –
Moral decisions are characterised by the maxim that moral decisions should be
determined by whether a moral decision can be applied universally.
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Externalism
On the other hand, an external reason is something that one has independent of
one's subjective motivational set. For example, suppose that Sally is going to drink
a glass of poison, because she wants to commit suicide and believes that she can
do so by drinking the poison. Sally has an internal reason to drink the poison,
because she wants to commit suicide. However, one might say that she has an
external reason not to drink the poison because, even though she wants to die, one
ought not kill oneself no matter what—regardless of whether one wants to die.
•
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ETHICAL THEORY
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Moral relativism (c.f. cultural relativism) holds
that for a thing to be morally right is for it to be
approved of by society; this leads to the
conclusion that different things are right for
people in different societies and different
periods in history.
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ETHICAL THEORY
What about the moral issue of whether woman
should or should not be allowed to wear the veil
or burka?
e.g In French secondary schools
 A moral relativist would say that
a moral decision is relative
to the culture.
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ETHICAL THEORY
Relativism explains the value of tolerance in
our society.
Logical problems
 How do you carve up cultures? There are lots
of cultural identities within a culture.
Pluralistic societies contain many cultures.
 How do you make sense of moral progress?
e.g. abolition of slavery, womens’ rights.
 Is relativism an absolute?
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ETHICAL THEORY
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Moral nihilism, also known as ethical nihilism, is
the ethical theory that nothing is morally
preferable to anything else. For example, a moral
nihilist would say that killing someone, for
whatever reason, is neither morally right nor
morally wrong. Moral nihilism must be
distinguished from moral relativism which does
allow for moral statements to be true or false in a
non-objective sense, but does not assign any static
truth-values to moral statements. Insofar as only
true statements can be known, moral nihilists are
moral skeptics.
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PROFESSOR JULIAN SAVULESCU
Australian Professor Julian Savulescu who is
the Chair of Practical Ethics at the Faculty of
Philosophy in Oxford
 He favours the use of legalizing drug use in
sport, thinks cloning is cool and says that if the
technology were available then yes we should
genetically modify our children.
 Click here for an interview with him
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ETHICAL THEORY
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GRADE OR NO GRADE GAME -UTILITARIANISM
Click on the
image to the
left for the
game
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Cline, Austin "Analytic Ethics (Metaethics)," URL =
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/phil/blfaq_phileth_anal.htm."
Garner, Richard T.; Bernard Rosen (1967). Moral Philosophy: A Systematic
Introduction to Normative Ethics and Meta-ethics. New York: Macmillan. pp. 215.
LOC card number 67-18887.
Jackson, Frank "Critical Notice" Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol. 70, No. 4;
December 1992 (pp. 475-488).
Hurley, S.L. (1989). Natural Reasons: Personality and Polity. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Hurley, S.L. (1985). "Objectivity and Disagreement." in Morality and Objectivity, Ted
Honderich (ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 54-97.
^ Couture, Jocelyne and Kai Nielsen (1995). "Introduction: The Ages of Metaethics,"
in On the Relevance of Metaethics: New Essays in Metaethics, Jocelyne Couture and
Kai Nielsen (eds.). Calgary: University of Calgary Press, pp. 1-30.
^ Gibbard, Allan (1993). "Reply to Railton," in Naturalism and Normativity, Enrique
Villanueva (ed.). Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview, pp. 52-59.
Wikipedia-Normative Ethics- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative_ethics
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