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Part II: Ethics
Ch.
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How should one live?
How can I know what is right?
What makes society just?
Is justice for all possible?
Chapter 2: How Should One Live?
What constitutes a “good life”?
 Need to answer moral questions in a way
that is not ambiguous or vague
 What is the difference between actual
desires and one’s idea of what they ought
to do?

Answering Moral Questions

Moral questions must be answered in a
way that is not:
– Ambiguous – has many meanings and is not
clear precisely to what it refers
– Vague – without clear distinctions
Answering Moral Questions

Moral questions should be answered in
way that is:
– Descriptive – describes the kinds of values
people have and the sorts of principles they
use
– Normative – the norms that ought to guide
one’s actions
Reading the Philosophers

Ask yourself how the author would answer
these questions:
– What is the good life?
– How is the good life attained?
– Why is the life described as a good one?
Justification for Answers

When asking why questions, the author
should provide two types of justification:
– Justification of the goal
– Justification of the means
The Buddha and the Middle Way

Buddha = “the Enlightened One”
Siddhartha Gautama (563 BCE.) was
deemed Buddha after being enlightened
concerning how to attain wisdom and
overcome suffering
 Nirvana – release from suffering

Buddhism
Buddhism developed from Siddhartha
Gautama’s teaching
 Three main groups

– Theravada – Way of the Elders
– Mahayana – Greater Vehicle
– Vajrayana – Diamond Vehicle
Buddhism

Four Noble Truths – heart of Buddah’s
message.

Middle Way or Eightfold Path – the
Fourth Noble Truth
The Four Noble Truths
The Buddha
The Noble Truth of Suffering
 The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
 The Noble Truth of the Cessation of
Suffering
 The Noble Truth of the Way of Practice
Leading to the Cessation of Suffering

The Noble Truth of Suffering
Suffering is understood through the five
aggregates (components of the individual
human being) of grasping
 The aggregates of grasping

– Form
– Feeling
– Perception
– Mental formations
– Consciousness
The Noble Truth of the Origin of
Suffering

A craving or desire arises and establishes
itself through the pleasures of sights,
sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and
mind-objects
The Noble Truth of the Cessation of
Suffering
Complete fading away and extinction of
craving or desire
 Liberation from desires

Noble Truth of the Way of Practice
Leading to the Cessation of
Suffering

Noble Eightfold Path
– Right
– Right
– Right
– Right
– Right
– Right
– Right
– Right
View
Thought
Speech
Action
Livelihood
Effort
Mindfulness
Concentration
The Fourth Noble Truth
Walpola Rahula
Fourth Noble Truth Composed of Eightfold
Path
 Called the “Middle Path” because it avoids
two extremes:

– Search for happiness through pleasure of
senses
– Search for happiness through selfmortification
The Fourth Noble Truth
Walpola Rahula

Eightfold Path promote three essentials of
Buddhist training and discipline
– Ethical Conduct – Right speech, action, and
livelihood
– Mental Discipline – Right effort,
mindfulness, and concentration
– Wisdom – Right thought and understanding
Confucius and the Life of Virtue

Confucius:
– born in China (551 – 479 BCE)
– “humanistic social philosophy” – concern
for achieving good social order and cultivating
humane qualities in the human spirit
Confucius and the Life of Virtue

Key attributes of Confucian philosophy
– Ren (jen) – “goodness,” “benevolence,” and
“humanheartedness.” What we become by cultivating
aesthetic, moral, cognitive, and spiritual sensibilities.
– Li – rules of proper behavior. Grounded in tradition.
– Xiao (hsiao) – practice of kindness, honor, respect,
and loyalty among family members
– Yi – refers to what is appropriate or fitting to do in a
given situation
Confucius and Moral Character
D. C. Lau

Distinctions of ideal moral character
– Sage (sheng jen) – highest level of moral
character
– Good man and complete man
– Gentleman (chün tzu) – characterized by
benevolence.
– Small man (Hsiao Jen) – opposite of
gentleman
Confucius and Moral Character
D. C. Lau

Becoming a Gentleman: The meaning of
benevolence.
– “Do not impose on others what you yourself
do not desire” (XII.2)
– Shu – method of discovering what other
people do or do not wish done to them
– Chung – doing one’s best, practicing what
one has learned from shu
– Benevolence consists in overcoming self and
observance of rites
Socrates on Living the Examined
Life
Socrates was born in Athens 9 years after
Confucius died
 Socratic method – consists of asking
questions to formulate, critique, and
reform definitions of concepts
 Divine command theory – God’s
command or will makes something morally
right

The Apology
Plato
Plato’s account of the trial and defense of
Socrates in 399 BCE.
 What is the good life?

– The examined life, because “the life which is
unexamined is not worth living” (pg 57).

How is the good life attained?
– Examine life through asking questions
– He who understands his own limitations is
wiser than he who thinks he is wise
The Apology
Plato

What makes this the good life?
– In the examined life, one seeks virtue and
wisdom and looks to the welfare of others
– This is profitable both to one’s self and others
Aristotle on Happiness and the Life
of Moderation
Aristotle was a student of Plato (384 – 322
BCE)
 Tutor of Alexandor the Great
 Aristotle was a teleologist – he believed
that all existing things have a purpose

– Teleology = “end,” “goal,” or “purpose”
– He was concerned with the good of all
humans, or eudaimonia
Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle
Every action and pursuit aims at some
good
 The things we do for the sake of a desired
end are the chief good
 Human good is the activity of the soul in
accordance with virtue

Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle
Happiness is the activity of the soul in
accordance with perfect virtue
 The nature of virtue

– Intellectual – virtue born through teaching
– Moral – result of habit
Virtue is a state of character concerned
with choice
 Moral virtue is a mean between excess
and deficiency

The Song of God
How does one strive for moral perfection in
morally imperfect world?
 Hinduism

– Dharma – order of the cosmos embodied in social
and ethical law codes
– Karma – “consequences of action.” As you sow, you
will reap
– Samsara – cycle of rebirth, death, and suffering of
human life
– Reincarnation – rebirth into new physical body
Bhagavad-Gita
The First Teaching: Arjuna’s Dejection
 The Second Teaching: Philosophy and
Spiritual Discipline

The Virtue of Selfishness

Ethical egoism – view that people ought
to do what is in their own self-interest
 Altruism – people ought to do what is in
the interest of others
The Ethics of Emergencies
Ayn Rand
“Altruism has destroyed the concept of
any authentic benevolence or good will
among men”
 The moral purpose of life is the
achievement of one’s own happiness
 Values are the first concern and motive
power of life
