Download You are what You Do

WHY BE ETHICAL?/YOU
ARE WHAT YOU DO
pp. 5-21 and 23-39
The Capacity to Act (Freedom)
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Aristotle’s teleological view  We have a natural
desire and sense of purpose to do good (pp. 11-14).
Kant’s deontological view  We have and obligation
to do good (pp. 14-17).
Levinas’s relational theory of ethics  We are called to
good by encountering the other (pp.17-20).
What makes us capable of responding in an ethical
manner?
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Despite being predisposed to act a certain way
because of genetics, we also have the capacity to make
choices.
We have the capacity to be an agent (someone who is
able to initiate things and is able to change the world).
Actions are what make us human – human actions are
the building blocks of who we are and who we become.
Freedom is the human potential, the capacity and the
power to act. Action is the realization of that power.
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Ethics examines your capacity as an individual to
make things happen in your world, in your
relationships and even within yourself.
The morality of human acts depends on: (1) the
object chosen; (2) the end in view or the intention;
(3) the circumstances of the action.
The Conceptual Framework of Human
Action:
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Who? - the agent
What? - the action
Why? – the motive
How? – with what means?
Under what circumstances?
With or against whom?
With what outcomes?
Human Freedom
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The capacity to choose and to act. I am free because I have
possibilities and a capacity to act (or not act) on these
possibilities.
Not all philosophers agree on how to explain the human ability
to initiate an action.
The intention or primary cause is usually not visible.
Intending to doing something is not the same as actually doing
it.
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Traditionally, the capacity to act intentionally has
been identified as a spiritual/transcendent quality.
If someone states their intentions to marry, it is a real
commitment even though it cannot be detected by any
of the senses.
Some philosophers and paradigms believe that free
will itself is an illusion – humans are part of a physical
and material world and nothing in them reaches
beyond the material and into the spiritual world.
Naturalism
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The movement has roots in the ideas of 18th century
philosopher and empiricist David Hume (he
challenged the principle of causality – it is not
found innate in thought but through experience).
The material universe is a unified system where
everything is shaped by physical, chemical,
psychological, social, biological and environmental
processes. Humans are simply part of the material
universe, which is one grand chain of cause and
effect.
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With the sequencing of the human genome, naturalism
believes we have the blueprint for humanity – this
notion challenges the notion of the “free” self.
If this theory is held to be true, then our promises and
commitments don’t come from intention but instead
from genetic predisposition.
Naturalism denies the possibility of ethics and
morality.
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How can you be responsible for your actions if what
you do is a natural, physical process over which you
have no control?
According to Augustine, in our understanding of law,
guilt can only be assigned to a human agent acting
freely.
Naturalism and A.I.
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The concept of artificial intelligence is very much inline with the philosophy of naturalism (reduces
intention to a process that can be programmed).
Computers and modern forms of A.I. today can only
model an aspect of intelligence and not act as a
whole intelligence system. Neural networks of
humans can be replicated in computer programs but
this is far from human intelligence.
Religious Determinism
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Freedom, as a human capacity, is also attacked in
other philosophies and theologies.
Some churches within Christianity have denied
human freedom, based on the belief that God’s
foreknowledge and will have predetermined
everything in the world, including our individual
actions.
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Most Christians believe in the concept of
providence, which is God’ influence upon events
and actions.
Some Christians, such as John Calvin (French
Protestant reformer from 1500’s), believe that our
salvation or damnation has been predestined and
therefore there is no freedom or ethics
(predestination takes away the human capacity to
act freely).
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Catholic teaching maintains that human freedom and God’s
providence don’t conflict.
God has a foreknowledge of what will happen, but we are
actively acting in the present and are free to choose our
actions.
God gives us the gift of salvation, God’s initiative of love.
This love/salvation requires us to cooperate and choose to be
good (act freely). It also gives us the grace to cooperate and
choose to be good (theological virtues).
Social Determinism
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Similar to naturalism, this paradigm suggests that
our behaviours are determined by outside
influences – like the influence of others around you:
Parents, culture, race, social background, personal
history, gender religion etc.
Sigmund Freud believed that human behaviour is
often driven by unconscious impulses based on
repressed memories and desires.
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Freud believed that these repressed experiences exert a
constant pressure on our conscious mind. They emerge as
images and symbols in our dreams, and odd patterns in
our behaviour.
Freud also believed humans had 2 determining instincts:
life (linked to love, sex and eros) and death (thanatos).
Freud believed we have a personal taskmaster that
imposes guilt and shame to control our actions (superego,
influences by parents and society).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQWBnwu1oZs
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Do you see your self as an agent who is free to act,
or are you just another piece in a grand chain of
cause and effect?