Introduction to PhilosophyLecture 15

Ethics #1 (Intro.)

By David Kelsey

Ethics

• Ethics: the systematic investigation into the nature of morality.– Morality is the code of conduct or system of principles that a person or persons follow

as guidelines for their actions.

– The morality of a society…

• When we study morality we study it’s concepts. Some include:– Good & Bad

– Right & wrong

– Prescription & Prohibition

– Permissibility & impermissibility

– Virtues such as courage

What morality isn’t?

• Some related concepts that we don’t study when we study Morality:• Religion:

– Religion: stories, supernatural beings– A guide to conduct vs. more than this…

• Etiquette:– a part of morality– applies to less ‘serious’ actions

• Law:– Rules, penalties and officials– morality and law overlap…

Moral claims

• Moral claim (also called moral judgments): – non-factual claims that assert that some moral property such as Rightness is

instantiated in some object or action or event.

– A property: a way that something can be.

– A moral property is any way that something can be morally.• Examples:

– Examples of moral claims:

Moral Arguments

• A moral argument is one which asserts as its conclusion a moral claim.

– Abortion example…

Deriving Moral Value Judgments

• Inferring a value claim: We cannot derive or infer a value claim from merely factual claims.

– Elliot’s father example: we might argue that Elliot’s father depends upon Elliot so Elliot ought to take care of his father.

– The problem: we are deriving a value claim, that Elliot should take care of his father.

• Support from value: So if we are trying to infer a value claim, at least one of the supporting propositions must be a value claim.

– So to justifiably infer that Elliot should take care of his father from Elliot’s father depends upon Elliot we need something that links the 2 claims

– For example…

Critiquing moral reasoning

• What if we come across a moral argument we disagree with?– If you agree with the facts

– yet you disagree with the conclusion

– you must try to show the moral principle false.

• Showing a moral principle false: how do you show a moral principle false?– You simply find a what?

• Abortion is unnatural example…

A note aboutRelativism

• Moral relativism: A very popular view in ethics is moral relativism.– This says: What is right or wrong depends upon and is determined by one’s group or

culture.

• Confusion: often times, the following 2 claims are confused:– 1. What is believed to be right and wrong may differ from group to group, society to

society, or culture to culture.

– 2. What is right and wrong may differ from group to group, society to society, or culture to culture.

• Problems with MR: So what’s wrong with moral relativism?– Universal or nearly universal moral judgments…

– True and False…

– No correct answers…

– Settling Disagreements…

Ethics: it’s three areas

• The Discipline of Ethics can be divided into three sub-disciplines, which together comprise it wholly.

• They are:– Normative Ethics

– Applied Ethics

– Meta-ethics

Normative Ethics

• Normative Ethics:– This is second order ethics

– Here we aim to find the answer to the question: “What ought I do?”

– Here we also aim to construct general guidelines for the making of a moral judgment.

Applied Ethics

• Applied Ethics:– First order ethics

– Here we look to specific cases in which we must determine what the right action or the permissible action is.

– Here we make moral judgments.

Meta-ethics

• Meta-ethics– Third order ethics

– The study of the nature of moral judgments.

Normative ethics

• Normative Ethics: aims to provide a set of guidelines for making moral judgments.

• In this class we will look at three such sets of guidelines.

• They are:

– Utilitarianism• We will look at the theory of John Stuart Mill

– Deontology• We will look at Immanuel Kant’s theory

– Virtue Theory• We will look at the theory put forth by Aristotle