PHIL215 2012 09 20 ProfessorBrianOrend PDF
PHIL215 2012 09 20 ProfessorBrianOrend PDF
PHIL215 2012 09 20 ProfessorBrianOrend PDF
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PHIL 215
Lecture #2
Last Lecture:
Virtue-Based: - Character Traits - Kind of Person: has the virtues - Results: being the best you can be, morally Duty-Based: - Duty (not God, not Reason); isn't about character; all about actions - Not results; obeying rules, following correct procedures
Today:
1. Finish Moral Theory 2. Case Study Method
Consequentialism:
- Consequences of actions - Measurable - Verifiable - Not about character or intention
Utilitarianism:
- A form of consequentialism - Pleasure - Usefulness - Bentham - Secularist; Believed in health care, free vaccination; Democracy.
- "Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number" (1750) - "Ethical Science" - J.S. Mill
Hedonistic Calculus
- A or B - How much pleasure vs. how much pain does each give? - (e.g. 200 units of net utility from 250 units of pleasure and 50 units of pain)
Strengths of Utilitarianism:
1. We like pleasure; pain is a drag 2. Historic Link & Progressive Reform 3. Greatest Happiness for Greateset Number of People seems impossible to avoid in a democracy. (--> Politics Utilitarian Common English-Speaking World) 4. World be better: what can I do to make the world a better / happier place? 5. Critically reflect on our lifestyle choices Peter Singer: - Famous current-day Utilitarian. - Believes strongly in vegetarianism because of animals capacity for pain
Weaknesses of Utilitarianism:
1. Aristotle: Pleasure is not the only, or even the main, human good. 2. End Justifies the Means. (All about the end, the result). This raises the problem that Utilitarianism allows for controversial means. But this is only for the greatest number - leaving minority rights at a disadvantage. 3. Nozick: a) The Experience Machine - It would be a very incomplete world if everyone was just hooked up to pleasure machines in the name of a utilitarian world. b) Utility Monsters - Utilitarianism would justify the situation where some people would be allowed to inflict pain onto others as long as the pleasure they receive is greater than the pain they output. 4. Problems with the Calculus: a) Presuppose we know the future b) Arbitrary c) Too Complex to be Desirable (Occams Razor) 5. Too Demanding on the Self?
Rights-Based Theory:
- Entitlements that people have to the ingredients of a minimally good life)
- What you want, no matter what you want - All purpose means to achieve your goals - $$$ - Freedom / Liberty - Food - Life - Pursuit of Happiness - Property - The most flexible theory. To determine whether you can do something, ask whether you will violate someone elses rights. - Rationality: My right ends where your nose begins! John Locke (1650): - Medical Doctor who went on to become a Political Activist - 2 Routes: - (God Route) Asserts that if we are to perform that duties that God impose on us, it must follow that God must want your rights respected (to perform these duties) - (Reason Route) Asserts that if we are to survive + pursue happiness, we must have rights. - Social Contract; Consensus
6. Individualist Fantasies - This theory indulges in individualistic fantasies. There needs to be other regards, such as community.
1st Gen theorists find 2nd Gen rights too overbearing. 2nd Gen theorists insists that taxation is not that demanding. (mid-lecture break)
Feminist Ethics:
1982, Carol Gilligan (Harvard): In a Different Voice - a million copies sold 1. Descriptive (factual): - Men and women think about morality and ethics differently 2. Prescriptive (value-laden): - Womens Way is Better (Some controversy over the validity of her research; study sample size is 29. Her focus is on qualitative research over quantitative) - Her findings: Men - Men are fundamentally self-oriented toward - Men dont trust others: Disconnect; Lack of trust - Abstraction - Universality (whereas women are more context-sensitive, more likely to make exceptions) - Rationality - On Kants work: Suffers ridiculous Women - Women presuppose trust; much more socially connected - Women are more concrete, context sensitive - Women view the world through close, intimate personal relationship (how women view ethics and morality) - The ideal human relationship that delivers all of these qualities is that of motherhood.
emotional poverty - Men are more able to transcend / bend the world, whereas women are more present. - Believes that Mens entire social view is captured by sports: a) set of rules, b) competitive, c) lack of trust
(EOF)