Week2 Ethicaltheoriesppt
Week2 Ethicaltheoriesppt
Week2 Ethicaltheoriesppt
$180 billion government bailout A few months later... $165 million in bonuses to 400 executives
Relativism
What I feel is right is right. What I feel is wrong is wrong. Jean Jacques Rousseau
Ethical Subjectivism - There are no objective moral truths only an individuals feelings or preferences.
Some Criticism:
No arbitration between views possible, other than the exercise of power.
Relativism
Cultural Relativism - All (not some) moral values are nothing more than cultural customs and laws.
Some Criticism:
Guilty of deriving ought from is (the Naturalist Fallacy). Offers no criteria for distinguishing between reformers and criminals Cant explain moral progress Encourages blind conformity to cultural norms, rather than rational analysis of moral issues (which we think is important) Doesnt work in pluralistic cultures (like ours)
Laws can be immoral Laws can provide insufficient direction Laws can be ambiguous
Doing the moral minimum is doing what you are morally obligated to do (not doing bad) Doing good: going beyond your obligations
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Postconventional thinking does not need to reject cultural norms, but rather to evaluate them. If it accepts them, its because they are the right norms to have not because they are the norms we do have,
The more you think about your choices, the more you think about your reasons and the reasons of others, the more you open your mind and widen your horizons, the more your moral reasoning is likely to mature!
Ethical Egoism - everyone ought to do what is in his or her own rational self-interest
The achievement of his own happiness is mans highest moral purpose Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
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Some Criticism:
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Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham (1748 1831) The morally right act for an agent A at a time t is that act available to A at t, that will maximize the total amount of good in the world (that will have the best consequences).
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Hedonistic Utilitarianism
What is good?
Pleasure and the absence of pain are good Pleasure is any sensation you would rather have than no sensation at all; and pain is any sensation youd rather not have than no sensation at all.
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J.S. Mill: There is an objective quality to different pleasures that should also be factor into our calculations
Quality comes from what people would choose if they had access to all possible pleasures
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Market view Free and unregulated markets would maximize the overall good by most efficiently connecting supply with demand.
Administrative view Policy experts manipulate the economy to attempt to improve the outcome beyond the capacities of a purely free market.
Criticisms of Utilitarianism
Its too difficult to apply
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Rule Utilitarianism - Always act according to the rule that would produce the most utility in the world (vs. act utilitarianism)
Preference Utilitarianism: Always act so as to maximize satisfaction of peoples preferences (vs. Hedonistic Utilitarianism)
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Kantianism
Moral actions follow from the right moral principles How do we know if our moral principles are good ones? Hypothetical imperatives are conditional, rather than categorical/absolute All moral rules must rest on a categorical imperative (CI)
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To find out whether a moral principle is ok to act from, you see if its compatible with the Categorical Imperative (CI)
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The contradiction in conception test In the social world of (3) would it be possible to achieve your end by means of the action you proposed in 1?
The Contradiction in the Will test - Could I consistently will that this social world actually exist? If a maxim of action fails the CI tests, it is NOT permissible to act on that maxim! AND that means that not to do that thing is a moral duty.
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Criticisms of Kantianism
Its absolutist and inflexible (What if the negative consequences are too high?) Some maxims which seem to be ok, fail the CI test. (e.g. Go to the beach on a sunny day) We have no positive formula for constructing maxims, so it seems we may propose any number of maxims for any action. Which should we follow? The whole approach of basing morality on rationality, rather than feelings is mistaken.
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Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethic focuses on having a good character tells you what kind of person you ought to be It is action-guiding in the sense that it recommends that you become the kind of person that will do what is right perhaps instinctively
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Practical/non-moral virtues
Rationality, intelligence, tenacity, capability, patience, prudence, skillfulness, shrewdness, proficiency, etc.
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(2) Virtue Ethics may praise certain character traits, but this provides us with no or insufficient practical guidance about which specific actions to perform
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