Introduction to Ethics
1 The Domain and Purpose of Morality
The Domain Morality
- Actions: right, wrong, obligatory, permissible
- Consequences: good, bad, indifferent
- Character: virtuous, vicious
- Motive: good will, ill will
The Purpose of Morality
- To promote the survival of society
- To resolve conflicts of interest justly
- To ameliorate human suffering
- To promote human flourishing
- To assign responsibility, praise, and blame to actions
For more Pojman (2006).
2 Three Levels of Ethics
- Metaethics
- Normative Ethics
- Applied/Practical Ethics
In this course we will focus on metethics and normative ethics.
Metaethics
Metaethics is the attempt to understand the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic, and psychological, presuppositions and commitments of moral thought, talk, and practice.
– Sayre-McCord (2023)
For example:
- Are there moral facts?
- If so, can we know them?
- What does “good” mean?
Normative Ethics
The branch of ethics concerned with what makes an action good or bad, right or wrong.
Three major traditions:
- Virtue Ethics
- Consequentialism
- Deontology
Applied Ethics
Sometimes referred to as “special ethics.” Applied ethics extends normative ethics to specific domains of human life. For example:
- Medical ethics
- Business ethics
- Technology ethics
- Environmental ethics
3 Metaethics
Metaethics
In this class we will look at two metaethical questions.
- Today: Are there objective moral truths? The Issue of Moral Relativism.
- Next week: What is the relationship between God and morality? The Euthyphro Dilemma
The Cultural Differences Argument
The cultural differences argument against objective moral truths.
- 1.
- If people’s moral judgments differ between cultures, then moral standards are relative to culture (there are no objective moral truths).
- 2.
- People’s moral judgments do in fact differ between cultures.
- ∴ 3.
- So, moral standards are relative to culture (cultural relativism).
PROBLEM: Premise 1 moves from what people believe to what is actually the case. Does it really follow from the mere fact that people disagree that there is no objective truth on the matter? (See Rachels 2011.)
Problems with Cultural Relativism
See Rachels (2011).
If morality is merely a social construct (cultural relativism) then:
- We can no longer say that the customs of other societies are morally inferior to our own.
- We could decide whether an action is right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society.
- The ideas of moral progress and social reform are called into doubt.
4 Normative Ethics
Dividing Normative Ethics in Two
- Ethics of Character (pre-modern)
- Virtue ethics
- Ethics of Conduct (modern)
- Consequentialism
- Deontology
Ethics of Character
Major figures: Plato, Aristotle, Confucius
Moral questions are focused on:
- Excellence
- Virtue and Vice
- Shaping one’s character
Ethics of Conduct
Major figures: Bentham, Mill, and Kant
Moral questions are focused on justice and impartiality:
- prioritizes obligation and moral acceptability/unacceptability
- virtues play a secondary role
