ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHT Flashcards
Greek telos,
teleos “end” or “purpose”), so-
called because it stresses the end-
result, goal, or consequence of an
act as the determining factor of its
rightness and wrongness, is also
called consequential ethics.
Teleological Ethics
(Greek telos,
teleos “__” or “___”),
end or purpose
Teleological ethics (Greek telos,
teleos “end” or “purpose”), so-
called because it stresses the end-
result, goal, or consequence of an
act as the determining factor of its
rightness and wrongness, is also
called
Consequential Ethics
(Greek deon,
deontos, discourse on duty or
obligation) stresses duty as the norm of moral actions, hence it is also known as duty ethics. It underscores the feature of the act or the kind of the act itself rather than the balance of harm and good-the value over the disvalue which is produced by the action.
Deontological Ethics
Also known as moral relativism, this ethical doctrine claims that there are no universal or absolute moral principles (Munson 1979: 1-39; Pahl: 16-20).
Ethical Relativism
is advocated by Joseph Fletcher, an American Protestant medical doctor and the author of Situation Ethics: The New Morality (1966). Prof. Fletcher mentions three approaches to morality: legalism, antinomianism, and situationism.
Situation Ethics
is Fletcher’s preferred approach to the problem of morality. This ethical theory states that the moral norm depends upon a given situation, but whatever this situation may be, one must always act in the name of Christian love.
Situationism
Situation ethics is advocated by ______, an American Protestant medical doctor and the author of Situation Ethics: The New Morality (1966). Prof. Fletcher mentions three approaches to morality: legalism, antinomianism, and situationism.
Joseph Fletcher,
combines love and justice in treating ill patients. Health care professionals and personnel should not only be fair to patients; they should also show loving care and concern for them
Situational Ethics
Six propositions
Proposition I: Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love: nothing else.
Proposition II: The ultimate norm of Christian decisions is love: nothing else.
Proposition III: Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed.
Proposition IV: Love wills the neighbor’s good whether we like him or not.
Proposition V: Only the end justifies the means: nothing else.
Proposition VI: Decisions ought to be made situationally, not prescriptively.
serves to check selfish motive as well as uncaring health personnel; it enjoins no preferential treatment for either erotic or filial considerations.
Agapeic love
was a philosopher, physicist, mathematician, and the founder and inventor of the term pragmatism.
Charles Peirce
Attributed to Charles Peirce (1839-1914) and William James (1842-1910), has been America’s most distinctive and major contribution to the world of philosophy:
Pragmatism
earned a medical degree from Cambridge and taught anatomy and physiology at Harvard in 1873.
William James
is more of a theory of knowledge, truth, and meaning than of morality.
Pragmatism
Found in the writings of two English philosophers, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), this ethical doctrine states that the rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by the goodness and badness of their consequences.
Utilitarism
holds that the true and valid form of knowledge is one which is practical, workable, beneficial, and useful.
Pragmatism
Found in the writings of two English philosophers, ________and _______, this ethical doctrine states that the rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by the goodness and badness of their consequences.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
It claims that there is one and only one moral principle–that is, the principle of utility; formulated by Mill: “Actions are good insofar as they tend to promote happiness, bad as they tend to produce unhappiness”
Utilitarianism
His ethical view is sometimes called deontologism for its emphasis on duty or obligation i.e., deontos in Greek.
Kant’s Ethics (Deontology)
is a command or maxim that enjoins a person to do such and such an act without qualification: it thus lays down a universal rule which if followed, will ensure that the person is acting from a sense of duty.
Catergorical Imperative
maintains that one acts morally (i.e., performs a moral act) if and only if one does whatever one is obliged to do
Kant
Thus, what makes an act moral is its being ________, as distinguished from acts done for other reasons.
Done out of duty
The former is one which we must always observe, irrespective of time and place or circumstances. That I should not harm or inflict injury upon others is a _____.
Perfect duty
Two Types of Duty
Perfect and Imperfect
The latter is one which we must observe only on some occasions. That I should show love and compassion occasionally to others, based on my own choice, is an ______.
Imperfect DUty
a British Aristotlean scholar and moral philosopher, presented a rule-deontological theory in his book The Right and the Good
William David Ross (b. 1877)
If and when moral rules come into conflict in particular situations, how are we to determine which one applies? To resolve this question, Ross makes a distinction between an ___________ and __________
actual duty and a prima facie duty
The former is one’s real duty in a given situation. It is the action one ought to choose from among many other actions.
The _____ (which in Latin means “at first view,” or so far as it appears) is one that directs or commands what one ought to perform when other relevant factors are not taken into account.
Latter
According to Ross, “__________________-“ In other words, my actual duty in the situation is determined by an examination of the weight of both prima facie duties in conflict.
“Do whichever act is more of a duty.
Two principles by which to resolve cases of conflicting duties.
First, act in accordance with the stronger, more stringent or more severe prima facie duty.
Second, act in accordance with the prima facie duty, which has a greater balance of rightness over wrongness compared to other prima facie duties.
For Ross, we have to rely on our _______ (hence, his view is also known as intuitionism) as the ultimate guide in particular cases.
Moral Institutions & Intuitionism
Ross has listed down seven types of prima facie duties:
(I) duty of fidelity,
(2) the duty of reparation,
(3) the duty of gratitude,
(4) the duty of justice,
(5) the duty of beneficence,
(6) the duty of self- improvement, and
(7) the duty of nonmaleficence (i.e., noninfliction of harm).
Every individual is inviolable. This inviolability, which is founded on justice, is so sacrosanct that not even the general welfare of society can override and supersede.
Rawl’s Theory of Justice
Rawls speaks of a two-fold principle of justice:
First, equal access to the basic human rights and liberties
The second principle is: Fair equality of opportunity and the equal distribution of socio-economic inequalities.
WHAT PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE?
his principle defines and secures equal liberties of citizenship.
Our basic rights and liberties
As it appears, the first principle guarantees a system of equal rights and liberties for every citizen; it prohibits the bartering away of liberty for social or monetary considerations.
First, equal access to the basic human rights and liberties
Aware of the need for principles that bind and guide individuals in making moral decisions, Rawls cites four types of duties:
(1) fairness in our dealings with others,
(2) fidelity,
(3) respect for persons, and
(4) beneficence
WHAT PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE?
As much as the availability of resources will allow, everyone should be given an opportunity for self-development or to receive medical treatment.
This principle deals more with the distribution of social goods and/or medical resources than with liberty.
The second principle is: Fair equality of opportunity and the equal distribution of socio-economic inequalities.
In addition, he also mentions what he calls “______”:
(1) the duty of justice,
(2) the duty of helping others in need or in jeopardy,
(3) the duty not to harm or injure others, and
(4) the duty to keep our promises.
Natural Duties
This ethical doctrine assumes many names:
Thomistic Ethics
Scholastic Ethics
Christian Ethics (and/or Roman Catholic Ethics)
Natural Law Ethics
Natural Law Ethics
it claims that there exists a natural moral law which is manifested by the natural light of human reason, demanding the preservation of the natural order and forbidding its violation
Nature Law Ethics
In Aquinas’s view, the source of the moral law is _____.
In its operation, reason recognizes the basic principle ________
He used the term ______ to describe this inherent capacity of every individual, lettered or unlettered, to distinguish the good from the bad.
This is the basis of Aquinas’s argument that certain moral principles are objective and can be found in the nature of things through reason and reflection.
reason itself, “Do good, avoid evil.” , synderesis
Interpreters of St. Thomas’s moral doctrine regard __________ as the moral norm, insofar as an individual’s natural capacity to determine what is right from what is wrong
right reason or the voice of reason
short, the moral law is the dictate of the ________; and this dictate is expressed in the moral principle “The good must be done, and evil, avoided”
voice of reason
Other Thomists would view the _________ as the __________-, insofar as the latter refers to the immediate judgment of practical reason applying the general principle of morality (“Do good, avoid evil”) to individual concrete actions or decisions.
voice of reason as the voice of conscience,
Man’s Threefold Natural Inclination
We have three natural inclinations:
(1) self-preservation,
(2) just dealings with others, and
(3) propagation of our species.
What are the Ethical Schools of Thought
Ethical Relativism
Situation Ethics
Pragmatism
Utilitarianism
Kant’s Ethics
Ross’s Ethics
Rawl’s Theory of Justice
Natural Law Ethics
