Ethical Thought Flashcards
Divine command theory
Moral is determined by what God (the divine) commands. Therefore, Divine Command Theory believes that morality is ultimately completely dependent upon the commands of God.
Right and wrong are objective truths based on God’s will
Moral goodness is achieved by complying with God’s command
Divine command follows from God’s omnipotence
Robert Adams - modified divine command theory
It seems possible that God could command people to do terrible things, e.g. murder (Abraham) and torture
God is loving so would only command us to do good things
The euthyphro dilemma
Is something good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?
The arbitrariness problem
If divine command theory is true, it seems, then what is good and what bad depends on nothing more than God’s whims.
The philosopher Leibniz argued this “destroys all the love of God and all his glory” because he would be equally praiseworthy whatever he commanded.
The pluralism problem
It is impossible to know which God’s or religion’s commands should be followed, especially because some religions contradict each other, making it impossible to accept all of them. For example, in Islam it is seen that God commands that divorce is morally acceptable but in Catholic Christianity it is not.
Ethical egoism
When faced with a moral dilemma, a moral agent should act in their own self-interest
Psychological egoism
Whenever a human acts they will be naturally motivated by self-interest even if their action appears to
be altruistic.
Therefore Ethical Egoism is the ideal normative ethic to follow because it supports our natural psychological state (psychological egoism).
Max Stirner’s ethical egoism
All our actions are done for self interest - ‘I am everything to myself and I do everything on my account.’
All interactions with others are purely a means of self enjoyment - ‘For me you are nothing but my food.’
All individuals are unique and should reject any attempts to restrict or deny their uniqueness. Individuals must concentrate all their actions on themselves in order to maximise their uniqueness. We must treat ourselves as the ‘highest being’
Union of egoists
A society made up of free individuals who have rejected restrictions on the self. People would unite in ‘unions’ based on free agreement equality of all members, and the mutual self-interest of those involved. Therefore, unions would exist to ensure they maximise an individual’s self-enjoyment, pleasure, freedom, and individuality, as well as ensuring that those involved sacrifice nothing while belonging to them
Ayn Rand - rational egoism
Altruism is ultimately immoral as it involves sacrificing one’s own interests for the good of others. Both are wrong in her view and neither consider the middle ground of seeking happiness for each individual.
Instead we should look at what self-interest really means when it comes to living in communities. We should consider how far the needs of the individual should be balanced with the needs of others in order to set up the best kind of society.
The 12 moral virtues
Courage
Temperance
Liberality
Munificence
High-mindedness
Right ambition
Good temper
Friendliness
Sincerity
Wittiness
Modesty
Just resentment
Primary intellectual virtues
Art or technical skill (techne)
Scientific knowledge (episteme)
Prudence or practical wisdom (phronesis)
Intelligence or intuition (nous)
Wisdom (sophia)
Secondary intellectual virtues
Resourcefulness (eboulia)
Understanding (sunesis)
Judgement (gnome)
Cleverness (deinotes)
Doctrine of the mean
Controlling our emotional responses so that we behave with dignity, knowing how much of a particular disposition is right in a particular circumstance.
To put this doctrine into practice, it must be combined with prudence, the ability to work out how to act according to the moral virtues. It is one thing to want to be courageous, and another to know how to do it in a given situation. Through practice, the mean response will become our natural one – by practising the virtues we will become virtuous.
Macintyre - virtue theory
Modern moral philosophy puts too much emphasis on theoretical reasoning and not enough on people – we are too obsessed with ‘quandry ethics’
You have to understand the context of the society in which you are making your decision
Anscombe - virtue theory
We have become more secular, so Christian moral rules are less relevant and confusing to non-believers
spooks - Stirner
society’s ideologies that prevent us from thinking for ourselves and therefore prevent us from working in our best interest
Aristotle on the ‘soul’
Splits it onto two parts, rational and arational
Both come into play when making decisions but the rational part has to be in control
Vardy & Grosh’s fruitcake analogy
meta ethics
focused on the meaning and scope of ethical terms
basis of naturalism
we can deduce moral conclusions from non-moral premises
moral statements are simply facts about the world based on something we can observe
utilitarianism as an example of naturalism
good is defined as what makes us happy (pleasure)
we can observe this from the world around us
Bradley - naturalism
morality is related to self-realisation and observation of your position in society
people live in communities and morality should reflect this
we must realise our true self and adopt the values of our society
our role and status in community make ethical sentences true or false
Hume’s is/ought problem
there is an important distinction between matters of fact and matters of value
e.g. science can tell us whether a lobster could feel pain if it was boiled alive but it cannot tell us that we ought to avoid this practice
Moore - intuitionism
we intuitively know when things are good
moral disagreements are about how best to bring about good things not about what these things actually are
‘goodness’ cannot be defined or analysed
The Naturalistic Fallacy
‘good’ is indefinable and is a non-natural term
good is a simple idea which cannot be broken down into simpler terms
the ‘open question’ argument
if you start ‘good means creating the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ then it still makes sense to ask ‘is this good?’
naturalism is wrong, good cannot be defined in any other terms
Prichard
general thinking based on reason - looks at the facts of a situation
moral thinking based on intuition - determines what we ought to do
intuition shows which particular action is right and what our moral obligations are
some people’s moral thinking has developed further than others
Ross
our intuition combined with experience helps us to work out what is wrong
prima facie duties - duties at first sight
prima facie duties
beneficence
non-maleficence
justice
promise-keeping
gratitude
self-improve,ent
reparation
A.J. Ayer - emotivism
moral statements are not statements of fact, but are expressions of our emotions or feelings
moral terms such as ‘good’ do not refer to anything in the world but only express the sentiments of the individual
C.L. Stevenson
moral statements also attempt to persuade others to feel as we feel and have the same attitudes as us
has two elements - an expression of attitude based on belief and a persuasive element designed to influence others
Sarah Tyler
if ethical statements simply express our attitudes and emotions, this does not make them powerless or pointless
expressions of feelings can impact powerfully on the choices of others without offering any evidence to guide this
