Ethics (Pre_Q1) Flashcards
___ believed that education and philosophy is the pursuit of and love of the good itself
Socrates
We can think of ethical theory as a ______
decision model
______ is the theory that there is no universal moral norm of right and wrong.
Relativism
2 Types of Relativism
- Subjective Relativism
- Cultural Relativism
holds that each person decides right and wrong for himself/herself.
“What’s right for you may not right for me.” e.g. Reproductive Health Bill
Subjective Relativism
Case Against Subjective Relativism
- Well-meaning and intelligent people disagree on moral issues (e.g. taxation and wealth disparity)
- Ethical debates are disagreeable and often leads nowhere.
- People are good at rationalizing bad behavior.
- No moral distinction between actions.
is the ethical theory that the meaning of “right” and “wrong” rests with a society’s actual moral guidelines.
These guidelines vary widely from place to place and from time to time. Particular action may be wrong in a society at one time and wrong in another society or in another time. e.g. Capital punishment
Cultural Relativism
Case Against Cultural Relativism
- It doesn’t explain how moral guidelines are determined.
- Cultural norms may not be accepted across the board.
- It provides no way out for cultures in conflict.
- Existence of many acceptable practices does not imply all practices are acceptable.
- Just because two societies do have different moral views, doesn’t mean they ought to have different views.
The _____ theory is based on the idea that good actions are those aligned with the will of God and bad actions are those contrary to the will of God.
Since the Holy Book contains God’s directions, we can use the Holy Book as moral decision-making guides.
Most sects within these religious traditions augment Holy Books with other sources when developing their moral codes.
Divine Command Theory
___ are more likely to consider Holy Book authentic and authoritative.
Fundamentalists
The divine command theory is based on _____, not reason.
obedience
Case Against Divine Theory
- Base on obedience not reason.
- Society is multicultural and secular.
- Different Holy books disagree.
- Some moral problems are not addressed in the scriptures
“The end will justify the means.” In ______, the consequence of an action justifies the moral acceptability of the means taken to reach that end.
consequentialism
It is the consequence of an action which determines whether or not the action is moral. The results of the action prevail over any other consideration. It holds that evaluating results, is more important than evaluating the actions.
Consequentialism
2 types of Consequentialism
- Ethical egoism
- Utilitarianism
is the philosophy that each person should focus exclusively on his or her self interest. In other words, according to this theory, the morally right action for a person to take in a particular situation is the action that will provide that person with the maximum long-term benefit.
Ethical Eqoism
[T/F] Ethical egoism does not prohibit acting to help someone else, but assisting another is the right thing to do if and only if it is the helper’s own long-term best interest.
True
Example
- If there is only one bread for a mother and her child, the mother may deprive herself of the bread and allows her child to consume the bread;
- The father will always work overtime just to provide the needs of his family;
- One of the siblings may volunteer to stop studying so that his other siblings may continue studying because their parents cannot afford to send them to school simultaneously.
is the philosophy that the right action is the one that produces the most intrinsic good for everyone affected. It believes in “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”.
Utilitarianism
Critique of Utilitarianism
- Could result in harming some for the sake of the majority.
- Adding up consequences requires that we calculate them all in the same units of measurement.
- Ignores innate sense of duty.
is an obligation-based theory whose chief author was Immanuel Kant, who lived in the 18th century. This theory emphasizes the type of action rather than the consequences of that action.
Kantianism or Deontology
_____ believe that moral decisions should be made based on one’s duties and the rights of others.
Deontologists
According to Kant, morality is based on pure reason. As people have the innate ability to act rationally, they, therefore, must act morally, irrespective of personal desires. Another way of stating Kant’s theory is “Act morally regardless of the consequences.”
Kantianism or Deontology
An ethics of principle that believes that everyone should be treated equally and respectfully. Human interaction is based on categorical imperative, where you treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves and never only as a means to an end.
Kantianism
Case Against Kantianism
- Sometimes no rule adequately characterizes an action.
- There is no way to resolve a conflict between rules.
- Allows no exceptions to moral laws.
refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions.
Ethics
refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.
- Morals
What are they: The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture.
Ethics
Where do they come from: Social system – External
Ethics
Why did we do it: Because society says it is the right thing to do.
Ethics
Flexibility: are dependent on others for definition. They tend to be consistent within a certain context, but can vary between contexts.
Ethics
A person strictly following Ethical Principles may not have any Morals at all. Likewise, one could violate Ethical Principles within a given system of rules in order to maintain Moral integrity.
Ethics
Origin: Greek word “ethos” meaning “character”
Ethics
Acceptability: Ethics are governed by professional and legal guidelines within a particular time and place
Ethics
What are they: Principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct. While morals also prescribe dos and don’ts, morality is ultimately a personal compass of right and wrong.
Moral
Where do they come from: Individual - Internal
Moral
Why did we do it: Because we believe in something being right or wrong.
Moral
Flexibility: Usually consistent, although can change if an individual’s beliefs change.
Moral
The Gray: A Moral Person although perhaps bound by a higher covenant, may choose to follow a code of ethics as it would apply to a system. “Make it fit”
Moral
Origin: Latin word “mos” meaning “custom”
Moral
Acceptability: transcends cultural norms
Moral
descriptively to refer to certain codes of conduct put forward by a society or a group (such as a religion), or accepted by an individual for her own behavior, or
Morality
normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.
Morality
the ___ tries to create a basic, enforceable standard of behavior necessary in order for a community to succeed and in which all people are treated equally.
Because of this, it is narrower in focus than ethics or morality. There are some matters it will be agnostic on but which ethics and morality have a lot to say. For example, this will be useless to you if you’re trying to decide whether to tell your competitor their new client has a reputation for not paying their invoices, but our ideas about what’s good and right will still guide our judgement here.
law
There is a temptation to see the law and ethics as the same – so long as we’re fulfilling our legal obligations we can consider ourselves ‘ethical’. This is mistaken on two fronts. First, the law outlines a basic standard of behavior necessary for our social institutions to keep functioning.
For example, it protects basic consumer rights. However, in certain situations the right thing to in solving a dispute with a customer might require us to go beyond our legal obligations.
Secondly, there may be times when obeying the law would require us to act against our ethics or morality. A doctor might be obligated to perform a procedure they believe is unethical or a public servant might believe it’s their duty to leak classified information to the press.
Some philosophers have argued that a person’s conscience is more binding on them than any law, which suggests to the letter of the law won’t be an adequate substitute for ethical reflection.
is how to think about issues of right or wrong. No matter how knowledgeable one is about their profession, if the knowledge is not backed by ethical reasoning, long-term success in the career is likely to be severely compromised.
Ethical reasoning
____ is hard because there are so many ways to fail.
Ethical reasoning
____ is far harder to display than one would expect simply on the basis of what we learn from our parents, from school, and from our religious training. To intervene, individuals must go through a series of steps, and unless all of the steps are completed, they are not likely to behave in an ethical way, regardless of the amount of training they have received in ethics, and regardless of their levels of other types of skills.
Ethical behavior
Consider the skills in this model and how they apply to an ethical dilemma
- Recognize that there is an event to which to react.
- Define the event as having an ethical dimension.
- Decide that the ethical dimension is significant.
- Take personal responsibility for generating an ethical solution to the problem.
- Figure out what abstract ethical rule(s) might apply to the problem (including any codes of ethics relevant to the situation).
- Decide how these abstract ethical rules actually apply to the problem so as to suggest a concrete solution.
- Prepare to counteract contextual forces that might lead one not to act in an ethical manner.
- Act
