wider scholars Flashcards
natural law proponents
2
- Grotius (C17 dutch ph): said natural law still works without God even though he was religious, said international law should be based on natural law
- Grisez and Finnis: worked to revive natural law in modern times
GG
natural law opponents
5
- Bentham: dismissed natural rights as ‘nonsense upon stilts’
- HLA Hart: challenged the idea that legal systems derive their authority from moral principles
- Nietzsche: said natural law was based on outdated assumptions about the universe and individuals should create their own values (thus spoke zarathustra)
- Hume: a criticism of naturalism meta-ethics, the is-ought problem and naturalistic fallacy
- Rawls: natural law fails to account for the diversity of moral beliefs and cultural differences between people and instead argued for the ‘veil of ignorance’ (ubuntu?)
BHNHR
kantian ethics proponents
2
- Rawls: his ‘veil of ignorance’ owes much to universal law and treating persons as ends
- Onara O’Neill: emphasised the importance of treating people as ends in themselves and focused on Kant’s idea that ethical actions must be justifiable to everyone
RO
kantian ethics opponents
3
- Nietzsche: a ‘slave morality’ that stifled human potential and creativity
- JS Mill: emphasis on duty could neglect the well-being of individuals
- Baron: (cont Am) said kant overlooks the context-dependent nature of ethical decisions
JNB
proponents of utilitarianism
3
- Singer: preference utilitarianism addresses the issue that we don’t all have the same understanding of pleasure. We should all be allowed to follow our preferences as long as they don’t interfere with others and also focuses more on minimising suffering
- Popper: negative utilitarianism
- G.E. Moore: argued against the hedonistic utilitarianism and argued for a broader understanding of ‘good’ challenging the quantitive measures of utility
PGS
opponents of utilitarianism
- Nozick: utilitarianism causes infringement on individual rights and property rather defending liberterian principles
- Bernard Williams: utilitarianism could cause people to sacrifice their own integrity for the greater good
- Alasdair MacIntyre: lacks a robust concept of virtues and goods and reduces morality to a mere calculus of pleasure and pain
BAN
proponents of situation ethics
1
Bonhoeffer: his ideas on costly grace and responsible action seem to somewhat reflect situation ethics in sometimes acting against situation ethics to do the most loving thing
opponents of situation ethics
- Hans King, Paul Ramsey and Barth: all said it lacks solid moral foundations and warned of the dangers of situationism
- Niebuhr: it fails to account for the complexities of human decision making
- Pope Pius XII: in 1952 he issued a statement condemning it as incompatible with Catholic teaching
Hx3NP
case studies for bad CSR
- Rana Plaza Factory disaster in Bangladesh 2013
- Trafigura, the obvious one and recently they paid bribes to Brazilian officials to secure business with a state owned oil company - had to pay $127 million to DOJ
- Volskwagen fitting its cars with devices that enabled it to pass an exhaust emissions test in 2014
- the 2016 investigation by parliament in Sports Direct that found poor conditions for workers
case studies for whistleblowing
- Erin Brockovich
- Li Wenliang for Covid
- Joshua Dean for boeing before one of the plane doors came off
case studies for good CSR
- cadbury building homes for its workers
- Tony’s chocolonely
- Lush
- Patagonia
difficulties of whistleblowing?
- they can face retaliation from colleagues, legal action and can even lose their jobs and future earnings
- the 2015 ‘freedom to speak out’ report into NHS whistleblowing found that 30% of whistleblowers felt unsafe and some had contemplated suicide
what is a view to support Kant’s on good ethics as good business?
- Robert Solomon, 20th century modern American ethicist
- argued it is not possible to divide business from the rest of life
- too often people’s behaviour in their business lives bears no relation to how they act outside of work
- this should not be the case
a way in which CSR is measured
- through the FTSE4Good index
- it gives companies an ESG (environmental, social and governance) rating
- this includes things like labour standards, water use and anti-corruption
what is a way of measuring CSR
- ESG (environmental, social and governance)
- Corporate Sustainability Responsibility Directive law that holds all large and listed companies to account in the UK and EU that has mandated ESG reporting annually
- requires them to report on the European sustainibility reporting standards, like labour standards, water use and anti-corruption
challengers of CSR
- Milton Friedman
- Ayn Rand
- Robert Nozick
three bible quotes to support the principle of sanctity of life
- ‘you shall not murder’ - Exodus
- ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away’ - Job
- before you were born…
those against sanctity of life
- Peter Singer - his five quality of life commandments
- Jonathon Glover - there should be assessments when people want to die e.g. on their mental health
examples of euthanasia?
- Tony Bland after the Hillsborough disaster
scholar on active v passive euthanasia
James Rachels
- questions whether the difference between actively killing and passively letting someone die is helpful
- someone is to inherit a fortune if their nephew dies, he either drowns him in the bath as an ‘act’ or watches his nephew drown and does nothing about it as an ‘omission’
- is there really a difference, legally yes but morally?
those opposed to euthanasia
2
Daniel Callahan (C21 Am ph)
- opposed to euthanasia on the grounds of sanctity of life, says that it undermines societal respect for life in general
John Keown
- pointed out the slippery slope to involuntary euthanasia
those in favour of euthanasia
Derek Humphry
- founder of organisations advocating for the right to die with dignity
- he has written extensively on the topic of euthanasia and assisted dying and particularly emphasises the choice to alleviate the suffering of terminally ill individuals
proponents of naturalism
Peter Railton
- cont Am ethicist
- believes truths can be discovered through science
F.H. Bradley
- Victorian British philosopher
- argues that moral duties come from our positions in life
- reflects outdated victorian class divisions
proponents of non-cognitive theories
Charles L. Stevenson
- C20 Am ph
- “moral judgements are not statements of fact but are expressions of attitude, intended to influence action”
R.M. Hare
- C20 Br ph
- moral judgements are universal prescriptions not just expressions
critics of naturalism
JL Mackie
- wrote ‘ethics: inventing right and wrong’
- he argued against moral naturalism saying that moral properties are not reducible to natural properties
quite like Hume’s is-ought problem
proponents of intuitionism
- H.A. Pritchard responded to the criticism that people’s intuitions differ by saying that some people just have better intuition than others
- this is such a weak argument though…
four working principles?
- pragmatism
- positivism
- personalism
- relativism
three examples of the six working principles?
- love is acted situationally not
- love is the only thing that is intrinsically good
- justice is love distributed
what is the doctrine of the double effect
when a complex action produces several effects - as long as the intended effect is good then that’s all that matters
intention matters
who takes a biological view of conscience
Dawkins
- cooperation and treating others well is a desirable trait that has been passed down through evolution
who takes an alternative pyschological view of conscience
Fromm
- the authoritarian and humanistic consciences
- 20th century psychologist
Piaget
- would support this view, morality starts as a rigid obedience to authority that evolves to a more autonomous approach
both disagreed with Freud that it was entirely unconscious
What scholars view conscience as a voice from God/a guiding principle from God
5
Augustine of Hippo
- Believed that conscience is the voice of God speaking within us, guiding our moral choices
More
- when he wouldn’t carry out the wishes of HVIII
Martin Luther
- Views conscience as a place of struggle between God’s Law and human sinfulness, emphasising faith and grace
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Discusses conscience as an awareness of God and the call of responsibility towards others
Cardinal Newman
- Emphasised the personal, intuitive aspect of conscience as the voice of God in the soul of each individual
a last alternative approach to conscience from within the church
Dennis McNamara
cont philosopher
- explored how our consciences relate to the authority of the church
- the importance of a balance between personal decisions and consciences but also obeying the teachings of the church
