What is Ethics

What is Ethics? Another Example 1. 2. God exists. If God exists, God is allpowerful and perfectlygood. God is all-powerful and perfectly good. A God who could not have prevented prevent HK from occurring is not all powerful. 5. A God who could have prevented HK from occurring but did not is not perfectly good. 6. Hurricane Katrina occurred. 7. So, God is either not allpowerful or not perfectly good. • Valid? 3. 4. Arguments by Analogy • Bill: “Imposing the death penalty for murder is hypocritical and inconsistent. You only punish people for murder because you believe killing to be wrong. But then the death penalty itself must be wrong, because it too involves killing someone. And two wrongs don't make a right. So imposing the death penalty is just as bad as killing someone in cold blood.” • June: “You say capital punishment is supposed to be just like murder. Well, then, you should also count other activities committed by the state as analogous to those same activities when committed by criminals. In particular, since kidnapping--confining someone against their will--is wrong when committed by criminals, so too must it be wrong for the state to confine people against their will (in jails). Hence, if your argument that capital punishment is inconsistent is successful, then by the same reasoning, it would also be inconsistent to jail kidnappers. That is clearly an unacceptable result. So there must be something wrong with your analogy. Murder and capital punishment are similar in some respects. But there are important differences between them, too. And these differences are morally important Bad Form of Argument • Begging the question: Assuming the very point at issue in attempting to argue for it. • Example: “We know that God exists, because it says so in the Bible. And we can trust the Bible on this matter because it's the Word of God, and so must be correct.” Begging the Question in Ethics • Will not be so obviously circular. • So use the rule of thumb: “if an argument contains a premise or step that would not be accepted by a reasonable person who is initially prone to doubt the argument's conclusion, then the argument begs the question.” • Example: “Abortion should be legal because life begins at birth.” False Dilemmas • Using the dilemma in an argument: either A is true or B is true. B is not true. So A must be true. (One of our valid forms of argument.) • In Ethics: Our choices are either A or B. It‟s certainly wrong to A. So we have to B. • False dilemma: “A dilemma where the options do not exhaust the relevant possibilities.” • Example: “Either we go to war in Iraq or we let Saddam Hussein build a massive weapons program.” Counterexamples and Thought Experiments • • Example: The Free Will/Moral Responsibility debate. Causal Determinism: The theory that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is fully determined by an unbroken chain of prior events together with the laws of nature. The problem: How can I be free, and therefore morally responsible for an act, if it was determined (by heredity, environment, brain-state, the laws of physics etc.) that I perform that action? • The Principle of Alternate Possibilities • Argument for Incompatibilism: The view that determinism and moral responsibility are incompatible. 1. If the theory of causal determinism (CD) is true, then whenever we act, it is not possible that we could have acted otherwise. 2. We can only be morally responsible for an action if it is possible that we could have acted otherwise. (PAP) 3. So, if CD is true, we can never be morally responsible for our actions. Counterexample to PAP Jones bomb Black The Quiz • Part I: Put the following in numbered argument form, and supply missing premises if necessary. All arguments must be valid. Example: Since abortion is both morally wrong and not a constitutional right, it ought to be against the law. • 1. Abortion is morally wrong. 2. Abortion is not a constitutional right. 3. Anything that is both morally wrong and not a constitutional right ought to be against the law. 4. So, abortion ought to be against the law Part II • Determine whether the following arguments are sound, valid but unsound (just put “valid”), or invalid. Example: 1. The only way to kill a vampire is by stabbing him in the heart 2. Socrates is a vampire. 3. The only way to kill Socrates is by stabbing him in the heart. • Valid. Part III • Necessary/Sufficient Conditions. Consider the following pairs and then say what A is for B—a necessary condition, a sufficient condition, both, or neither. • Example. A: Human being B: Mammal. • Sufficient condition. Part IV Bad Forms of Argument: Describe what is wrong with the following arguments using the proper philosophical terminology. • Example: “Abortion should be legal because life begins at birth.” Part V Reductio ad Absurdums and Counterexamples. • I will give you a claim and ask you to devise a plausible counterexample. • I will give you an argument, you have to show how one of the premises leads to an absurdity. What is Ethics? • Differences between ethical values and religious values. 1. Certain religious values are morally neutral. 2. It‟s possible for religious values to be considered immoral. 3. It is possible for morally right actions to be against the precepts of religion What is Ethics? • Normative Ethics: Theories about what we ought to do. How we should behave, or what type of people we should strive to become. • The words „ought‟ and „should‟ characterize normative theories, claims, and questions. Morality and the Law • Laws can be immoral. • Bad intentions can be immoral but not illegal. • Laws can be enforced by imprisonment or fines. Moral values (unless they are encoded in law) cannot. Morality and Etiquette • Most rules of etiquette are morally neutral. • It can be immoral to flaunt the rules of etiquette. But the immorality comes from the extreme insensitivity, the offense that you have caused. There is nothing intrinsically wrong about deviating from etiquette. Domains of Moral Evaluation • Actions: • Right (permissible). Obligatory, optional. Neutral, supererogatory. • Wrong. Not permissible. You are obligated not to perform the act. • Consequences: Good, bad, indifferent. Domains of Moral Evaluation • • • • Character: Virtuous (e.g. brave, honest, generous) Vicious (Mean, cruel, stingy, Yankees fan) Neutral • Motive: Good will, ill will. Neutral. Ethical Theories • Descriptive Theories: Theories that attempt to explain how and why we make moral decisions. Descriptive theories do not pass judgment on whether those decisions are morally right or wrong, or whether we ought to act in a particular way. • Normative Theories: Theories that attempt to determine how we ought to act, the types of virtues we should cultivate, the kinds of lives we ought to live. The words ‘ought’ and ‘should’ are what characterize normative theories. Two Types of Normative Theories 1. Act-Based Theories. Theories that determine how one should act in particular situations. What are we obligated to do and refrain from doing. 2. Character-Based Theories. Theories that focus on what kind of people we should become, what virtues we should strive to acquire, what constitutes a “good life.” (Virtue Ethics.) Two types of Act-Based Theories 1. Consequentialist Theories: Theories that determine the rightness or wrongness of an action based on its consequences. (If the act has good consequences, it is morally right etc.) 2. Deontological Theories: Theories claiming that acts are right and wrong in and of themselves, regardless of their consequences. Famous Example But… Metaethics • What is the status of ethical claims, theories, and judgments? • Are they objectively true? Relative to particular cultures or individuals? Pure fictions like claims about witches? Plato and Socrates • Socrates, Plato‟s teacher, did not write anything that we have today. • Plato made him the central character in almost every one of his dialogues. • The Trial of Socrates Should he stay or should he go? He Should Go: (1) He‟ll lose a friend. (2) People will think he didn‟t do enough to help Socrates. (3) It‟s not that expensive, a lot of people are willing to donate. (4) He will be well taken care of in Thessaly. (5) If he leaves, he‟ll desert his children, who will become orphans. (6) It was an unjust verdict anyway. He Should Stay