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• Criticism of CER (Cultural Ethical Relativism):

  • Undermines important values
  • Leads to subjectivism
  • Moral diversity is exaggerated
• Moral objectivism believes in a universal moral standard, while moral absolutism states that morality is exceptionless
• Ethical Situationalism adjusts moral principles to be applied differently in various contexts
• St. Thomas of Aquinas, a priest and philosopher, defended objectivism and absolutism through natural law and the doctrine of double effect
• Natural Law Theory is a moral law that can be discovered through reason, aiming for human flourishing in prescribed ways
• Prescriptivity in ethics refers to the practical, action-guiding nature of morality, producing guilt or satisfaction
• Universalizability in ethics means moral principles must apply to all people in relevantly similar situations
• Motive in ethics refers to the intention of the agent
• Emmanuel Kant emphasized always telling the truth to avoid guilt feelings
• Overridingness in ethics states that moral principles have predominant authority and override other kinds of principles
• Publicity in ethics means moral principles should be made public
• Practicability in ethics refers to the necessity of moral principles being workable in different domains of ethical assessment
• Ethical Relativism is the doctrine that the moral rightness and wrongness of actions vary from society to society, with no absolute universal moral standard binding on all
• Subject Ethical Relativism justifies moral principles by virtue of individual acceptance, stating that morality is in the eye of the beholder
• Cultural Ethical Relativism justifies all moral principles by virtue of their cultural acceptance, emphasizing the importance of culture in morality
• Moral dilemmas involve choosing between right and wrong actions
• Acts of man are involuntary and not subject to ethics, while human acts are voluntary and subject to ethical assessment
• Principle of Causality states that humans are from divine absolute good, with the ability to act, desire, and deliberate
• Practical ethics deals with controversial moral problems such as abortion and premarital sex
• Philosophy is the knowledge of all things through human reasoning
• Greeks were considered the smartest people before
• Nous means mind
• Freedom is man's response to his nature
• Ethics is a systematic endeavor to understand moral concepts and justify moral principles and theories
• Acts are natural responses of man over his freedom
• Human acts are voluntary
• There are 3 constituents of a human act:

  • Free
  • Will
  • Deliberate
• Free refers to the ability to act
• Will refers to the desire
• Deliberate refers to the knowledge
• There are three divisions within the study of ethics:

  • Descriptive morality
  • Moral philosophy
  • Practical ethics
• Descriptive morality is the moral concepts that come from tradition, superstition, and hearsay
• Moral philosophy refers to the systematic effort to understand moral concepts and justify moral principles and theories
• Three analyses of moral philosophy:

  • Right
  • Wrong
  • Permissible
• Three bases of moral philosophy:

  • God
  • Human reason
  • Desire to be happy
• Moral principle is the central feature of morality
• Five traits of moral principles:

  • Prescriptivity
  • Universalizability
  • Overridingness
  • Publicity
  • Practicability
• Four domains of ethical assessment:

  • Action
  • Consequences
  • Character
  • Motive
• Obligatory act is our duty to do it
• Optional act is not your duty to do it, nor is it your duty not to do it