ethics 2.0

• Feeling


  • An emotional state or reaction
  • A belief, especially a vague or irrational one
• Feelings and emotions can influence ethical judgments
• Being good also involves both thinking and feeling
• Moral courage


  The courage to put your moral principle into action even though you are in doubt, afraid, or facing adverse consequences
• Morally courageous people


  • Frontliners who dedicate themselves to fight COVID-19 despite personal threats
• Simple acts of genuine help

  Considered as moral courage
• Circumstances where moral courage fails

  • Failing to respond significantly to someone's needs due to worry for own safety or not wanting to be bothered
  • Inconsistency of moral conviction due to being forced by someone or something
  • Doing actions just to impress others, common in politicians
• Will

  The intrinsic principle towards an end, what pushes us through difficulties to keep going
• Human action


  The sum of will and reason
• Without will or reason, an action can no longer be considered a human action, it is an act of man</b>
• Ethical Subjectivism


  • Truth or falsity of ethical propositions are dependent on feelings
  • Moral judgments describe our personal feelings

  
• Moral courage


  Interplay between reason and will
• Emotivism


  • Improved version of Subjectivism
  • Moral judgments express positive or negative feelings
  • Moral statements are meaningless
  • Moral statements express the speaker's feelings about the issue
  • By expressing the speaker's feelings about a moral issue moral statements may influence another person's thoughts and conduct

  
• Errors of Subjectivism and Emotivism

  • What we like is not necessarily good
  • We are infallible as long we honestly express our feelings on moral issues
  • Both can't account for disagreements in Ethics
  • Dangerous because they teach us to simply follow our feelings and emotions
  • Suggests that in ethical disputes we appeal to emotions, not to reason
• Feelings are not always wrong
• Feelings, taste, emotions, etc. are also helpful in many situations
• Feelings can help us in making decisions that can give meaning to life
• Feelings sometimes matter in deciding right and wrong
• Feelings should be anchored on careful consideration of right goals, including altruistic ones
• Reason


  • Basis/motive for an action, decision, or conviction
  • Capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; for consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying common sense and logic, and justifying, and if necessary, changing practices, institutions, and beliefs based on existing or new existing information
  • Indicates the difference of moral judgments from expressions of preferences
  • Moral Truths are defined by good reasons that are objective and are always true no matter what we might think or want

  
• Impartiality


  • Decisions should be based on objective criteria
  • We give equal/adequate consideration to the interests of all affected persons
  • Assumes the basic equality of all human persons
• Impartiality is far more important than personal interests and point of view in moral decision making
• Impartiality is not absolute, as in our society today there are individuals that might demand more moral attention or better treatment than others
• 1. Step Moral Reasoning Model

  1. Gather the facts

  2. Identify the ethical issues

  3. Consider the ethical principles involved

  4. Consider the consequences of the various courses of action

  5. Consult others for their perspectives

  6. Make a decision

  7. Reflect on the decision and its consequences

  
• It is important to understand that at some point, we must stop deliberating and make a decision, no matter how hard/uncomfortable/unpleasant it is