Ethics Midterms

• Immanuel Kant


  He believes that good actions have intrinsic value
• Actions are good


  If and only if they have a moral law that is universalized
• Phenomena


  Things that we can see; empirical and changeable
• Noumena


  Things that cannot be known by the use of senses
• Kant argues that moral reality should be founded on noumena because "the moral law is in its character absolute, and it cannot allow no exception. And empirical knowledge cannot establish that."
• The only thing that can be morally good to Kant is a good will
• Kant claims that no normative ethics (what we should do) can be derived from experience (in terms of the effects or causes of actions)
• Kant proposes a metaphysics of morals, which to him, should be based on synthetic a priori propositions
• Moral Principles


  Principles that govern moral actions, and everyone is held to that standard with no exceptions
• Imperatives


  Rules that have the power to compel us to act in a certain way
• Moral authority of an imperative


  Determined by how universalized it is
• Kantian ethics does not allow exceptions of any kind, and everyone is held to the same universal law
• Kinds of Imperatives


  • Categorical
  • Hypothetical
• Categorical Imperatives


  As powerful as a universal law, command necessarily and objectively, provide perfect duties that are determined in every respect and should not vary
• Hypothetical Imperatives


  Whoever wants the cause of a scenario inherently wants the things that should be done in order to achieve it, provide imperfect duties that remain undetermined and may vary between individuals
• Three Formulations of the Categorical Imperative

  • Act only in accordance with that maxim/rule that you could will to become a universal law
  • Act only in a way that you treat humans as always an end to itself and never the means
  • Consider yourself to be both lawgiver and subject in an ideal community (kingdom of ends)
• Kant's works include Critique of Pure Reason, Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgment, and Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone
• Practical Reason


  Following a rule is just the application of reason to an action, and it's important that humans have the freedom to determine which rules apply to them and how they can apply it
• Kantian ethics is a form of deontological ethics
• Social Contract Theory


  A Kantian view of justice is the proper basis for a liberal democratic society, focusing on social justice rather than criminal justice
• Justice as Fairness


  For society to be considered fair, it must be founded on the principles of equality (everyone has the greatest liberties compatible with similar liberties for others) and difference (inequalities are tolerated as long as they function to everyone's advantage and greater liberties and social goods are attached to positions equally open to all)
• Veil of Ignorance


  Rational people choose social laws without any knowledge about their specific traits, preserving the universal applicability of their decisions
• Kantian ethics is a more principled approach to morality, where moral laws are applied to everyone as autonomous and rational beings
• Ethical judgement is normative/prescriptive rather than descriptive, telling us what we should do
• Areas of emphasis in making moral judgements

  • Purpose or Motive Act
  • Rule or Maxim
  • Results or Consequences
• In utilitarianism, the consequence of an act is the real measure of the rightness or wrongness of an action
• Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarianism


  Man obeys two masters: pain and pleasure, and those actions whose results increase happiness or diminish pain are good and have "utility"
• Bentham's Hedonistic Calculus


  We can evaluate the possible consequences of an action by considering its intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness, fecundity, purity, and extent
• Four Theses of Utilitarianism

  • Consequentialism (the rightness of an action is determined solely by consequences)
  • Hedonism (pleasure or happiness is the good that we seek and should seek)
  • Maximalism (a right action produces the greatest good consequences and the least bad)
  • Universalism (the consequences to be considered are those of everyone affected, and everyone equally)
• John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism


  His ideologies only cover sentient beings (us) and not the whole world, and he argues that we must consider the quality of happiness, not merely the quantity

  
• Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle


  Actions are morally right if they make people happy, and actions are morally wrong if they make people unhappy. Happiness is defined as the existence of pleasure and absence of pain.
• Utilitarianism allows for the use of "subordinate principles" based on experience of which kinds of actions tend to promote more or less pleasure and pain, rather than having to calculate the consequence each time we act
• Utilitarianism has been criticized for allowing unjust actions if they would promote more happiness overall, and for the difficulty of evaluating the probable outcome of an act before knowing whether it is good or bad
• Care Ethics


  This ethic arose out of reactions to popular psychoanalytical accounts of male and female development, and the questioning of women's roles in society. It focuses on relationships and caring in making moral decisions, in contrast to the justice and rights focus of men.
• Three Stages of Care Ethics

  • A focus on caring for the self in order
  • Expanding care to include others close to us
  • Expanding care to include all of humanity
• Care ethics


  An early feminist ethic that arose out of reactions to popular psychoanalytical accounts of male and female development in the mid-20th century, and the questioning of women's roles in society
• Care ethics


  • Began from observational studies in psychology, and later became a positive normative account of moral behavior
  • Was criticized by both feminist theorists and philosophers
• Carol Gilligan


  Found a difference in the way men and women perceieve moral problems - while men focused on justice and rights, women think about relationships in making moral decisions
• Three Stages of Care Ethics

  1. Focus on caring for the self in order to ensure survival

  2. Development of a concept of responsibility, where good is defined in terms of caring for others ("Maternal Morality")

  3. Balancing the self with others, and focusing on relationships and a new understanding of the connections between the self and others
• Nell Noddings


  Proposed that morality needed two emotions: Natural Care (pre-ethical care like a mother for a child) and Concern for Others (recognition of others' concern for us)