Applied Ethics

• Applied Ethics Circumstances

  • Stealing
  • simulated killing
  • eating animals
  • telling lies
• Stealing: Utilitarianism

  Act Utilitarianism

  • Act Utilitarian would depend upon the ratio of happiness to suffering that resulted from the theft
  • For Act utilitarians the ends (happiness) can justify the means (stealing)
  • Act utilitarianism is generally against stealing
  • robin hood
• Strong Rule Utilitarians and breaking the law

  • law has been thought through and established for good reasons
  • rule of law is the foundation for civil society and having people pick and choose when to follow the law makes it redundant
  • idea that breaking the law is the right thing to do seems counter intuitive
• Mills' weak rule utilitarianism

  Mills Rules

  • dont lie
  • keep promises
  • don't steal
  • don't encroach upon the rights of others
  • don't deliberately harm someone
• Stealing: Preference Utilitarianism

  Considering the relevant preferences of all involved

  • thief and victim preferences considered which creates a paradox and it counts these preferences equally when they arent morally equal
• Stealing: All Utilitarians

  • even if stealing maximises utility now, it may lead to disutility later on
  • utilitarians tend to consider the ultimate consequences of their actions and therefore would not want to undermine the law
• Kantian Political Theory

  A world without laws - 'state of nature'

  • kant argued that in a state of nature we lack external freedom (the freedom to live with rights and justice) as others' choices' are imposed on us we are forced to violence
  • In a 'state of nature' kant thought that only one mind retained an 'internal freedom' (freedom to make decisions internal to ones mind)
  • Kant thought we need rule of law and civil society to secure external freedom
• Kantian Political Theory (2)

  • In civil society disputes are settled with reason and laws which allow us to co-exist with everyone else
  • Kant calls the idea of a civil society a 'rightful condition' and rational beings have a duty to enter into it
• Stealing : Kantian Ethics

  • Not just victims affected but also the law/state is damage
  • criminal actions push us back towards the 'state of nature'
  • Kant - ' Whoever steals makes the property of everyone else insecure and therefore may deprives himself ... of security in any possible property. [In this way, crimes] endanger the commonwealth and not just an individual person. '
• Stealing violating the formulations of the categorial imperative

  1. Violating the universalisability formula
  2. One cannot rationally will that everyone steals
  3. Possible reply : depends on how narrowly the maxim is formulated
  4. Violating the humanity formula
  5. To steal always involves using someone else as a means to an end
• Problem of unjust laws for Kantian Ethics

  • Unjust law example - if the gov gave all wealth and land to the rich
  • Kant would argue that lawmakers have a duty to not pass such laws but unjust laws are a problem
  • there is no higher system for citizens and government to rationally settle a dispute over a unjust law and not obeying the law will return us to a 'state of nature' which is not possible
• Stealing : Aristotle Virtue Ethics

  Aristotle says that some actions never fall within the golden mean and stealing is one of them

  • stealing is an injustice as it deprives a person of what is fairly theirs
  • even in extreme cases aristotle would say stealing is wrong
  • difference between unjust actions and unjust states of affairs
  • its much worse to deliberately and freely choose to commit unjust actions even if you're doing it to counteract unjust states of affairs
• Utilitarianism : simulated killing

  • video games produce a lot of pleasure and are very popular
  • secondary pleasure from engaging in the specific culture ie chatting w friends about games, conventions etc
  • successful industry that supplies jobs
  • may improve problem solving capabilities
  • in the last 20 years violent crime has decreased in the UK whilst violent video games and films have boomed
• Utilitarianism : Simulated Killing

  Act Utilitarianism:

  • it is morally acceptable
  • those engaged in it get enjoyment and no one actually suffers
  • net gain of happiness
• Utilitarianism : Simulated Killing

  Mills Weak Rule Utilitarianism

  • consideration of higher/lower pleasures
  • mill may argue that pleasures gained from simulated killing appeal more to a simple animal side instead of a progressive and intellectual side and as such are not as morally good as other pleasures
• Utilitarian argument against simulated killing

  • many are offended by the existence of violent video games
  • same amount of pleasure could possibly be generated by less harmful or offensive ways
• Mills' principle of liberty defending simulated killing

  • tyranny of the majority
  • places too much power in the moral sentiments of the majority
  • mill argued that the rule of liberty should be central in utilitarianism
  • we are free to pursue pleasures so long as they don't harm other
• Simulated Killing : Kantian Ethics


  Kantian justification for simulated killing

  • not dependant on consequences but whether doing the action is consistent with treating others as rational beings
  • videogames and actors arent real and are free to choose to involve themselves with it
  • may potentially argue we have an imperfect duty to develop morally and engaging in this may decrease compassion
• Arguments against Simulated killing on Kantian Ethics

  • duty to oneself not to be entertained by simulated killing
  • cant create a cruel disposition to ourselves, lose compassion
  • similarly to being cruel to animals
• Arguments against simulated killing : Kant (2)

  • kant believes we have a duty to show humanity and develop morally
  • treat everyone as ends in themselves
  • cannot will that ability to be compassionate should diminish
  • imperfect duty to sympathise with the suffering of other creatures