ETHICS1 (Finals)

• Dilemma


  Experiences where an agent is confused about the right decision to make because there are several competing values that are seemingly equally important and urgent
• Dilemmas


  • Signaled by being "bothered"/ "nababagabag"
  • Why am I bothered?
• Feelings and Dilemmas


  • Strong feelings signal the presence of a dilemma
  • Many people do not always "catch" the dilemma behind the feeling
  • One can be conditioned to be indifferent so that what used to be nakakabagabag is no longer a dilemma
• How should we handle a moral dilemma?

  1. Certainly not through feelings

  2. Upsurge of feelings cannot be prevented

  3. What we do with them: separates the mature from the immature moral agent
• Reason


  • A way of dealing with issues
  • Moral judgments are not a matter of personal preferences or tastes
• Impartiality

  • Every stakeholder's interest is equally important
  • There are no special interests or people, thus in making every moral decision, each stakeholder interest should be considered
  • Every person should be treated the same way unless there is good reason not to do so
• The 7 step model for decision making

  1. Gather the facts

  2. Identify the stakeholders

  3. Articulate the dilemma

  4. List the alternatives

  5. Compare the alternatives with the principles

  6. Weigh the consequences

  7. Make a decision
• Philosophy of Feelings


  Our most original, immediate, and intimate— contact with reality is through feelings
• Virtue Ethics


  Most modern virtue ethics trace their theoretical roots back to the ancients, most notably to Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• Virtue


  • A stable disposition to act and feel according to some ideal or model of excellence
  • It is a deeply embedded character trait that can affect actions in countless situations
• Aristotle distinguishes between

  • Intellectual virtues
  • Moral virtues
• Intellectual Virtues


  Include wisdom, prudence, rationality, and the like
• Moral Virtues


  Include fairness, benevolence, honesty, loyalty, conscientiousness, and courage
• Aristotle believes that intellectual virtues can be taught, just as logic and mathematics can be taught. But moral virtues can be learned only through practice.
• Aristotle: Moral virtue


  Comes about as a result of the golden mean
• The Golden Mean


  Aristotle's notion of virtue as a balance between two behavioral extremes
• The Golden Mean


  • Vice of Deficiency = Cowardice
  • Virtue = Courage
  • Vice of Excess = of Courage
• A moral virtue (courage) is the midpoint between excess (excess of courage or foolhardiness) and deficit (deficit of courage or cowardice)
• For Aristotle then, the virtuous and happy life is a life of moderation in all things.
• Telos


  Aristotle first stated that everything has a telos ('end', 'purpose', or 'goal')
• 3 kinds of telos according to Aristotle

  • Instrumental Ends
  • Final Ends
  • Supreme Ends
• Instrumental Ends


  Money to be able buy goods, and goods in return to satisfy a person's hunger
• Final Ends

  Those at the end of the chain of the cause and effect, such as the satisfaction of hunger, with reference to instrumental ends
• Supreme Ends


  Those that are final or chosen for their own sake and nothing else
• Eudaimonia


  Aristotle argues that the true goal of humans- their greatest good- is eudaimonia, which means "happiness" or "flourishing." This refers to the full realization of the good life
• Achieving Eudaimonia

  To achieve eudaimonia, human beings must fulfill the function that is natural and distinctive to them: living fully in accordance with reason
• The life of reason entails a life of virtue because the virtues themselves are rational modes of behaving
• Virtue Ethics


  A theory of morality that makes virtue the central concern
• Eudaimonia


  Happiness or flourishing
• Virtue


  A stable disposition to act and feel according to some ideal or model of excellence
• Deontological Ethics


  An approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness/ wrongness of actions. What makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm
• Consequentialist


  The rightness of an action depends entirely on the effects of that action (or of following the rule that governs it). Good effects make the deed right; bad effects make the deed wrong.
• Nonconsequentialist/ Deontologist


  The rightness of an action can never be measured by such a variable, contingent standard as the quantity of goodness brought into the world
• Kantian Ethics


  A nonconsequentialist ethical/ system that uses duties in determining what is right or wrong
• The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is considered one of the greatest moral philosophers of the modern era
• priori knowledge


  Independent of experience; the proposition is true just by thinking and reasoning about it
• A posteriori knowledge


  Depends on experiences such as empirical observations and introspection of one's conscious states
• Good Will & Duty


  In Kant's ethics, right actions have moral value only if they are done with a "good will" - that is, a will to do your duty for duty's sake
• Good Will & Duty


  To act with a good will to act with a desire to do your duty simply because it is your duty, to act out of pure reverence for the moral law.
• Kantian Ethics: Duty, and Moral Law


  So to do right, we must do it duty's stake, motivated solely by respect for the moral law