paper
liuchang
EthicsWeek5-EthicsofCareandVirtueEthics.pptxEthics in computer games and cinema: Week five
The Ethics of Care and Virtue ethics
1
Learning objectives
Understand the meaning behind the Ethics of Care.
Understand the meaning behind Virtue Ethics.
2
Men and Women view ethics differently
Psychologists theorize that there may be a big difference between how men view ethics and how women view ethics.
As we shall soon find out, men view it more in terms of distanced, abstract principles, while women look at it more in terms of specifically close and intimate personal relationships.
For our purposes, the male approach to ethics represents most of the ethics we’ve discussed so far this quarter (Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, or Social Contract Theory, for example).
Meanwhile, the female approach is what we will call the Ethics of Care.
Psychologists began studying how different genders react to ethics by creating a moral problem they call the Heinz Dilemma.
Afterwards, they asked children of different genders how they would react to this dilemma. Before looking into each of these responses, let’s take a look at the dilemma itself and see what we think of it.
3
The Heinz Dilemma (P. 157)
The Heinz problem states the following: “Heinz’s wife is near death, and her only hope is a drug that was discovered by a pharmacist who is now selling it for an outrageously high price. The drug costs $200 to make, and the pharmacist is selling it for $2,000. Heinz can raise $1,000, but the pharmacist told him that half wasn’t enough. When Heinz promised to pay the rest later, the pharmacist still refused. In desperation, Heinz considers stealing the drug.”
4
Jake and Amy responses
After creating the Heinz Dilemma, psychologists asked two children, a boy named Jake and a girl named Amy, how they would solve the problem.
Jake said that a human life is worth more than money, so while stealing is generally wrong, in this particular situation, it would be right, since it’s either steal or let your wife die.
Amy took a different approach and instead tried to solve the problem by focusing more on the relationship between Heinz and the Pharmacist, hoping that if they talked more, then they could come up with a solution so that Heinz’s wife won’t have to die and at the same time, Heinz won’t have to steal the drug.
Jake’s response to this is similar to the utilitarian response, and therefore represents the abstract-principle approach to ethics which is consistent amongst male philosophers.
Amy’s response on the other hand is radically different from Utilitarianism along with other types of male ethics (Kantian Ethics, Social Contract Theory, etc.). For our purposes, her response will represent a new form of ethics known as the Ethics of Care.
5
What is the ethics of care?
Certain moral philosophers believe that abstract moral principles are too distanced from what is really going on to be satisfactory in solving moral problems. Instead, these philosophers consider the Ethics of Care, a school of thought that says we offer moral help only to those we care for and for whom we have a close personal relationship.
In some ways, this is similar to Natural Law Theory, since people in the Ethics of Care want us to do what feels natural, and for them what feels natural is helping the people we care about.
This is very different from something like Utilitarianism, which believes we should be impartial and treat everyone as equals in achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
However, philosophers in the Ethics of Care believe that helping total strangers we’ve never met will seem meaningless and unnatural, while helping those we’re closely related to and care about will feel like the right thing to do.
6
Another way we can look at the ethics of care…
It’s important to note that this school of thought is about naturally caring for others, and not about ONLY helping our blood relatives or only helping our best friends.
The Ethics of Care can be about family or friends, but it can also be about helping people you don’t know well, but still have some kind of relationship with.
If you’re able to communicate with someone over a span of time, then you will eventually care for them, and thus it will feel natural to want to help them, and so according to the Ethics of Care, it will be morally right to help them out.
In other words, if you can care for someone, then you must have some personal relationship with them, and so it feels natural to help them, and so it’s morally right to do so.
7
We will now take a look at some moral examples that will help us see some of the major differences between one of these abstract moral principle approaches to ethics and the ethics of care.
8
Moral idea #1 World Hunger
Consider the following thought experiment: Imagine you come across a small pond, where you notice a child is drowning. In this situation, you may be tempted to save the child. However, in doing so, you will have to make a small sacrifice and get your clothes muddy in the process. Now consider helping children who are starving to death on the other side of the world. Once again, you will have to make a small sacrifice and donate a small amount of your money to help these children survive. If it’s worth it to save the drowning child, then is it also worth it to save the starving children on the other side of the world?
Ethics of Care Response: There is a huge difference, because the drowning child is someone you naturally care for.
Utilitarianism Response: There isn’t much of a difference, because either way, you’re making a small sacrifice to save a life. Just because the latter has more of a disconnect does not mean the consequences will be any different.
Discussion Question: Which viewpoint would you side with here?
9
Moral idea #2 Animals
Consider the issue of animals. Some people enjoy eating meat, while others enjoy hunting animals for sport. Meanwhile, others are completely against harming animals, and certain philosophers are in between, thinking that it depends on the animal whether or not it’s worth it to bring the animal harm.
Ethics of Care Response: It’s only wrong to mistreat animals, hunt, or eat meat, if doing so requires you to hurt an animal you care about (such as your pets, for example).
Utilitarianism Response: All animals capable of feeling pleasure or pain disserve moral consideration. Not just our pets/animals we personally care about.
10
Moral idea #3 going to the movies
Suppose you really want to see a movie this weekend with your friends. Doing so would mean you would be able to have a fun time with your friends and at the same time they can have fun with you. However, you could also be spending this money on helping the poor, so as to make the world a better place.
Ethics of Care Response: It’s more important to go to the movies if doing so will mean caring for your friends.
Utilitarianism Response: It’s more important to spend that money helping the poor, since doing so would be for the greatest good.
11
End of first half
12
Introduction to virtue ethics
Throughout the history of ethics, moral philosophers have been trying to figure out how to create the best ethical obligations.
Long before ethical schools of thought like Kantian Ethics or Utilitarianism, one of the first moral theories was Virtue Ethics, developed by Aristotle, an Ancient Greek philosopher.
It seems that if ethical schools of thought like Utilitarianism or Kantian Ethics are going to have so many issues, then perhaps it might make sense to go back to Virtue Ethics.
As we go through Virtue Ethics, we will see if it works better or worse than the other schools of thought. However, it is a moral theory that many moral philosophers find to be very respectable, as we shall soon see.
Image of Aristotle – Founder of Virtue Ethics
(384-322 B.C.)
13
What is virtue ethics?
While other schools of thought are interested in fulfilling moral acts, VIRTUE ETHICS is more interested in helping each of us achieve the best moral character, one that is made up of as many virtues as possible.
According to Aristotle, if we decide to practice being virtuous, then overtime through habit, we will naturally become virtuous people and then we won’t have to worry about what to do and what not to do, because our natural behavior will be morally acceptable.
However, what does it take to be virtuous? How do I know I’m following a virtue and not a vice?
For Aristotle, virtue is moderation. To not have too much or too little of something means we are acting out of virtue.
Aristotle defines VIRTUE as “a trait of character manifested in habitual action” which is “commendable” (as opposed to a vice). Furthermore, he says virtue is “the mean by reference to two vices: the one of excess and the other of deficiency” (Rachels 171-172).
We will see how this works in the following slides…
14
Examples of virtues
Mean (virtue)
Patience
Perseverance
Tolerance
Courage
Deficiency (vice)
Aggression
Laziness
Intolerance
Cowardice
Excess (vice)
Apathy
Obsessiveness
Stupidity
Foolhardiness
15
Courage as a virtue
Mean (virtue)
Courage
Deficiency (vice)
Cowardice
Excess (vice)
Foolhardiness
Discussion Question: What is it that makes someone courageous? How do we know when someone goes beyond courage or isn’t courageous enough? Are these accurate images of courage and the vices that surround it? Or should courage be defined differently?
16
Generosity as a virtue
Mean (virtue)
Generosity
Deficiency (vice)
Stinginess
Excess (vice)
Extravagance
17
What can we learn from virtue ethics?
According to Virtue Ethics, we shouldn’t worry about how to act. Instead we worry about who we should be (character).
Therefore, all of the virtues we’ve explored this lecture are ones we need to have if we want to have the best moral character possible.
The challenge involves not only being able to practice all of these virtues (and others) habitually, but also making sure we are in fact being virtuous (mean) and not acting out of vice (excess or deficiency).
Hopefully by now, you should have a good idea of how we can work on finding that virtuous mean when thinking about ethics.
Next, we will look more closely at the upsides of Virtue Ethics, as well as some downsides to the theory.
18
Advantages to virtue ethics
(1) Moral Character (not obligation)
Virtue Ethics is about developing a virtuous moral character for yourself. Therefore, the virtuous person acts not out of duty or obligation, but out of who they are.
(2) Doubts about the ideal of impartiality
A big part of Virtue Ethics concerns caring for other people. For instance, loyalty is a virtue, and therefore a virtuous person will be there for his or her friends and family. However, this would also require him or her to be partial to some and not care for all people equally. We can look at this as an upside, since unlike many schools of thought that strive for cold impartiality, virtue ethics gives us the freedom to care for our loved ones.
19
disadvantages to virtue ethics
Virtue Ethics seems incomplete, since it doesn’t specify when we should follow certain virtues.
One issue with Virtue Ethics is that virtues can sometimes conflict. What if I find myself in a situation where a close family member is on trial for committing murder? Here, I can either be loyal and lie in court to protect him or her from getting in trouble. Or I could be honest and tell the truth. The problem is that virtue ethics does not specify which virtue should be followed in cases of virtues conflicting with each other.
20
disadvantages to virtue ethics (cont.)
(2) Virtue Ethics seems incomplete, since every explanation for why we should be virtuous causes us to use other moral theories.
For instance, consider why we should use the virtue of kindness. Perhaps we can justify being kind, since doing so would be best for others (utilitarianism) or for ourselves and our reputations (ethical egoism) or because we want others to be kind to us (social contract theory or Kantian ethics). The reason why this is a problem is because it makes it seem as though Virtue Ethics can’t exist without other schools of thought to assist it.
21
Video game/movie discussion questions
Consider unique games with controversial content. A controversial game could be seen as ambitious but it could also be in poor taste. Therefore this kind of non-moderate, possibly excessive approach could be seen as bad from a virtue ethics perspective. We will now explore this idea further…
Some games have explored controversial subject matters. For instance, COD: World War II has parts involving concentration camps, which certain people might find to be offensive. What if there was an entire game about the Holocaust or the September 11th attacks, and let’s also say it was a well made game that could be enjoyable just for the gameplay alone. Would this be something you could accept or would there be too many moral difficulties involved? In other words, is it virtuous to release a game like this?
22
Next Time: Morality in film and games
Viewing assignment:
Minority Report
(on coltube)
Reading assignment:
Zagal Article
23
