PHIL 380 Week 4
Key Ideas to Natural Law Theory
•Human nature is practical reason
•Some goods are basic to all humans and transcend all cultures
•Even without knowledge of God, practical reason can help discover basic
moral principles
•Moral laws discovered through natural law are universal and eternal
•Natural law does not discount the need for Scripture. Scripture affirms natural law
•Romans 2:14-15
a. For when the Gentiles who have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these not having the law are a law unto themselves
Problems with Natural Law
•With Darwinian evolution, many seriously question the teleological view of creation
proposed by natural law. If evolution is true, nothing in nature has purpose: there is
no specific way man is “supposed to function”
•Some people don’t care for the metaphysical baggage required by natural
law, specifically the concept of “human natures”
•Some feel that natural law commits the naturalistic fallacy: Just because something
is good, does that mean we have a duty to do it?
Kantian Deontology
•Moral principles are determined through that which is rational; the rational is moral
and the moral is rational
•Key Ideas
b. Kant began by rejecting any sort of ethics based on consequences or on “natural
inclinations”
c. There is only one correct motice: duty/obligation – the foundation for
morality which Kant called “the good will”
d. The Categorical Imperative: Act according to that maxim by which you can,
at the same time, will that it should be a universal law
e. The point is, if you universalize an action and the act of universalizing itself is
self- defeating, then that action is irrational and therefore immoral
The Concept of Self-Defeating
•Action or proposition occurs when, in the purpose of doing the action or stating
the proposition you defeat its purpose or meaning
•Sentences:
•Actions:
a. “Everything I say is a lie”
b. “I don’t exist”
c. I can’t speak English”
a. One acts in a manner that doesn’t achieve the desired goal
•Self-defeating actions/propositions are irrational
Problems with Kantian Deontology
•Kant allows for no exceptions to the moral law, he is an unbending absolutist. But
what about when moral laws conflict
i. Primae Facie Duties: Moral obligations that hold in normal circumstances
unless they conflict with stronger obligations at which point, they can be
justifiably overridden.
•There are some who have pointed out problems with Kant’s method of universalism
ii. Doesn’t work with positive obligations, only negative
iii. Problems universalizing
•Kant has been criticized because of his absolute rejection of consequences and emotions
A Shift in the Debate
•All theories we’ve looked at so far attempt to answer, what is the right thing to do?
•Virtue Ethics says we are asking the wrong question. Morality isn’t primarily about
what we do, it’s mostly about who we are.
i. What kind of person do we want to be?
ii. Rather than thinking in terms of results or actions, virtue ethics thinks in terms
of developing character
Virtue Ethics
•Morality should be conceived with the cultivation of moral virtues or traits of character
•Who is the person?
•True moral act has its basis in virtuous characteristic
•Key Ideas:
a) A virtue is a trained behavioral disposition to live in a good and righteous
manner; a character trait: Humility, integrity, faithfulness, fairness, vice is the
opposite
b) Virtuous living is like a habit, it must be acquired by repetition and practice.
We get so accustomed to it that it is like second nature to us.
c) Rather than learning lists of rules, the virtues are learned by modeling
ideal “saints and heroes”
d) Employs the language of “appropriateness” rather than “duty”
e) There is no set list of all the virtues and many persons have listed many
attributes as virtues
i. Cardinal Moral: prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice
ii. Cardinal theological: hope, faith, love
•Strengths of Virtue Ethics
a) Promotes a “spiritual/personal” dimension to ethics missing in other theories –
character matters – persons have ultimate value not rules, actions or
consequences
b) Provides a motivation for ethics beyond just doing one’s duty
c) Persons have intrinsic value as opposed to consequentialism where persons
have no value or deontology where it doesn’t matter who the person is who
performed the duty.
d) Provides support and flexibility
e) The ethics of the early church
•Problems with Virtue Ethics
a) Virtues are community dependent and are meaningless without a shared
conception of the good. Ineffective in a pluralistic society with various
conceptions of the good.
b) Applicational problem: virtue ethics doesn’t give guidance in specific
ethical situations, it’s not practical enough.
c) Virtue ethics provides no basis for judging right or wrong actions.
d) Concentrates on self rather than others.
Pluralistic Ethic
•Ships cannot collide: actions must be right
•Ships must be in working order: Character must be good
•Ships must get where they are going
Properly Prioritized
•Pluralism of theories: Aspects of all three categories are involved to have an
adequate ethical theory
•However, the categories are nit equal in strength, but must be prioritized.
a) Primary: Virtue Ethic: God is more concerned with who you are than what you do
b) Secondary: Deontological Ethic: Often need concrete principles for
particular situations
c) Ancillary: Consequentialism: plays a part in ethical reasoning, but not in
any decisive manner.
