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The Nature of Morality

Introduction: Why Study Ethics?

For many people, the first question they come to when beginning a course on ethics is, why? Why study ethics? Surely, most people have a sense of right and wrong. What more is needed or what can be gained by a philosophical examination of ethics.   And for those who are believers, ethics is simply a matter of following what the Bible says. Isn't it? Hopefully, by the end of this course you will discover that ethics is not always as simple as it seems. In fact, many good people continue to debate serious questions about what is right and wrong. From simple decisions you must make in your own life to complex issues of national policy, ethical questions are unavoidable.

Ethical Theory

For many people, ethics simply has to do with doing the right thing. The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethoswhich focuses on the individual character of a person. We often equate ethics with morality, which has a connotation of relationships between human beings. In philosophy, ethics is a specific area of study that concentrates on human conduct and human value. (Thiroux, 2011)

This course will analyze a variety of ethical theories. In his text, Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics, Steve Wilkensdescribed and critiqued 11 different ways people come to make ethical decisions. The process that people go through when making ethical decisions is known as their ethical theory. Sometimes people think that theory has nothing to do with the real world. But in actuality they all operate from an ethical theory. The question is, are they aware of it and is it the best one? For most people, their ethical theory is a subconscious process that guides their actions. In fact, most people typically don't operate from well-established principles, but change their ethical theory based on the situation. By studying ethical theories, they are better prepared to understand their own motivations and actions, and to critique those of others.

Wilkens groups his study of ethical theory into a list of slogans (or bumper stickers) that express ethical thought. The person who lives by the slogan "Look out for number one" operates from a much different theoretical basis than someone whose motto is "Always do your duty." Consider the issue of buying and selling essays online. The person concerned to "look out for number one" may choose to buy an essay in hopes of achieving a high score. Or they might refrain from buying an essay online out of fear of being caught. The person operating from the principle to "always do your duty" may refrain from buying the essay out of a sense of obligation to do their own work. Either way, even if both people do the same thing, their motivations differ. You may want to say that the person who acted out of a sense of duty acted "more morally" than the one who acted out of fear of being caught. These are the types of questions that ethical theory deals with, and you will see that ethical theory has tremendous implications for how people live as individuals and as a society.

Plato

In addition to studying ethical theory in this course, you will also be tracing the history of ethical thought in the West from the classical era to the present. A study of ethical thought in the classical era typically begins with the fourth century BC Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Ancient Greek culture was shaped by the ethical visions of Homer and Hesiod, two seventh-to-eight-century-BC Greek poets. The Homeric works of The Iliad and The Odyssey emphasized the ideal of the noble warrior and the wise philosopher. Competition, honor, and courage were prized. Others could be considered "good" as they fulfilled their function in society. "Virtue" depended on the ability to successfully gain control of resources for one's household. In contrast, the Hesiodic vision of "virtue" was the restraint of greed. The just person was the one who held back their desires to have more than their neighbor and to live in accord with laws and social norms. These competing ideas of "virtue" form the backdrop of the moral debate found in Plato's works. 

Plato and Thrasymachus

Although Socrates did not write anything himself, his most famous pupil, Plato, wrote much using Socrates as his main character in his many dialogues. In Plato's work The Republic, Socrates debates another philosopher by the name of Thrasymachus. Thrasymachus, known as a "Sophist" philosopher, claimed that "justice" is simply the advantage of the strong, or the rulers, in a society. In other words "might makes right", and the moral life is really an obstacle to human fulfillment. This kind of relativism was refuted by Socrates and Plato, who held that living morally and according to justice actually satisfies our human nature and leads to happiness. (Clark and Poortenga, 2003)

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Another well-known example of Plato's ethical thought is his Allegory (or Myth) of the Cave. An allegory is a symbolic story. In his story Plato describes men who are trapped in a cave looking only at shadows of objects on the cave wall. The prisoners think the shadows are the actual objects. Eventually, one man is able to escape and view the outside world. Outside of the cave he sees the actual objects themselves and the brilliance of the sun. He returns to the other prisoners to tell them of the truth of the shadows, yet they consider him mad. Plato's allegory has many applications, but is especially relevant regarding ethics. The sun in the story represents what Plato calls the "Good" or the "Form of the Good." It is fixed, eternal, and unchanging (in contrast to the relativism of the Sophists). According to Plato, the concept of "goodness" is not up to individuals or societies to create themselves. Rather, individuals can discover what is "good" by discerning if it "participates" in the Form of the Good.

aristotles ethics 

http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2s.htm

Callicles and Thrasymachus  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/callicles-thrasymachus/