Philosophy - Ethics

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 Aristotle

 Virtue Ethics

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC)[1] was a Greek philosopher

and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

 His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic,

rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important

founding figures in Western philosophy.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy,

encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Nicomachean Ethics

 The Nicomachean Ethics /nɪˌkɒmæˈkiːən/ is the name normally given to Aristotle's best

known work on ethics.

 The work, which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten

books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his

lectures at the Lyceum, which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son,

Nicomachus.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The theme of the work is the Socratic question which had previously been explored in Plato's

works, of how men should best live. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle described how Socrates turned

philosophy to human questions, whereas Pre-Socratic philosophy had only been theoretical.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Ethics, as now separated out for discussion by Aristotle, is practical rather than theoretical, in

the original Aristotelian senses of these terms. In other words it is not only a contemplation

about good living, but also aims to create good living.

 Link to an electronic version of Nicomachean Ethics

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 http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Aristotle begins the work by positing that there exists some ultimate good toward which, in the

final analysis, all human actions ultimately aim. The necessary characteristics of the ultimate

good are that it is complete, final, self-sufficient and continuous.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 This good toward which all human actions implicitly or explicitly aim is happiness ‹ in Greek,

"eudaimonia," which can also be translated as blessedness or living well, and which is not a

static state of being but a type of activity.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Ethical virtue "is a habit disposed toward action by deliberate choice, being at the mean relative

to us, and defined by reason as a prudent man would define it." Each of the elements of this

definition is important.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Virtue is not simply an isolated action but a habit of acting well. For an action to be virtuous a

person must do it deliberately, knowing what he is doing, and doing it because it is a noble

action.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The first virtue discussed is bravery. It is a mean between rashness and cowardice. A brave man

is one who faces and fears what he should for the right reason, in the right manner and at the

right time. A brave man performs his actions for the sake of what is noble. A brave man is thus

one who is fearless in facing a noble death

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The next virtue is temperance. It is a mean with regard to bodily pleasures. The intemperate

man desires pleasurable things and chooses them because they are pleasurable; he is pained

when he fails to get what he desires. A temperate man is moderately disposed with regard to

pleasures and pains. He loves such pleasures as right reason dictates. Temperance keeps the

desiring part of the soul in harmony with reason.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Generosity is the third virtue which Aristotle examines. With regard to property, generosity is a

mean between wastefulness and stinginess. A generous man will give to the right person, the

right amounts and at the right times. He will also take proper care of his possessions. Generosity

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does not depend on the quantity of the giving but on the habit of the giver, which takes into

account the amount which the giver himself has and is able to give away.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The next virtue is munificence, which consists giving large amounts for suitable occasions. A

munificent man spends gladly and lavishly, not calculating costs, but always for a noble purpose.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Magnanimity, the fifth virtue Aristotle discusses, is one of the peaks of virtue. A magnanimous

man claims and deserves great honors. Someone who deserves honors but doesn't claim them is

low-minded, and someone who claims honors but doesn't deserve them is vain. It is better to be

vain than low-minded, because vanity will be naturally corrected by life experience. A

magnanimous man is great in each of the virtues, and is a sort of ornament of virtues because

he shows how good a virtuous life is.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The next virtue concerns honor, specifically small and medium honors. It is a mean between too

much and too little ambition which can be described as right ambition

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The next three virtues are friendliness, the mean between flattery or obsequiousness and

quarrelsomeness; truthfulness, the mean between boastfulness and self-depreciation, and wit,

the mean with regard to humor and amusement. Wit entails saying the right things in the right

manner and also listening to things properly.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Friendship is a necessary part of the good life. There are three types of friendship: friendship

based on usefulness, friendship based on pleasure and friendship based on virtue. Only the last

type is genuine friendship.

 Friendships based on usefulness and pleasure tend not to be very enduring, since they only last

as the long as each party derives the usefulness or pleasure he desires from the relationship.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 Friendship based on virtue is based on wishing the good for the other person. This genuine

friendship is necessary for self-knowledge and helps both of the friends to grow in virtue.

Friendship presupposes justice and goes beyond it.

 The virtue of a friend is to love. The relationship one has with a friend is like the harmonious

relationship between the different parts of the soul of a virtuous man.

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 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 The last virtue, which unites and orders all of the other virtues, is justice.

 Natural justice is that which is just in all times and places. Conventional justice is that which is

made up of laws and customs.

 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

 All laws are to some extent just because any law is better than no law, but are always at least

slightly flawed in that they must be formulated universally and cannot take into account all

specific circumstances.

 As a result, a judge should rule in accordance with the intention of the lawmaker or the idea

behind the law when the law does not seem to properly fit the situation.

 Immanuel Kant &

The Categorical Imperative

 Ethics and Reason

 Reasoning about Ethics

 Reason as a path to sound moral behavior has a strong foundation that dates back well over

2000 years to Plato and Aristotle in ancient Athens.

 Reason and Emotions

 Most Philosophers agree that we are better off when we base our decisions on reason rather

than emotions, i.e.

 The Flashy New Car

 A hefty lunch

 Reasoning About an Ethical Issue

 Although reasoning may seem to be a better approach to moral decision making, than making

emotional judgments, there are often inconsistencies in reasoning….

 Sarah Sloan’s problem

 Kant and Categorical Principles

 Pic and bio

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 (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian

city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). He is regarded as one of the most influential

thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Enlightenment.

 Kant and Categorical Principles

 Immanuel Kant insisted that reason can indeed supply such absolute categorical ethical

principles: ethical principles that reason reveals to be universally true, just as reason reveals

universal truths of mathematics.”

 Kant and Categorical Imperative

 Kant’s Categorical Imperative: “Always act in such a way that you could will that your act should

be a Universal law”

 Formula

 Determine the Maxim: Motive and Action

 Universalize the Maxim

 If there are inconsistencies then the maxim is immoral.

 If there are no inconsistencies then the maxim is “moral”- in a Kantian sense.

 Kant and Categorical Imperative

 Examples

 Becky Sue and the Loaf of bread

 Running the Red light to get to class on time

 Returning a borrowed CD to someone who is no longer a friend

 Abstaining from sex until marriage

 Absolute Ethical Principles

 “The moral law is universal and absolute, and it requires our singular allegiance, whatever our

inclinations and whatever the consequences.”

 The problem with this is that there are times when it appears convenient to be

unethical…..examples

 Elements of Kantian Ethics: Reason and Will

 There are Two Key Elements in Kant’s Ethical System:

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 Ethics is based on pure reason: neither our feelings nor our empirical observations of

the world play any part in ethics.

 The capacity to follow the purely rational dictates of the rational moral law must come

from the special capacity of the human will, and not from emotions or inclinations.

 Elements of Kantian Ethics:

Non-natural Ethics

 “For Kant, genuine moral acts must stem from our special non-natural powers of reason and will,

not from anything in nature….[as such]….if your behavior is prompted by your own natural

inclinations, then your generous acts have no moral worth.”

 DISCUSSION

 Do you agree with Kant that we would be morally better if we entirely banished feelings when

we determine what if morally right and wrong?

 Criticisms of Kantian Ethics

 Who is Excluded from Kant’s Kingdom of Ends?

 In Kant’s system of Ethics there is a sense of egalitarianism in that all rationally beings

are seen equally as moral agents. This system , however seems to exclude the rationally,

impaired, i.e. those with dementia, Alzheimer's, head trauma victims, etc.

 Criticisms of Kantian Ethics

 Conflicts Among Principles

 Very often human behavior is too detailed to be expressed in a single moral principle.

 Example: Hiding Jews from the Holocaust in 1940’s Germany.

 Conclusion

 Kant offers a severe and demanding, hard and uncompromising account of morality. Kant would

consider that a virtue, rather than a problem.

 In its Kantian purity, rationalist ethics has no use for feelings and emotions.

 Utilitarian Theory

 Ethics is a matter of calculating how to produce the greatest balance of pleasure over suffering.

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 That which brings the greatest amount of pleasure is “right”.

 Making Utilitarian Calculations

 Calculating the right act can be complicated.

 Example: Patient with one year to live

 Taking the Mystery out of Ethics

 Utilitarian Ethicists believe that ethics is not mysterious. “It [ethics] is a difficult but

straightforward task of measuring, as best we can, the balance of pleasure over pain that will be

produced by a proposed act or policy.”

 Misconceptions of Utilitarian Ethics

 The Utilitarian is not recommending a policy of gross, egoistic, self-centered, short-sighted

hedonism…. As the balance of pleasure over pain implies moderation.

 Example

 Binge Drinking,

 Libidinous Spring Break

 Teleology

 Utilitarian ethics is an example of a teleological theory of ethics. “Teleological” comes from the

Greek word telos, meaning end or goal. It is a philosophical way of thinking that focuses more on

the “end” then the “means” to the “end”.

 Act-Versus Rule- Utilitarian Ethics

 Act Utilitarian- Act Utilitarians claim that in determining what we should do, we must consider

what specific act would produce the best overall consequences.

 Example: “light” lie…

 Act-Versus Rule- Utilitarian Ethics

 Rule Utilitarianism- implies a deeper look at societal practices and social intuitions.

 The Rules of Practices- In addition to calculating the greatest amount of pleasure over pain, we

must consider our actions in the light of social practices.

 Example:

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 Promise Keeping

 Running the red light when no one is looking.

 Utilitarians and the Quality of Pleasures

 Discussion:

 Do all pleasures count the same?

 Bentham: All Pleasures Are Equal-

 First developer of Utilitarian Ethics

 All pleasures are the same.

 “Pleasure is pleasure”.

 Bentham’s Context is impoverished and disease-ridden London of the late 1700s to early 1800s .

 Mill and Qualities of Pleasure

 “higher quality” & classism

 Criticisms of Utilitarian Ethics

 Psychological Criticisms- Pleasure is subjective. What brings you joy may not bring joy to me.

 Nozick’s Challenge to Utilitarian Ethics

 1)Utilitarian Ethics confuses the positive reinforcer with the behavior shaped by that reinforcer.

 2)Aiming at pleasure seems a lousy plan for finding happiness.

 Dostoyevsky’s challenge to Utilitarian Ethics

 The edifice of human destiny: Should one child be tortured for the sake of peace and

contentment for the rest of humanity.

 The Uses of Utilitarian Ethics

 Discussion: What are some of the ways you appropriate Utilitarian Ethics in your decision

making?

 Utilitarian Ethics and Public Policy

 Utilitarian Ethics is useful when evaluating social policy, in that you calculate what brings the

greatest amount of pleasure to your constituents.

 Example: Cancer Research Center vs. Parking Deck.

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 Opposition to Utilitarianism

 Dostoyevsky thought of utilitarianism as a mean spirited ignoble ethical

counterfeit…He felt that Utilitarianism reduced ethical quandary to a bookkeeping system rather

than a gift from God.

 Social Contract Ethics

 Social Contract Theory

 Ethical Principles are made (agreed upon by a group for the purpose of peaceful coexistence),

and not found.

 Social Contract Theory

 Example: “Stealing is wrong!” becomes an ethical principle when mutually endorsed by a

particular group or society, i.e. United States of America

 Framing the Social Contract

 In the natural state there are no rules, i.e. the animal Kingdom.

 Rules are unique to reasonable and communicative creatures, i.e. humans.

 Social Contracts and Human Strife

 Thomas Hobbes contended that Social Contracts were necessary because of humanities brutish

nature.

 An appeal to social contract theory is that a social contract, “seems a good start toward a

peaceful end at least minimally harmonious society”. It is what transitions us from a state of

chaos/anarchy to state of order/ government.

 Rousseau’s Social Contract

 Rousseau’s had a higher view of human nature than Hobbes in that he believed that human

beings were essentially good and motivated by pity.

 Rousseau’s Social Contract

 “ Pity is a natural sentiment moderating the action of self-love in each individual and

contributing to the mutual preservation of the whole species. It is pity that sends us unreflecting

to the aid of those we see suffering; it is pity that in the state of nature takes the place of laws,

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moral habits, and virtues, with the added benefit that there no one is tempted to disobey its

gentle voice.”

 Social Contracts and Human Nature

 Social contract theory is not meant to be a historical or anthropological account of how political

systems developed. As this would be in the face of the common understanding of the state of

nature.

 Nor is it suggested that each individual has voted the laws set in their society or are 100 percent

happy with them .

 Social Contracts and Human Nature

But one must ask oneself

 If I had a vote, would I, for the most part, vote in favor of the laws and principles that govern my

society?

 Would I rather live in my socially contracted society or in the state of nature?

 Fairness and Social Contract Theory: John Rawls

 Fairness and Social Contract Theory: John Rawls

 What rules would one adopt under the “Veil of Ignorance”?

 Behind the Veil of Ignorance:

 1)We would establish an equal society

 2) Wide range of basic freedoms, i.e. religion, speech, etc.

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 3) A prosperous society with no disparities in wealth.

 Justice as fairness

 Rawls posits the Veil of Ignorance as a test to measure justice. Law makers/ voters/ social

contractors must consider, is this a law I would approve if I was behind the veil of ignorance.

 Gauthier’s Contractarian Ethics

 “Morals by Agreement”

 Gauthier believes that as rational, self-interested beings there are some rules that are good for

humans to follow, even when they are not to our immediate advantage. Therefore we should

appreciate social contracts, because when they are fair, they work to our advantage.

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 The Social Contract Myth and Its Underlying Assumptions

 The Social Contract theory is a myth that social contract theorists use to develop their

position.

 First Assumption: Radical Individualism

 1) In the state of nature individuals warred against each other.

 2)Then Each individual sat down and decided that it would be in our best interest to sign the

social contract

 As such radical individuality is assumed in the social contract myth.

 The Prisoner’s Dilemma….

 This dilemma demonstrates that mutual agreements, or social contracts made in self-interest

can produce immoral consequences.

 Second Assumption: Narrow Obligations

 Since we are radically distinct individuals contracting together, the only obligations we incur are

those we voluntarily and individually approve.

 EX: As such under the social contract myth one is not obliged to “give back.”

 Third Assumption: Choosing Morality

 Another assumption under the social contract myth is that all moral principals are a matter of

choice, because if its not in the contract its not in the ethical system.

 Discussion

 What Ethical/moral principles exist outside of our social contract as citizens of the United

States?

 Fourth Assumption: Outside the Social Contract

 If one can not join in the contract or live up to its demands, then you are not apart of the moral

community.

 i.e. The Disabled, The Aged, Children