Phil101-----final paper---at least 1000 words

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phil_101_chapter_9_power_point1.ppt

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Chapter 9

What are Right Actions?

Constructing an Ethical Theory

Expanding Your Knowledge
of Moral Philosophy

Philosophical attempts to construct an overarching theory
That can guide our moral decisions
Alternative ways to evaluate moral actions
The most difficult decisions we will face challenge us to answer the question:
“What are right actions?”

Character: Virtue Ethics

Aristotle, from The Nicomachean Ethics
Reason from the physical world to the moral world
How do we discover the Golden Mean?
An approach that also raises serious questions
Analyzing Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics

Thinking Philosophically

Aristotle

(384–322 b.c.e.). This ancient Greek philosopher and student of Plato charted a different direction from his teacher. Aristotle made major contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics, logic, and aesthetics. He is also responsible for conceptualizing the different branches of philosophy.

Maxims: Duty to Moral Laws

Is lying always morally wrong?
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals
Hypothetical imperative
Categorical imperative
How can we apply the categorical imperative to environmental issues?

Consequences: Utilitarianism

The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number: Bentham
Jeremy Bentham, from An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
When is censorship ethically appropriate?
Higher Pleasures Have Greater Worth: Mill
Consider the Interests of Animals: Singer

Jeremy Bentham

(1748–1832). Bentham was a British philosopher who developed the moral theory of utilitarianism in response to the ills of industrialization.

John Stuart Mill

(1806–1873). A British philosopher and student of Jeremy Bentham who expanded on Bentham’s concept of utilitarianism.

Peter Singer

(b. 1946). Singer is an Australian philosophy and professor at Princeton University. His writing addresses issues in bioethics, animal rights, and world poverty.

Authenticity: Existentialist Ethics

“The Crowd Is Untruth”: Kierkegaard
Soren Kierkegaard, “On the Dedication to ‘That Single Individual’”
Soren Kierkegaard, from The Present Age
Beyond Good and Evil: Nietzsche
Authenticity and Ethical Responsibility: Sartre

Authenticity: Existentialist Ethics

Our Interplay with Others Defines Us: de Beauvoir
Analyzing de Beauvoir on Moral Choices
Camus, from The Myth of Sisyphus
Courage Is the Highest Value: Camus
Analyzing the Myth of Sisyphus

Soren Kierkegaard

(1813–1855). This Danish philosopher challenged much of Christian philosophy while remaining deeply religious. Kierkegaard argued that life has meaning only when people reject the pursuit of pleasure and seek moral truth by looking within and recognizing their connection to the divine.

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844–1900). Nietzsche was a German philosopher who challenged the ideals of Western philosophy, including science, morality, and the notion of God.

Simone de Beauvoir

(1908–1986). A French existentialist philosopher and feminist, in The Second Sex (1949), de Beauvoir argued that women, historically subordinate to men, have been relegated to the category of the Other Sex.

Albert Camus

(1913–1960). A French existentialist known for essays and novels, Camus dealt with what he felt was the absurd situation of human beings in which the world is essentially irrational, yet we still need to find meaning within it.

Empathy: The Ethics of Care

What is “natural caring”?
Nel Noddings, Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education
What Does It Mean to Care?
From Natural to Ethical Caring
Analyzing Noddings on the Ethics of Care

Nel Noddings

(b. 1929). This American feminist philosopher writes on issues surrounding ethics and the philosophy of education. In Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education (1984) and Women and Evil (1989), Noddings argues that ethics should be founded on caring and interpersonal relationships.

Making Connections: Your Moral Compass Revisited

Virtue Ethics
Deontology
Utilitarianism
Existentialism
Ethics of Care
What is your moral compass?