Ethics 2 test

Plato's View on The Ring of Gyges

• Using the Ring of Gyges to commit immoral acts harms one's well-being.
• Moral perfectionism defines well-being as having a harmonious, rational soul.
• Acting immorally disrupts the soul's rational order, leading to vice.
• Those who behave unjustly cannot achieve true well-being due to a lack of inner harmony from virtuous living.

Aretaic Egoism (AE) and Michael Corleone

• Aretaic Egoism (AE) suggests achieving true well-being requires embodying all virtues like courage, temperance, justice, and honesty.
• Michael Corleone challenges AE because he uses virtues for immoral purposes.
• AE implies Michael has a good character, but this contradicts well-being coming from using virtues for morally good ends.

Hobbes's Rule Egoism (HRE)

• Hobbes’s Rule Egoism (HRE) suggests individuals should follow rules that benefit them in the long term to ensure self-preservation.
• Laws of Nature presented by Hobbes are rules that help individuals live in peace.
• Key laws are:
  • Peace: Avoiding war to preserve oneself.
  • Liberty: Acting freely as long as it doesn't infringe on others' rights.
  • Covenants: Keeping agreements for mutual benefit.
  • Gratitude and Cooperation: Cooperating and being grateful when others offer benefits.
• These laws are rational as they contribute to long-term survival and societal stability.

The Case of the Lost Wallet and HRE

• HRE argues returning a lost wallet is in one's self-interest to avoid a bad reputation.
• The moral reason to return the wallet is respect for others' rights, but HRE reduces this to selfish motives.
• HRE's reasoning is flawed because it overlooks moral duties that extend beyond self-interest.

Bentham's Hedonism

• Hedonism theorizes that the ultimate good involves pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain.
• Well-being is defined as balancing pleasure over pain
• Actions should aim to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
• Challenges to hedonism arise from:
  • The Experience Machine: Doubts that pure pleasure is better than other values.
  • Quality of Pleasures: Questions whether all pleasures are equally valuable.

AU (Act Utilitarianism)

• Act Utilitarianism is about maximizing overall utility or well-being.
• It considers both pleasure and pain, as well as the consequences for everyone involved.

AU and Calculating Utilities

• AU doesn't always require pre-calculating utilities for every action.
• Utilitarianism encourages maximizing utility, but it can serve as a general guiding principle.

Bentham's AU and Technical Terms

• Bentham's AU states we should act to maximize overall pleasure and minimize overall pain.
• Key terms are:
  • Hedonic Utility: The pleasure or pain produced by an action.
  • Maximizes: Choosing the action with the greatest net benefit (pleasure minus pain).
  • Alternative: The different possible actions, with value based on intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity.

AU vs. Egoism

• AU focuses on the well-being of everyone affected, while egoism prioritizes individual self-interest.
• AU is other-regarding (concerned with the welfare of all).
• Egoism is self-regarding (focused on the individual's well-being).

Counterexamples to AU

• Organ Harvest: It feels wrong to kill one person to save others, even if it creates more overall happiness.
• Small Southern Town: It raises fairness concerns to justify discrimination to benefit the majority.
• Peeping Tom: Ignoring the harm caused by privacy violation seems morally unacceptable.

AU and Extreme Scenarios

• AU could theoretically justify actions like nuclear bombing or torture to yield a greater balance of pleasure over pain.
• Critics like Elizabeth Anscombe find these implications unacceptable as they disregard moral boundaries.

Elizabeth Anscombe's Absolute Moral Wrongs

• Anscombe argues some actions are inherently wrong regardless of consequences.
• Actions like torture, nuclear war, and adultery violate fundamental moral principles and cannot be justified.

Absolutism vs. Consequentialism

• Absolutism deems some actions always wrong (e.g., torture), regardless of consequences.
• Consequentialism (like AU) judges actions based on their outcomes, regardless of inherent goodness.

Kant: Categorical vs. Hypothetical Imperatives

• Categorical Imperatives: Moral duties that apply unconditionally.
• Hypothetical Imperatives: Conditional commands based on desires.
• Kant argues moral law must be categorical to apply universally to all rational beings.

Kant's Two Capacities for Rational Beings

• Rational beings must have:
  • The capacity for autonomous action: Acting according to freely chosen principles.
  • The capacity for moral reasoning: Recognizing and acting on moral duties.
• Humans, as rational beings, are persons, but non-human entities lack these capacities.

Embracing Rational Nature

• Embracing our nature as rational beings requires:
  • Autonomy: The ability to make decisions for oneself.
  • Respect for others' autonomy: Allowing others to make their own choices.

First Version of Kant's CI (Formula of Universal Law)

• Act only according to maxims that could be willed as a universal law without contradiction.

Second Version of Kant's CI (Formula of Humanity)

• Treat humanity as an end in itself, never merely as a means to an end, emphasizing inherent dignity.

Treating Persons as Ends-in-Themselves

• Recognize the intrinsic value of persons, not using them as tools.
• Requirements for treating others as ends:
  • Perfect duties: Always follow duties (e.g., not lying or killing).
  • Imperfect duties: Morally valuable but not always required (e.g., self-improvement, helping).

Imperfect Duty of Self-Perfection

• Improve oneself morally through cultivating virtues.
• Positive duties: Actions to improve oneself.
• Negative duties: Actions to avoid that harm one's development.

Imperfect Duty to Help Others

• Promote the well-being of others involving:
  • Positive duties to provide aid.
  • Negative duties which prevent harm or hindrance to others.

Evaluations of CI2

• Evaluations test CI2's rigidity in scenarios like Ebola outbreaks or atomic bombs.

Moral Dilemmas and AU vs. CI2

• Moral dilemmas involve two compelling moral choices that cannot both be followed.
• AU can cause dilemmas when pleasures/pains compete.
• CI2 can create dilemmas when duties conflict.

Pluralism (P) and Prima Facie Duties

• Pluralism: Multiple moral principles guide decisions.
• Prima Facie Duties: Duties to generally follow unless a stronger duty overrides.
• Principle of Autonomy: Involves respecting individuals' rights to make decisions.
  • Negative duties involve not interfering with choices.
  • Positive duties require helping others achieve their goals.