Introduction to Ethics

Ethics Introduction

• Ethics is a study of moral value and value judgements.
• Ethics covers the study of what is good versus that which is ought to be.
• It also involves what is bad versus what ought not to be.
• Normative statements explain how things should be, and factual/existential statements explain how things actually are.

Key Ethical Questions.

• The two major ethical questions are:
  • What is the ultimate good in life?
  • How should one act to obtain this ultimate good?

The Ultimate Good in Life

• Kant argued Virtue is the ultimate good in life
• Aristotle considered Happiness to be the ultimate good in life
• Epicurus believed Pleasure to be the ultimate good in life

Hedonism Defined

• Hedonism defines that "Pleasure is the greatest of all goods".
• It argues feelings of pleasure are always good, and feelings of pain are always bad.
• Philosopher Richard Taylor proposed that vast numbers of people follow the philosophy of Hedonism.

Cyrenaics

• Cyrenaics focused on pleasure as the key to life.
• They considered the most intense pleasures to be bodily pleasures.
• For them, The Good Life equates to maximizing bodily pleasures

Epicurus's Hedonism

• Indulging in bodily pleasures actually obstructs the attainment of the "good life”.
• Bodily Pleasures are of short duration and often followed by pain.
• For Epicureans, the avoidance of pain was essential.

Avoiding Pain

• According to Epicurean philosophy, it is crucial to practice discipline and often reject opportunities to engage in bodily/sensual pleasures to avoid pain.

• The goal is to live in a way that facilitates avoiding chasing after pleasures to achieve the most pleasurable life.

• Epicurus proposed that pleasure isn't about sensual enjoyment, but freedom from pain in the body and confusion in the soul.

• Ultimate good is pleasure, but not sensual enjoyment

  • Consisting of freedom from pain, worry, fear, and confusion.

How To Obtain This Good

• Actions should be guided by an understanding of the nature of desire.
• Desires are categorized into: natural and necessary, natural and unnecessary, and unnatural and unnecessary.

Natural and Necessary Desires

• These desires are essential for survival, and include:
  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Water

Natural and Unnecessary Desires

• These desires are not essential but are natural inclinations, such as:
  • Sexual gratification
    • These should only be satisfied to avoid pain, not for the sake of pleasure alone.

Unnatural and Unnecessary Desires

• These are desires that are neither essential nor natural, such as:
  • Power
  • Fame
  • Wealth
  • Social acceptance
    • Desires should be satisfied only as much as they are needed to eliminate pain.

Epicurus and the Simple Life

• Epicureans highlight the importance of practicing the discipline of desire, which involves:
  • Being content with what is easily obtained and satisfies fundamental needs.
  • Renouncing what is superfluous.
  • Being content with simple clothes and simple foods.
  • Renouncing wealth, honors, and public positions
  • Essentially living in retreat

Utilitarianism

• Actions are judged based on consequences.

Being a Utilitarian

• Utilitarianism was founded by Jeremy Bentham
• Bentham stated both pain and pleasure govern mankind.
• Bentham proclaimed that maximizing the amount of pleasure in society and minimizing the amount of pain should be a goal.
• There should be one standard of value in utilitarianism.
  • Whether it's called pleasure, happiness, or utility, it can be quantified.
• Utilitarianism means to show no favoritism but seek only to bring about the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.

John Stuart Mill - Utilitarianism

• "The habit of analysis has the tendency to wear away the feelings"
• Highlights that there are both higher and lower pleasures, so quality matters
• "It is better to be a human being satisfied than a pig dissatisfied”
• Utilitarianism means one cannot make precise interpersonal comparisons

Jeremy Bentham - Governance of Pain and Pleasure

• Mankind are governed by two sovereign masters, pleasure and pain.
• These determine both what we ought to do (morally) and what we shall do (naturally).
• The concepts of right and wrong are tied to their influence

Influence

• Attempts to reject their rule only reinforce their dominance, despite claims to reject their influence.

Critique of Empty Rhetoric

• Proper moral philosophy must be grounded in reason and clarity
• Metaphors and grand statements do not improve moral science

Defining Utility

• Utility is the basis of the present work, foundation for the principle of Utility. Approves or disapproves of every action based on its effect on happiness either through reason or law
• Determines whether an action increases or decreases happiness, rejecting systems based on arbitrary ideas.

Scope of Application

• The principle of Utility applies to all actions, including government measures, not just private actions.
• The principle of Utility promotes happiness and prevents actions that oppose it.

Definition of Utility

• An object's ability to produce benefit, advantage, happiness or pleasure or prevent mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness is considered to be it's utility.
• Utility applies to both individual and communal interests:
  • Affecting individual happiness when concerning an individual.
  • Affecting collective happiness when concerning the community.

Understanding Community Interest

• Community is a body of individuals and its interest is the sum of interests of all its members.

Individual Interest as the Basis

• Considering individual interests is important as it promotes an individuals interest when increases pleasure or reduces the pain of that individual.
• Community interest is meaningless without understanding individual interest.

Conformity to the Principle of Utility

• If an action has the tendency to increase community happiness, that outweighs any tendency to decrease it, aligns with the principle of Utility.

Application of Utility to Government

• Government measures increase community happiness more than they decrease it, they follow the principle of utility
• A government measure is a type of action performed by specific individuals

Law of Utility

• When an action aligns with utility, it's considered to be following a law of utility.
• This law provides a framework for evaluating actions.

Partizan of Utility

• Approval or disapproval of actions should be based on their impact on community happiness.
• Actions must be judged according to their alignment with the Utility principal

Moral Implications of Utility

• Actions that align with utility can be described as good, words should be interpretted through the lens of Utility.
• Aligned actions are not wrong and should be done

The Validity of Utility

• Foundation: The principle helps to evaluate all the other principles
• Starting Point: A chain of reasoning is required as that's where the Utility point starts

Acceptance

• People are more likely to follow principles if they understand them
• People are more likely to follow principles instinctively, even without them recognizing
• The more intelligent people rarely embrace utility fully or wihout reservation, especially because of a lack of understanding

Criticism and Misapplication

• Arguments only work if the utility is being mis-applied rather than disproving it all together.
• Those who argue against unknowingly use it sometimes.
• Rejecting Utility requires an alternative foundation, which some critics are unaware of.

Overcoming Resistance to Utility

• Some resistance stems from confusion or partial view of the concept.
• A structured approach to understanding helps people reconcile with its validity.

Evaluating the Principles

• One person might decide the princples in question fully
• If those principles get rejected they show reflect what basis their polictical reasoning will be

2. Alternative basis for judgement, the individual must consider

• Whether they judge or act without principal
• And whether they will adapt another to judge and act by

Examining the New Principle

• Has a dsitinct or inteligble foundation
• Its merely a verbal contstruct expressingo personal basis

Subjectivity versus Univerality

• If the personal approvel determins the judgements.
• Does everyone hasa a right to set their own standard?

Consequence Of Subjective Standard

• If personal setiment is made the universal standard
• The problem of relativism leads to anarchy when everyone has tehir own standrd
• Does this not lead to arcny when one is a persons choice

Reflect as a Basis for Judgement

• Where should the refelction focus on of judgements
• If it considers the utility of the does this not concidert the rejection of utitirty principles

A Mixed Approach

• If one wishes to combine the presonal stientment with the preiciple
• to what extent will thye inproate each principe

Justifying The Limits of Adoption

• Once an indicidul decides far how to aodpt a principe;
• hot do they justify adopting the extent.
• if any principes other then utitly are considered valid

John Stuart Mill - Utilitarianism

• Utility/Greatest Happiness Principle: based upon to determine the greatest amount of happiness
• Action are right they promote happyness

Core Tenets of The Theory

• The heart of the utility theroy lies in the standard of measures with pleasure and freedom.
• all things should be the pursuit in pleasure and preventing pain

Critiques of the Opposition

• Many have rejected that its life highest goal is pleasure and that only fit for animals (swine)

Epicurean Defenses

• Critics claim that the utilitarian is degrasing and can lead to the animals

Higher Versus Lower Pleasures

• The importance of intellectual pursuit which leads to recognizing Emotional pleasure and the moral sentiments lead to higher vs the lower pleasures
• Human happiness is includes more then sense sensory pleasues
• Human always desires more the moral sentiments.
• The practical benefits that emphasize the metal pleasures
• THey did not always argure for the instintrics superiorioity of metal pleasures

The Quality Versus Quantities of Pleasure

• The quantitaity of an evaluations can sometimes weigh the measure of the plesaure

Performance For Highe rFacutlies

• that are going to have experienced higher plseasres are going to strangley prefer
• if you wer to be satisfied versus of intelligence the fool of no humans can be ever be a lower to the lower access

Dignity in Happyness

• the reasons of the willingness of lowere levels can be the price in libirtyy and power

Happiness can be an concrete Whole

• The nature of desire can be serving the other way around with happiness it self, but because the unhappeness of the actual pursuit and pain.
• As a reward due to the awarenesss of pain the utility has the desired effect.

The proof of teh principe of utility.

• if human natuire desies nothing beyond the happiness of the others, if becomes more of observation .

Happiness versus Contenment

• The superior being may sacrific her happines to do what they think wisest and it will pay off one day.