General Education: Ethics PDF

General Education: Ethics Ethics – system of moral principles and a branch of philosophy which define what is good for individuals and society - Rules or principles that define right and wrong conduct; the moral philosophy A. Covers the following dilemmas 1. How to live a good lif...

General Education: Ethics Ethics – system of moral principles and a branch of philosophy which define what is good for individuals and society - Rules or principles that define right and wrong conduct; the moral philosophy A. Covers the following dilemmas 1. How to live a good life 2. Our rights and responsibilities 3. The language of right and wrong 4. Moral decisions - what is good and bad? B. Approaches to Ethics 1. metaethics – deals with the nature of moral judgment; emphasizes the purpose or meaning of ethics 2. Normative ethics – the content of moral judgments; the criteria of what is right or wrong 3. Applied ethics – the controversial topics like war, animal rights, and capital punishment C. Uses of Ethics 1. Needs to provide conclusions – provides good tools from thinking moral issues 2. Can provide a moral map – offers ethical rules and principles to take a cooler view of moral problems 3. Can pinpoint a disagreement 4. Doesn’t give right answers – just a set of principles that can be applied to particular cases to give those involved some particular choices 5. Can give several answers D. Ethics and people 1. About the other – concerned with other people’s interest, interests of society, God’s interests, with “ultimate goods” 2. As source of group strength – use morality as justification for attracting those who practice certain activity 3. Good people as well as good actions – also about the goodness of individuals and what it means to live a good life a. virtue ethics – the moral character of human beings (virtue = habit) 4. Searching for the source of right and wrong a. past thinkers – ethical problems could be solved in 2 ways: 1.) by discovering what God wanted people to do, 2.) by thinking about moral principles and problems b. modern thinkers – that ethics leads people not to conclusions but to “decisions” E. Four ethical “isms” 1. Moral realism – based on the idea that there are real objective moral facts or truths. e.g. It is wrong to murder. 2. Subjectivism – based on nothings more than statements of a speaker’s feelings or attitudes; do not contain factual truths. e.g. I disapprove of murder. 3. Emotivism – based on moral claims that are no more than expressions of approval or disapproval; doesn’t provide information about the speaker’s feelings e.g. Down with murder. 4. Prescriptivism / Recommendations – based on the ethical statements that are instructions or recommendations e.g. Don’t murder people. F. Where does Ethics come from? 1. Supernaturalism (God-based ethics) – teaches that the only source of moral rule is God. a. Christianity – teaches that external salvation of the good was achieved by the sacrificial death of a universal savior b. Islam – teaches entry intro paradise after death through submission to God  c. Hinduism – teaches liberation from endless cycle of reincarnation through enlightenment d. Buddhism – teaches attaining the final goal of nirvana on bliss through right knowledge, aspiration, livelihood and mindfulness e. Taoism – teaches attainment of bliss by being in harmony with nature and the ground of being f. Confucianism – teaches the way to social order and happiness through righteousness and cultural propriety 2. Intuitionism – more on moral “aha” moment, a realization of the truth 3. Consequentialism / Utilitarianism – proponents: Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill; teaches that people should do whatever produces the greatest amount of good; “the greatest good for the greatest number of people” a. Rule Utilitarianism – considers the consequences that results of following a rule of conduct b. Act Utilitarianism – considers only the results or consequences of the single act 4. Non-consequentialism / Deontology – the intention of an action not with the consequences; “the principle of thing” 5. Virtue Ethics – the way individuals live their lives, and less concerned in assessing particular actions 6. Situation Ethics – argues that individual ethical decisions should be made according to the unique situation G. Ethics and Ideology 1. Aristotle – principle of moderation, everything is harmful in excess or deficiency; the being or existence as universal good 2. Values – the good directly mean acquisition and desire a. Plato – the good is “supreme principle of the good” b. Aristotle – the good is “being or existence” c. Existentialist – the good is “living experience” c.1. Relative- good dependent on time, place and varied cultures of people c.2. Objective – good have absolute character independent of human judgment such as ideal values of beauty, truth, justice, and etc. c.3. Bipolar – good have the accompanying counter-values or opposite, e.g. good vs. evil c.4. Hierarchical 3. History – the good for individuals and society a. Reformation – religious movement marked ultimately by rejection or modification of some Roman Catholic doctrine b. Revolution – a forcible overthrow of government or social order, in favor; a new system c. Involution – transformation or operator that is equal to its inverse which gives identity when applied to itself d. Religious Evolution – to enhance survival chance under existential pressure e. Devolution – the transfer of power to a lower land especially by central government to local or regional administration H. Universal Moral Rules 1. Moral absolutism – that there are such universal rules that apply to everyone a. Human Act – sets governed by the will and thus performed intentionally and willingly; e.g. the Declaration of Human Rights b. Act of Man – “primo-primi” acts of quick reflexes; automatic reaction and unintentional; e.g. breathing; surprise reaction 2. Moral Relativism – different moral values from different cultures or different periods of history a. Non-Material Culture – includes ideas, beliefs, social roles, rules, ethics, and attitudes of society; e.g. words, etiquette, rituals b. Material Culture – manifested by the physical objects and architecture of society; e.g. Banawi Rice Terraces 3. Moral somewhere-in-between-ism - most non-philosophers think that both of the above theories have some good points and think that there are a few absolute ethical rules, but a lot of ethical rules depend on the culture. Prepared by LMC :D