A Comprehensive Guide to Ethical Theories: From Relativism to Deontology
Chapter 1: Ethics and Ethical Reasoning
Key Concepts
Normative Claim: In philosophy, normative statements affirm how things should or ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, and which actions are right or wrong.
Aesthetics: The branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty.
Argument: In logic and philosophy, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something by giving reasons or evidence for accepting a particular conclusion.
Conclusion: A conclusion is what someone decides to believe after seeing or hearing something or after accepting a statement.
Premise: A premise is a statement that an argument claims will induce or justify a conclusion. In other words, a premise is an assumption that something is true.
Unstated Premise: An unstated premise is a premise in an argument that needs to be added for the premise to support the conclusion. It is always instructive to try to state all the premises necessary to support one’s conclusion.
Valid Argument: We call an argument deductively valid (or, for short, just “valid”) when the conclusion is entailed by, or logically follows from, the premises.
Sound Argument: A sound argument is one that appeals to logic rather than emotion and is backed up by verifiable facts and expert opinions. The best way to formulate a sound argument is to conduct extensive research on the topic.
Branches of Ethics
Normative Ethics: This branch of philosophical ethics investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts.
Descriptive Ethics: Also known as comparative ethics, this is the study of people’s beliefs about morality. It contrasts with prescriptive or normative ethics, which is the study of ethical theories that prescribe how people ought to act, and with meta-ethics, which is the study of what ethical terms and theories actually refer to.
Factual Claim: Asserts that a condition has, does, or will exist.
Chapter 2: Ethical Relativism
Ethical Relativism: This theory posits that there are no universally accepted ethical standards, no objective standards of right/wrong. Morality is relative to cultures/individuals.
Types of Ethical Relativism
Individual or Personal Ethical Relativism (Subjectivism): Ethical beliefs are equal to the moral outlook of the individual. No person’s moral views are better than another’s. There is no correct/incorrect.
Social or Cultural Ethical Relativism: Ethical values vary based on society; social norms determine what is right. No society’s views are better than those of a different society. We cannot judge from an external perspective.
Related Concepts
Moral Realism: This view aligns with science/nature (realism). Realism posits that there is a reality independent of people who know it.
Dependency Thesis: Morality is not a matter of independent rational judgment but is causally dependent on cultural context.
Skepticism: Generally, any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere. Philosophical skepticism is an overall approach that requires all information to be well-supported by evidence.
Moral Realism: The meta-ethical view that claims:
- Ethical sentences express propositions.
- Some such propositions are true.
- Those propositions are made true by objective features of the world, independent of subjective opinion.
Chapter 4: Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism: A theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes overall happiness.
Consequentialism: The class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one’s conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct.
Utility: What appears to “augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question.”
Happiness/Pleasure: The paradox of hedonism, also called the pleasure paradox, is the idea in the study of ethics that points out that pleasure and happiness are strange phenomena that do not obey normal principles.
Key Figures
J.S. Mill (1806-1873): A British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. He was an influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Mill’s famous formulation of utilitarianism is known as the “greatest-happiness principle.”
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832): A student of law, he wrote “Introduction to the Principles of Moral Legislation” (1789). He believed there are no two sets of morality.
Utilitarian Principles
Greatest Happiness Principle: What is right is what causes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.
Hedonic Calculus: Bentham’s method of estimating pleasures and pains can be applied to egoistic hedonism. With the addition of the utilitarian factor “extent” of pleasure, the hedonism can be extended to any number of persons.
Higher and Lower Pleasures: A pleasure is of higher quality if people would choose it over a different pleasure even if it is accompanied by discomfort and if they would not trade it for a greater amount of the other pleasure. Moreover, Mill contends, it is an “unquestionable fact” that, given equal access to all kinds of pleasures, people will prefer those that appeal to their “higher” faculties. A person will not choose to become an animal, an educated person will not choose to become ignorant, and so on. Even though a person who uses higher faculties often suffers more in life (hence the common dictum “ignorance is bliss”), he would never choose a lower existence, preferring instead to maintain his dignity.
Intensity: Philosophic value is the degree to which it is generated or carried out and may be regarded as the prevalence of the good, the object having the value.
Duration: A theory of time and consciousness posited by the French philosopher Henri Bergson.
Likelihood (Certainty): Captures the idea that something is likely to happen or to have happened.
Fruitfulness (Fecundity): Intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree (e.g., a fecund imagination), fruitful in offspring or vegetation.
Types of Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism: States that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions in that particular case and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate the most overall happiness.
Rule Utilitarianism: States that, when faced with a choice, we must look at potential rules of action to determine whether the generalized rule produces more happiness than otherwise if it were to be constantly followed. Thus, an action should only be carried out if it follows a rule that morally should be followed at all times.
Types of Good
Intrinsic Good: Something worthwhile not because it leads to something else, but for its own sake alone; i.e., Good-in-itself.
Instrumental Good: Something considered as a means to some other good; i.e., an instrumental good leads to something else that is good.
Chapter 5: Kant’s Moral Theory
Deontology: The normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules. Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted to consequentialism. Deontological ethics is also contrasted to pragmatic ethics.
Duty: Influenced by Pufendorf, Kant agreed that we have moral duties to oneself and others, such as developing one’s talents and keeping our promises to others. However, Kant argued that there is a more foundational principle of duty that encompasses our particular duties.
Good Will: The right motive is “to do the right thing”, “to do one’s duty”, “to respect the moral law.” A rational being who consistently has the right motive has what Kant calls a Good Will. Nothing is more important for morality than having a good will.
Hypothetical Imperative: In the ethical system of Immanuel Kant, a moral command that is conditional on personal motive or desire.
Categorical Imperative: In the ethical system of Immanuel Kant, an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent of any personal motive or desire.
Imperfect Duty: Kant also calls these “laxer (meritorious)” duties. These are duties, such as the duty to help people in need, which do admit of exceptions. They are still duties, but you have some choice about how to fulfill them.
Formula of Humanity: This formulation states that we should never act in such a way that we treat Humanity, whether in ourselves or in others, as a means only but always as an end in itself.
Formula of Universal Law: Kant’s first formulation of the CI states that you are to “act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.”
Universalizable: An act is universalizable if it is able to be applied to all people at all times.
Ends-in-Themselves: “Means to an end” basically means you use other people as stepping stones to get to your goal. You don’t care about them; you care only about achieving your own goal. “Ends in themselves” means you treat people as what they are, people, with feelings and such.
Mere Means: The Mere Means Principle attempts to give us some parameters on when it’s okay to use people and when it’s not. We all intuitively get that there are some occasions in which we’re using people, and there’s no problem or tension to it, as in the way that we might use our spouses or friends to cook a meal. There are other cases, though, in which it’s not okay to use people.
Maxim: A ground rule or subjective principle of action; in that sense, a maxim is a thought that can motivate individuals.
Perfect Duty: Kant also calls these “strict or rigorous (inflexible)” duties. These are duties, such as the duty not to commit suicide and the duty not to make a lying promise, which admit of no exceptions.
Inclination: To do something because it makes you feel good or because you hope to gain something from it.
Self-Interest: A philosophy in ethics that states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their own self-interest.
Will: A will is good if it acts from duty (other moral motives) and not just from conformity with duty.
Chapter 7: Morality and Human Nature
Natural Law Theory: A philosophical and legal belief that all humans are governed by basic innate laws, or laws of nature, which are separate and distinct from laws that are legislated.
Natural Law: Or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis), is a system of law that is purportedly determined by nature and thus universal.
Human Function: Each body part of the human has a function, so the whole human must likewise have a function.
Eudaimonia: Happiness, self-realization, self-actualization, blessedness, prosperity.
Wisdom: A deep understanding and realization of people, things, events, or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments, and actions in keeping with this understanding.
Rationality: In philosophy, rationality is the characteristic of any action, belief, or desire that makes their choice a necessity. It is a normative concept of reasoning in the sense that rational people should derive conclusions consistently, given the information at their disposal.
Human Nature: Refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, that humans tend to have naturally.
Key Figure
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC): A Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.