Understanding Ethics, Morality, and Philosophical Concepts

Posted on Jan 22, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Ethics: Definition and Core Principles

Etymology: From the Greek ethos, which refers to a person’s character and the various aspects of decision-making and responsibility.

  • Branch of philosophy that determines the concept of good/evil within a specific cultural context to improve practical existence. It is not a branch of theoretical philosophy but a practical one, dealing with human “praxis.”
  • Analysis of the moral life of man. It teaches how to live well, focusing on preferences.
  • What justifies our actions, choices, and behavior? What underlies our morality?

Ethics, or moral philosophy, examines situations of human life, justifies the options and choices of man, forges character, and provides guidelines for living.

Kant’s Categorical Imperative

Informs about not just what to do, but how we should act. There are three formulations:

  1. Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
  2. Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.
  3. Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in the universal kingdom of ends.

In the screenplay of the movie Casablanca, an adventurer with a dubious moral past opts for a showdown marked by a prospect of duty, apart from revenge or his feelings.

Metaphysics: Understanding the Nature of Reality

Metaphysics is the most complex branch of philosophy that addresses three fundamental problems:

  1. The Soul, as a source of knowledge about reality, i.e., how we know.
  2. The World, as it actually interacts with the subject, i.e., what we know.
  3. God, as the supreme being where the characteristics of perfection, eternity, infinity, and kindness are joined.

Etymology: The word metaphysics comes from the Greek meta, meaning “beyond,” and physis, meaning “nature.” This arguably indicates that it deals with issues not related to the physical world grasped by the senses.

The Cartesian Method: A Path to Certainty

Intention: After reaching absolute truth, Descartes proposes a method to solve all problems.

Features: The method is based on logic, geometry, and arithmetic, making it methodical.

Steps:

  1. Observation: Do not admit anything that is unclear or different to the senses and reason, i.e., to know for sure what problem we face.
  2. Analysis: Go from the complex to the simple to understand its internal structure and dynamism.
  3. Synthesis: Once we have reduced the problem to simple parts, recreate the complexity, i.e., go from simple to complex.
  4. Review: Review and list the elements that have been involved in the research and the solutions we have provided; draw a conclusion.

Schools of Thought

  • Rationalism: Reason is considered the cornerstone of knowledge.
  • Empiricism: The senses are considered the key elements of knowledge.
  • Apriorism: A mixture of rationalism and empiricism; the senses are as necessary as reason.

Moral Concepts

  • Amoral: Refers to a product that lacks moral differentiation.
  • Immoral: Without the moral code appropriate to the social environment, the danger is perceived as immoral.
  • Determinism: The belief that ethical concepts of good and evil are prefixed and unappealable.
  • Nihilism: A tendency to ignore morality and intentionally act against established moral judgment. Nihil is Latin for “nothing.”
  • Eudaemonism: Acting for moral good and putting it into practice. From the Greek eu (good) + daimon (soul).
  • Utilitarianism: The ethical position that identifies good with what is useful. If it serves a good purpose, it is good; if it does not, it is bad. Utilitarianism is sometimes relativistic.
  • Hedonism: The moral position that pursues physical pleasure at all costs and despises obligation, effort, and pain (Epicurus).

Criteria for Formulating Moral Rules

Two perspectives:

  1. Heteronomous Morality: Originates outside the individual, in society.
  2. Autonomous Morality: Originates within the individual.