📖Philosophical Texts Unit 10 – Ethics and Moral Philosophy

Key Concepts and Terminology

• Ethics involves the study of moral principles, values, and standards that guide human behavior and decision-making
• Morality refers to the set of beliefs, principles, and practices that distinguish right from wrong and good from bad
• Deontology emphasizes the inherent rightness or wrongness of actions based on moral rules or duties (Kantian ethics)
• Consequentialism judges the morality of an action based on its outcomes or consequences (utilitarianism)
  • Utilitarianism seeks to maximize overall happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people
• Virtue ethics focuses on the moral character of the agent rather than the rightness or wrongness of specific actions
• Moral relativism holds that moral judgments are relative to individual or cultural beliefs and practices
• Moral absolutism maintains that there are universal, objective moral truths that apply to all people regardless of context
• Ethical egoism asserts that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest

Historical Context and Major Thinkers

• Ancient Greek philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) laid the foundations for Western moral philosophy
  • Socrates emphasized the importance of questioning societal norms and engaging in moral reasoning
  • Plato's theory of forms and the ideal of the philosopher-king influenced later ethical thought
  • Aristotle's virtue ethics focused on cultivating moral character through practical wisdom and moderation
• Medieval Christian thinkers (Augustine, Aquinas) synthesized classical philosophy with religious doctrine
• Enlightenment philosophers (Hume, Kant, Mill) developed systematic ethical theories based on reason and empiricism
  • David Hume's moral sentimentalism grounded ethics in human emotions and social utility
  • Immanuel Kant's deontological ethics emphasized the categorical imperative and respect for persons
  • John Stuart Mill's utilitarianism sought to maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering
• 20th-century philosophers (Rawls, MacIntyre, Nussbaum) engaged with contemporary moral issues and critiqued traditional theories
  • John Rawls' theory of justice as fairness aimed to establish principles for a just society
  • Alasdair MacIntyre's virtue ethics revived Aristotelian ideas in response to modern moral fragmentation
  • Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach emphasized human flourishing and social justice

Ethical Theories and Frameworks

• Normative ethics involves prescriptive theories about how one ought to act and what constitutes moral behavior
• Deontological theories focus on the intrinsic rightness or wrongness of actions based on moral rules or duties
  • Kant's categorical imperative states that one should act only according to maxims that could become universal laws
  • The principle of double effect distinguishes between intended and foreseen consequences of an action
• Consequentialist theories judge the morality of an action based on its outcomes or consequences
  • Act utilitarianism evaluates the morality of each individual action based on its utility (happiness or well-being produced)
  • Rule utilitarianism holds that the morally right action is the one that conforms to rules that maximize overall utility
• Virtue ethics emphasizes the importance of moral character and the cultivation of virtues (courage, temperance, justice, wisdom)
• Care ethics focuses on the interdependence of human relationships and the moral salience of attending to others' needs
• Feminist ethics critiques traditional male-dominated moral theories and highlights the experiences of women and marginalized groups

Moral Dilemmas and Case Studies

• The trolley problem presents a classic thought experiment in which one must choose between two morally fraught options
  • A runaway trolley is about to kill five people on the track ahead, but you can divert it to a side track where it will kill only one person
  • Variations of the trolley problem test our intuitions about the doctrine of double effect and the distinction between killing and letting die
• The violinist analogy, proposed by Judith Jarvis Thomson, challenges the idea that abortion is always morally impermissible
  • It asks us to imagine being involuntarily connected to a famous violinist for nine months in order to save their life
  • The analogy suggests that the right to bodily autonomy may sometimes outweigh the duty to preserve life
• The organ transplant scenario raises questions about the ethics of sacrificing one innocent person to save multiple lives
• The Heinz dilemma, used in Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, presents a conflict between obeying the law and saving a life
• The prisoner's dilemma illustrates the tension between individual and collective rationality in decision-making

Arguments and Counter-Arguments

• The argument from marginal cases challenges the consistency of our moral consideration of humans and animals
  • If we grant moral status to humans with limited cognitive capacities, we should extend similar consideration to animals with comparable capacities
  • Critics argue that there are morally relevant differences between humans and animals that justify differential treatment
• The non-identity problem suggests that we cannot harm future people by creating them with a low quality of life, since they would not have existed otherwise
  • This challenges the idea that we have moral obligations to future generations and raises questions about the ethics of reproduction
  • Responses to the non-identity problem appeal to impersonal or threshold conceptions of harm and the value of human existence
• The demandingness objection claims that consequentialist theories (utilitarianism) are too demanding and fail to respect the separateness of persons
  • If we are always required to maximize overall utility, this may lead to extreme self-sacrifice and the neglect of personal projects and relationships
  • Consequentialists may bite the bullet and accept demandingness, or propose satisficing or hybrid theories that incorporate agent-relative permissions
• The is-ought problem, raised by David Hume, challenges the logical derivation of prescriptive (ought) statements from purely descriptive (is) premises
  • This questions the foundations of moral realism and the possibility of deriving moral truths from empirical facts about the world
  • Responses to the is-ought problem may appeal to bridging principles, the practical necessity of moral norms, or non-cognitivist metaethical theories

Real-World Applications

• Biomedical ethics addresses moral issues in healthcare, such as informed consent, euthanasia, and the allocation of scarce medical resources
  • The four principles of biomedical ethics (autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice) provide a framework for navigating complex medical decisions
  • The COVID-19 pandemic raised pressing questions about the ethics of lockdowns, vaccine distribution, and the balance of individual liberty and public health
• Business ethics examines the moral dimensions of commercial activity, including corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory, and ethical consumerism
• Environmental ethics considers the moral status of non-human animals, ecosystems, and future generations in light of climate change and mass extinction
  • The land ethic, proposed by Aldo Leopold, calls for a holistic, ecological approach to moral consideration that includes the biotic community as a whole
  • The precautionary principle suggests that we have a duty to prevent harm when it is within our power to do so, even when some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established
• The ethics of war and peace addresses issues such as just war theory, pacifism, and the moral permissibility of military intervention
  • The doctrine of double effect is often invoked to justify collateral damage in war, while the principle of discrimination prohibits the intentional targeting of civilians
  • The ethics of emerging military technologies, such as autonomous weapons systems and cyberwarfare, pose new challenges for traditional just war theory

Contemporary Debates

• The effective altruism movement applies consequentialist reasoning to charitable giving and career choice, emphasizing the importance of doing the most good possible
  • Effective altruists use evidence and reason to identify the most cost-effective ways to improve lives and reduce suffering on a global scale
  • Critics argue that effective altruism neglects the intrinsic value of personal relationships and local community engagement
• The debate over moral enhancement considers whether we should use biotechnology to improve moral decision-making and behavior
  • Proponents argue that moral enhancement could help us overcome cognitive biases and reduce moral atrocities
  • Opponents worry that moral enhancement would undermine autonomy, authenticity, and the meaning of moral choice
• The ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) examines the moral implications of developing and deploying AI systems
  • The value alignment problem highlights the challenge of ensuring that AI systems pursue goals that are consistent with human values
  • The question of moral agency and responsibility arises when considering the potential for autonomous AI systems to make moral decisions
• The expanding circle of moral consideration traces the historical trend of extending moral status to an ever-wider range of beings
  • This raises questions about the moral status of non-human animals, potential extraterrestrial intelligence, and future digital minds
  • The long-termism perspective emphasizes the importance of shaping the far future and the vast potential for positive or negative outcomes

Further Reading and Resources

• "Utilitarianism" by John Stuart Mill provides a classic defense of the theory and responds to common objections
• "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" by Immanuel Kant lays out the foundations of deontological ethics and the categorical imperative
• "After Virtue" by Alasdair MacIntyre offers a influential critique of modern moral philosophy and a revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics
• "The Metaphysics of Morals" by Immanuel Kant further develops his ethical theory and its applications to law, politics, and virtue
• "The Methods of Ethics" by Henry Sidgwick provides a comprehensive and systematic examination of classical utilitarianism
• "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls presents a influential social contract theory of justice as fairness and the veil of ignorance thought experiment
• "The Sources of Normativity" by Christine Korsgaard defends a Kantian approach to moral obligation and practical identity
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/) offers in-depth, peer-reviewed articles on a wide range of topics in moral philosophy