ETHICS

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ETHICS

• Debatable and Non-debatable Value Judgements
• Non-Debatable are those based on personal taste.
• Debatable are those that lend themselves to
  rational analysis and empirical investigation.

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NON-DEBATABLE

• Scarlet Johannson is the most beautiful woman in
  the world.
• N.W.A. is the best rap group ever!!
• Wild Cherry Pepsi is the best soda.

3
DEBATABLE

• ANIMAL TESTING
• ABORTION
• DEATH PENALTY

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Ethical Dilemma

• A western frontier settlement in the 1800s was
  raided by Indians. Several members of the village
  hid as the Indians slaughtered other villagers,
  one woman held a small baby in her arms. As the
  Indians drew closer, she smothered the baby
  rather than risk giving away their hiding place
  and ensuring death for all. The hidden group
  survived.

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Who is to Make Ethical Decisions?

• Authoritarian Ethics
• Decisions about right and wrong are given.
• Decisions have been made by an authority or
  society or a deity.

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Autonomous Ethics

• The individual is self-determined his actions
  are manifestations of his own decisions.
• Autonomous ethics arise from inside oneself.
• These ethics are largely the product of ones own
  experiences.

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Jean Paul Sartre

• All ethical decisions are autonomous.
• There are no authoritarian ethics.
• Although we may adhere to given customs and
  codes(parents, peers, society, church) each of us
  still decides which codes we will use in
  resolving our problems.
• We can never escape personal responsibility for
  the ethical decisions that we make.

8
Immanuel Kant

• Universal moral laws do exist, but they are not
  to be found within the structure of the human
  mind.
• Moral rules of thought are a priori, and
  therefore universal. (22 4)
• Ethical rules must not be sought out in human
  nature or in the circumstances of the world but
  must be sought out simply in the concepts of
  reason.

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Kants Categorical Imperative

• Act only on the maxim whereby thou canst at the
  same time will it should become a universal law.
• If any kind of action can be universalized, then
  it is ethical.
• Can I universalize lying? No.
• Human interaction would be rendered chaotic if we
  couldnt depend on one another. Therefore,
  telling the truth is a categorical imperative.

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RELATIVISM

• There are numerous systems of customs and codes
  to be found in various societies.
• Protagoras said that what is right for a society
  is what works for that society, and what ever
  works is therefore right.
• Notions of right and wrong are therefore relative
  to a particular society.
• If you spend time in another society, you are
  morally obligated to obey the vital customs and
  codes of that society.

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RELATIVISM (part II)

• What is right in one place or time may be wrong
  in another place or time.
• Example Infanticide was acceptable in Caesars
  time but not in 2006 Rome.
• Example Polygamy is acceptable in Cairo but not
  Tel Aviv.
• Example A man may share his wife(his property)
  with an overnight guest in an Eskimo igloo but
  not in Stillwater.

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CONTEXTUALISM

• There are no rules that one can memorize ahead of
  time and apply meaningfully to a particular
  situation.
• Contextualists agree that societies do have
  customs and codes, but that does not mean that
  they are ethically right.
• Relevant criteria for making a meaningful ethical
  decision can be found only within the context of
  each ethical problem.

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CONTEXTUALISM (part II)

• Every ethical situation is in fact unique, and a
  truly ethical solution to a problem can be
  arrived at only when all of the factors of the
  unique situation can be weighed by those involved
  in the problem.
• Each individual makes the best possible decision
  using the best knowledge he possesses at the time
  of the decision.
• A meaningful ethical judgment can be made only
  after the situation exists, not before.

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CONTEXTUALISM (part III)

• The guideline for making all ethical decisions is
  ones concern for the well being of others.
• Moral predicaments constantly make it necessary
  for us to kill, steal, lie or whatever, to be
  moral.
• Actual-life situations continually force us into
  predicaments in which only various degrees of
  bad-consequence alternatives are open to choice.
• We may have to kill to save ourselves or innocent
  victims.

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UTILITARIANISM

• John Stuart Mill Any action that increases
  pleasure or happiness and reduces pain for the
  society as a whole is to be considered moral.
• The right thing to do is the action that provides
  the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest
  number of people.
• Example Sentencing a convicted rapist to death
  is moral if more people benefit than are harmed.
• Example Murder and Stealing are both acceptable
  if it benefits more people than it harms.

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NATURAL LAW

• An act is moral if it is true in nature.
• Something is right if it fulfills its true
  purposes, wrong if it goes against these
  purposes.
• Example Abortion would be wrong because it does
  not naturally occur in nature.