Introduction to Ethics

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Introduction to Ethics

• Theories of right and wrong

Dan Turton Victoria University of Wellington
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Teaser Questions

• Do you generally know (morally) right from wrong?
• When you disagree with people about a moral issue
  what are you really disagreeing about?
• Are you ever unsure if an act is morally wrong or
  not?

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Morality vs. Ethics

• What is the difference?
• Some important questions related to ethics
• Why do we think certain acts are right/wrong?
• Why be moral?
• What makes an action morally right or wrong?

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The Key Question for Moral Theories

• Q1 What makes right acts right and wrong acts
  wrong?
• (A theorys answer its moral criterion)
• Terminology
• Wrong Morally Forbidden
• Right Narrow Morally Obligatory
• Wide Morally Permissible
• (includes should do and can do)

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Example Pushing In

• Is pushing in generally wrong?
• What makes pushing in wrong?
• Is pushing in ever morally permissible?
• What can make it (morally) OK?

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Moral Theories

• Not-so-good moral theories
• Better moral theories

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Divine Command Theory

• Right acts are right because
• They are the actions that God commands we perform
• Problem The Euthyphro Dilemma

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The Euthyphro Dilemma

• Either
• (1) The act is right only because God commanded
  that we do it
• Or
• (2) God commanded that we do it because the act
  is right for independent reasons
• (1) morality and Gods commands are arbitrary
• (2) abandon Divine Command Theory

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The Law

• Wrong acts are wrong because
• They break the law
• Problem Do we always feel like we have done
  something morally wrong when we break the law?

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Cultural Relativism

• Right acts are right because
• your culture approves of them
• Four Problems
• Cant criticize other cultures
• Cant criticize your own culture
• No moral progress
• Its just not how we decide in the hard cases

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The Golden Rule

• Right acts are right because
• they are the ones you would want done to you
• Problems
• People like different things (e.g. Masochists)
• Is it how we decide in the hard cases?

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Utilitarianism

• Type of consequentialism
• What makes right acts right?
• The right act is the one that, out of all of the
  alternatives, is most likely to maximize the
  overall utility
• Utility is
• happiness / the absence of suffering, or
• preference-satisfaction / not dissatisfaction

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An Example Euthanasia

• Assess the options
• 1) Leave them in pain
• 2) Help them to die
• 1 results in less net happiness than 2
• Therefore, Utilitarianism asserts that 2 is the
  right choice

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Kantianism

• Type of deontological view
• What makes right acts right?
• An act is right if its maxim treats humanity as
  an end in itself and not merely as a means
• Maxims are
• Like policies
• What you intend to do in certain situations

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An Example Slavery

• Assess the options
• 1) Endorse slavery
• 2) Repeal slavery
• 1 results in rational beings being used as a mere
  means to the slave-owners ends
• Therefore, kantianism asserts that 2 is the right
  choice

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Break

• Think about the better theories
• Can you see problems with them?

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Problems with the Better Theories

• What do you think?

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The Tram Dilemma

• An out of control tram will soon kill 5 people
  who are stuck on the track.
• You can flick a switch to divert the tram to
  another track where only one person is stuck.
• Should you flip the switch?
• Should you kill one person to save five?

SWITCH
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The Surgeons Dilemma

• You are a surgeon with six patients.
• Five of them need major organ transplants.
• The sixth, an ideal donor for all the relevant
  organs, is in hospital for a minor operation.
• Should you kill one person to save five?

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Jungle Dilemma

• You are trekking alone in the Amazon.
• You discover an evil army officer and his troops
  rounding up villagers.
• Unless you kill one, the troops will kill six.
• Should you kill one person to save five?

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Jungle Dilemma Cont.

• What if there are 2 villagers?
• What if there are 10 villagers?
• What if there are 100 villagers?
• Can you ever kill one innocent person to save
  many?

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Summing Up

• At least two moral theories seem plausible
• But they disagree sometimes
• So, they cant both be right all of the time!
• Is there a right and wrong in such situations?

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Summing Up Cont.

• Are some acts just right or wrong (without
  explanation)?
• What about killing innocent children?
• Innuits do it (for a reason)
• What about torturing innocents?
• The US does this (for a reason)

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The Meaning of Life and the Good Life
Dan Turton Victoria University of Wellington
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Teaser Questions

• Why are we here?
• What makes life worth living?
• What is the meaning of life?

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Clarifying the Question

• What do we really mean when we ask
• What is the meaning of life?
• Probably not
• What does it mean to be alive?
• Probably
• What, if anything, is the purpose for life?
• And possibly
• What, if anything, could make a life meaningful?

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Purposes for Life

• What, if anything, is the purpose for life?
• Religious purposes
• Non-religious purposes
• Survival and reproduction
• Selfish purposes
• Moral purposes
• There is no purpose

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Meaning in Life

• What, if anything, could make a life
  meaningful?
• Supernaturalism
• Naturalism
• Subjective Naturalism
• Objective Naturalism
• Nihilism

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Meaning vs. Goodness

• What, if anything, could make a life
  meaningful?
• But is that the most interesting question?
• Does a life have to be meaningful to be good?
• Would you rather your life be good or meaningful?

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The Good Life

• What, if anything, makes a life good?
• What kind of good life?
• A good example of a life
• Aesthetically good
• Causally good
• Morally good
• Subjectively good

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What Theories of Well-Being Do

• Describes the ultimate cause(s) of a life being
  good for the one living it
• Describes what intrinsically makes someones life
  go well
• Reduces all instrumentally life-improving things
  down to one or more type of ultimately valuable
  thing

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Break

• Think about well-being (the subjectively good
  life)
• What do you think makes a life good for the one
  living it?

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Theories of Well-Being

• Mental state accounts
• E.g. hedonism
• Desire-satisfaction accounts
• E.g. informed preference-satisfaction
• Objective list accounts
• E.g. perfectionism

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Making an Objective List

• What things intrinsically make a life go well for
  the one living it?
• Now check that those things are intrinsically
  valuable
• By asking why they make someones life go better
  for them
• What are we left with?

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Is Pleasure the Only Thing of Value?

• Compare the lives of two men
• Similarities
• Both lived long lives, in which they have
  experienced equal pleasures from the same sources
• Sources being loved by their family and friends,
  achieving at work and in hobbies etc.
• Differences
• One of them is mistaken about all of the things
  he takes pleasure in
• The other is not
• Whose life is better?

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Is Informed Preference-Satisfaction the Only
Thing of Value?

• Compare the lives of two very intelligent women
• Similarities
• Up to the age of 25, both women led practically
  identical lives
• Throughout their whole lives they always made
  fully informed decisions
• Both learned everything to know about Heroin
• Differences
• At age 25, one of them tried Heroin, became
  addicted and went on to live a short life of much
  suffering
• The other did not try Heroin and went on to live
  a normal life
• Whose life is better?

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Is Ideal Preference-Satisfaction the Only Thing
of Value?

• What makes a preference ideal?
• Unless we remain very abstract about what is
  ideal, then we appear to be making another
  objective list
• Is it important (for our well-being) to get what
  we want?

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Summing Up

• The meaning of life is easy to work out for
  religious people
• But non-religious people can still find meaning
  for their life by
• Making their own meaning in their life, or
• Having a good life

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Summing Up Cont.

• Understanding what is fundamentally important in
  our lives is important for ethics
• These intrinsically valuable things should be at
  least considered when doing ethics
• An moral theory that ignores what gives our lives
  meaning and/or makes them good will be a poor
  moral theory

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The Morality of Meddling with Human Life

• What should we want most for our children?
• What, if anything, is morally bad about
  un-natural processes?
• Is it more loving to accept a child exactly as
  they are or to encourage them to alter their
  lives for their own benefit?

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Meddling with Human Life

• Meddling interfering where we shouldnt
• Making human life
• Modifying human life

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Technologies for Making Life

• IVF In Vitro Fertilisation
• PGD Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis
• SCNT Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
• Artificial wombs

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Technologies for Modifying Life

• Beware the fallacy of Genetic Determinism!
• PGD
• Choosing (genetic dispositions for) specific
  characteristics
• IVF with GE (Genetic Engineering)
• Creating (genetic dispositions for) specific
  characteristics

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Should We be Using These Technologies to Enhance
Our Children?

• Isolating the important moral issue
• Imagine the technology is
• Safe,
• Effective,
• Widely accessible, and
• Cheap

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Should We be Using These Technologies to Enhance
Our Children? Cont.

• Types of enhancements or goods
• Relative goods
• Height
• Absolute goods
• Happiness, intelligence
• Note continuum
• Irrelevant goods
• Hair colour, eye colour
• (Maybe) Deafness, sexuality

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2 Reasons for Allowing Enhancement

• Procreative Liberty
• The freedom to decide whether or not to have
  offspring and to control the use of ones
  reproductive capacity.
• Moral analogy with educating our children
• Would you send your children to a school that
  guaranteed the best physical, intellectual and
  emotional education?

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Break

• Think about how you might object to all or
  certain types of enhancement
• To object to the moral analogy with education,
  you need to show that there is a morally relevant
  difference between enhancement by technology and
  enhancement by education

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Objections Against All Enhancement

• Wisdom of repugnance (Yuck!)
• Rights of the child (which one?)
• Rights of the child to object (not a difference
  e.g. with nutrition)
• Slippery slope to babies with wings
• Brave New World (who will clean the toilets?)
• All goods are relative (so enhancements dont
  improve things overall)
• Too much transforming love and not enough
  accepting love

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Objections Against Some Enhancements

• Ban enhancements of some types of goods
• Relative, Absolute, or Irrelevant goods
• Ban enhancements that decrease the autonomy of
  the child
• Deafness, GE for mathematics

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Some Practical Reasons Against Enhancement

• Can the technology ever really be
• Safe?,
• Effective?,
• Widely accessible?, and
• Cheap?

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Summing Up

• As technology progresses, we need to know if we
  should be doing some of the things that we can
  do, or soon will be able to do
• Can be hard to draw the line
• Moral analogies can be hard to argue with

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A Practical Guide to Ethical Living
Dan Turton Victoria University of Wellington
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Plan for Today

• Morality really up for grabs!
• 1) Why be moral?
• 2) Combine what we have learnt so far
• 3) Construct a prudential/moral grid
• 4) Fill it in

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Teaser Scenario

• Based on Platos Ring of Gygees
• You have a ring that means you
• Can do pretty much anything you please
• Never feel guilt
• Always get away with it
• Would you act morally or immorally?

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What Ought We Do?

• Two main types of ought or should
• Moral oughts
• You should be nice to your grandpa because that
  is the right/nice thing to do
• Prudential oughts
• You should not drink from that bottle it has
  petrol in it!

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Definitions (for today)

• Immoral actions
• Decrease the well-being of others unnecessarily
  (without some compensating benefit)
• Moral actions
• Increase the well-being of others
• Amoral actions
• Do not affect the well-being of others

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Reasons for Acting Immorally

• Prudential reasons
• Feeling good/pleasure
• Fulfilling your desires

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Reasons for Acting Morally

• Altruistic reasons
• Because it is good for others
• Prudential reasons
• Respect and/or friendship of others
• Feeling good/pleasure
• Fulfilling your desires
• Fear of going to hell
• Duty

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Prudential Acts

• Prudential acts increase the well-being of the
  actor
• Anti-prudential acts decrease the well-being of
  the actor
• Some acts are prudentially neutral
• E.g. spending 5 for an average ice-cream when
  you are already full

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Prudential vs. Moral Acts

• All actions can be prudentially and morally
  classified or rated if we have a good enough
  definition of
• Well-being (for prudential acts) and
• Morality (for moral acts)
• Some think objective well-being is enough here

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Prudential vs. Moral Acts

• We can also make a grid
• Useful for a practical guide to ethical living
• Being moral can be over-demanding

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More Definitions (for today)

• Rationality, or acting rationally
• Acting in such a way as to bring about your goal
  in a logical manner, considering the information
  available to you

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Discuss Grid

• How Well-being/morality fits in
• Why the subjective/objective distinction is
  important
• Why some actions might be irrational

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Discuss Grid (Cont.)

• Public goods problem
• Why should we be the ones to sacrifice, while
  others benefit?
• E.g. Public transport

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Break

• Think about how you interpret the grid
• What well-being means to you
• Where you might be on the grid
• Think about actions that are both prudential and
  moral (ideal) that some other people might not be
  aware of

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Filling in the grid

• Come up with an idea
• Evaluate costs and benefits to yourself and
  others
• Is it the most rational option?

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Example Light Bulbs

• Kit out your home with Eco-bulbs
• Costs/benefits to you
• Cost 30-50
• Saving approx 200 per year (big home)
• May be cheaper to replace old-style bulbs before
  they expire
• Costs/benefits to others
• Environmental benefits
• Other options
• Candles
• Carrots

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Your Turn

• Come up with an idea
• Evaluate costs and benefits to yourself and
  others
• Is it the most rational option?

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Some Ideal Examples

• Environmental
• Kettle water rationing
• Water garden in evening
• Use biodegradable soaps etc
• Recycling (1 can 3 hours of TV)
• Buying secondhand
• Brew your own beer
• Compost (50 of household waste)

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More Ideal Examples

• Charity street collectors
• 2 to make yourself and others happy
• Spending quality time
• With loved ones
• The power of honest compliments
• Start your own compliment chains
• Offering to help others
• Go about it in the right way
• Dont be embarrassed

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Some Moral Examples

• Donating money and/or getting involved with one
  charity
• Helps you see the difference you are making
• You dont have to feel bad when you dont give
• Car pooling
• www.carpoolnz.org
• The risk makes it hard to know the cost benefit
  to you
• Reporting things to council
• Vaccines
• Conscious consumption
• Depends on the cost but its worth trying!

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How to Make the Most of Moral Acts

• Acknowledge that you have done a good thing to
  yourself
• Consciously consider the benefits to others and
  yourself at every opportunity
• Dont let others take advantage of your charity
• Find like-minded people who appreciate the effort
  you are doing for others
• Experiment find the moral acts that make you
  feel best!
• Be careful not to sacrifice too much of yourself
  for others and burnout you will help more in
  the end if you never give more than you can

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Summing Up

• To live prudentially and/or morally we need to
  have some idea of
• What a good life is
• What makes acts morally right or wrong
• To live ideally we need our beliefs about these
  two things to be true

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Summing Up (Cont.)

• Once we have settled these problems we can easily
  work on deciding what we should do (prudentially
  and/or morally)