Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong

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Chapter Four Value and the Quest for the Good
What sort of things are valuable? Convenience
Machine example
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Intrinsic and Instrumental Value

• Intrinsic goods good because of their nature and
  are not derived from other goods
• Instrumental goods worthy of desire because they
  are effective means of attaining our intrinsic
  goods

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The Value of Pleasure
Hedonism The doctrine that holds that all
pleasure is good, that pleasure is the only
thing good in itself, and that all other
goodness is derived from this
value. Hedonism comes from the Greek word
hedon, which means pleasure.
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Hedonists Subdivide into Two Categories

• Sensualism the view that equates all pleasure
  with sensual enjoyment
• Satisfactionism the view that equates all
• pleasure with satisfaction or enjoyment,
• which may not involve sensuality.

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Nonhedonists
Are divided into two separate groups 1.
Monists Believe that there is a
single intrinsic value, but it is
not pleasure. 2. Pluralists Admit that
pleasure is an intrinsic good, but
that there are other intrinsic goods
as well.
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Are Values Objective or Subjective?
Objectivist View Values are worthy of desire
whether or not anyone actually desires them.
Values exist independently. Subjectivist View
Values are dependent on desirers and are relative
to desirers.
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Relation of Value to Morality

• Value Theory is at the heart of Moral Theory.
• From our values we derive principles.
• We judge which principle to use, then decide what
  to do.
• Weakness of will meaning to do the right thing,
  but being too morally weak to accomplish the task.

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The Good Life

• Aristotle (384-322 BCE) believed that all people
  seek happiness.
• Eudaimonia not merely a subjective state of
  pleasure or contentment, but the kind of life we
  would all want to live if we understood our
  essential nature.

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The Good Life

• John Rawls' plan of life conception of
  happiness
• There is a plurality of life plans open to each
  person, and what is important is that the plan be
  an integrated whole, freely chosen by the person
  and that the person be successful in realizing
  his or her goals

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The Good Life

• Missing ingredients from the Happiness Machine
  necessary for the happy life
• Action
• Freedom
• Character
• Relationships

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The Good Life

• Moderate objectivism view of happiness
• Happiness is life in which there exists free
  action (including meaningful work), loving
  relations, and moral character and in which the
  individual is not plagued by guilt and anxiety
  bit is blessed with peace and satisfaction.