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fow,th Editior1
JUDITH A. BOSS
O~Of! j
McGraw-Hm
Higher Education
Bastan Burr Ridge, IL lA, i'Jew york Sar. Francsco St Louis
Caracas Lisben Londen Madrid ~J1ex,co
~,.¡1¡!an p.J1ontreal f\~6V\i Delhi Seeul Singepore Taipei Tor'8nto
CHAPTER 1
ftkics
AJ1 Overview
inquiry in order tú know what virtue 1S, but in order to become good,
It's the beginning of a new semester. Tomorrow morning is your first ethics
class. You signed up for the class only because it was required .."What a waste of
time," you grumble as you climb into bed. "What's the point in studying ethics?
It doesn't have anything to do with real life. 1 wish there was no such thing as
ethics or morality."
The next morning you wake up and wearily grope your way to the bath
room. As you open the door, you find to your dismay that your roommate has
left the bathroom in a total mess. Dirty clothes-your roommate's clothes-are
soaking in cold slimy water in the sink and bathtub, and the toilet is caked with
grime. Annoyed, you return to your room and shake your roommate's shoulder:
"Come on, get up. You promised to clean the bathroom yesterday."
"So what?" your roommate replies. "1 don't have to keep rny promises if 1
dorl't feel like Ít." And ,with that, your roommate rolls over and, looking quite
peaceful, goes back to sleep.
You are now feeling very annoyed, but you manage to get ready for class,
although not in time to have breakfasL You arrive at class right on time; how
ever, the teacherhasn't turned up. You take a seat next to another student who
lives ~n your dormitory. But instead of returning your greeting, he. grabs your
book bag and heads toward the door. "Stop!" you protes.L "That's mine. You
can't take that."
He looks at you like you're nuts. "Why not?"
"Because it doesn't belong to you," you reply indignantly. "It's stealing!"
At which he laughs, "You're not making any sense." '
"You have no right ... ," you add.
The thief roUs his eyes: "Didn't you hear the latest news? Ethics, morality
they no longer exiSL Isn't that great news! Now we can do whatever we like!
And' no one can pass judgment on anything we do, including you!"
3
4 S E CTI ON 1 The Study oJ Ethics
(CA LVIN AND HOBBES © Watterson. Dístributed by Universal Press Syndicate, Inc. Reprinted
with permissíon. AH rights reserved.)
You wait another twenty minutes for the teacher to show up; then you
decide to head over to the cafeteria to get sorne breakfast. However, the
staff didn't bother to repon to work eitheL The back door has been smashed
open, and trays of donuts and fruit have been taken out onto quad, where
a group of administrators and faculty members, including your ethics teacher,
are squabbling over the booty. You step up onto a chair that has tossed out
on the curb, to get a better look, when someone comes rushing up from behind
and knock s you down.
As you fa11, you hear a sickening snap and feel a stabbing pain in your
knee. You cry out in agony. Then you recognize the person who knocked you
oveL the dean of your college. You plead for her to caH for help. But she only
pushes you out of her way and hurries on toward the skirmish on the quad.
Off in the distance, you hear another cry for help as two men drag a terrified
woman into the bushes. No one tries to stop them. A few people stop and peer
at you out of curiosity before moving on. Most just stare blankly at you as they
walk pasL No one" offers to help. And why should they? Sympathy and compas
sion no longer exist. The duty not to cause harm to others or to help those in
need no longer exists. No one has any rights that we have to respect anymore.
No more stupid obligations, such as sharing with others or keeping our com
mitments, to prevent us from doing what we enjoyo
As you begin ro lose consciousness, you start second thoughts about
the importance of ethics and morality in your life. At that moment, your alarm
CHAPTER 1 Ethics S
dock goes off. You get out of bed and wearily grope your way to the bathroom.
As you open the door, you realize that your roommate has left the bathroorn
in a total mess. Annoyed, you retum to your room and shake your roornmate's
shoulder: "Come on, get up. You promised to clean the bathroom yesterday."
"Oh, no," your roommate groans. ''!'m sorry, 1 forgot all about iL" After a
short pause, your roommate rolls out of bed, complaining under her breath, "I
can't thlnk of anything else I'd less rather do." You breathe a sigh of relief and
go to the kitchenette to make yourself some breakfast while your roommate
begrudgingly cleans the bathroom.
What 15 Ethics?
Ethics ís alor like air: lt is pretty much invisible. In fact, for many centuries, peo-'
pIe did not realíze that such a substance as air even existed. So too we often faíl
to recognize the existence of ethics or morality until someone faíls to heed ir.
The terrn ethics has several meanings. It is often used to refer to a set of
standards of right and wrong established by a particular group and imposed
on members of that group as a means of regulating and setting limits on their
behavíor. This use of the word ethics reflects its etymology, which goes back
to the Greek word ethos, meaning "cultural custom or habit." The word moral
is derived from the Latín word moralis, which also means "custom." Although
some' philosophers distinguish between the terms ethical and moral, others,
including the author of this text, use the two terms interchangeably.
The identificatíon of ethícs and mora lit y with cultural norms or customs
reflects the faet that most adults tend to identify morality with cultural eustoms.
Philosophical ethics, also known as moral philosophy, goes beyond this limited
concepi of right and wrOng. Ethics, as a philosophical discipline, includes the
study of the values.imd guidelines by which we live and the justification for these
values and guidelines. Rather than simply aeeepting the customs or guidelines
used by one particular group or culture, philosophical ethics analyzes and eval
.uates these guidelines in líght of aecepted universal principIes and coneerns.
More important, ethics is a way of life. In this sense, ethies involves active
engagement in the pwsuit of the good life-a life consistent with a coherent set
of moral values.· According' to Aristotle, one of the leading Western moral phi
losophers, the pursuit of the good life is our most important actívity as humans,
Indeed, studies have found thar even. criminals believe morality is important
at least for others. Although criminals may noi alwáys act on their moral beliefs,
they still expect others to do so. Almost all criminals, when asked, state that
they do not want their children to engage in immoral behavior and would get
angry if one of their children committed a c:rime.l
Aristotle believed that "the moral activities are human par excel1ence."z
Because morality is the mostfundamental expression of our human nature,'
it is through being moral that we are the happiest. According to Aristotle, it
:.~-. -,is through the repeated performance of good actions that we become moral
(and happier) people. He referred to the repeated practice of moral aetions as
6 SECTION 1 TheStudy ofEthícs
habituation. The idea that practicing good actíons is more important for eth
ics education than merely' studying theory is also found in other philosophies,
such as BuddhÍsm.
[A] man becomes just by the performance of the just. . actions; nor is there the
smallest likelihood of a man's becoming good by any other course of conducr. It is
not, however, a popular line to take, most men preferring theory LO practice under
the impression that arguing about morals proves them to be philosophers, and that
inthis way they will turn out. to be fine characters..
-ARISTOTLE, Nicómachean Erhics, Bk. 2, Ch. 4
~
Exercises
1. What do you mean (what criteria do you use) when you say that something
is morally ríght or morally wrong? Do aH actions have a moral dirnension? lf
nat, why do sorne actions involve moral judgments while Others are morally
neutral?
2. One way to define what we mean by "moral" is ro look at the líves of those
whom we regard to be good people. These people-be they parents, friends,
sports figures, political leaders, reformers, or even ficrional beings-serve as
our role models and heroes. Heroes used to be important in most people's
lives, but a recent survey found that 70 percent of Arnericans nowadays have
no one they consider a hero.4 Sorne people would say that this is a reflection of
the moral malaise of our times. Do you agree? Do you have a hero? If so, who
is your hero? Explain why.
3. According to the American Freshrnan survey, there has been a trend over the
past fifteen years toward more cornmunity service, with 82 percent of 2004
college freshrnen reporting that they engaged in cornrnunity service, up from
66 percent in 1990. On the other hand, there has been a decline in social activ
ism over the same period. 5 Why do you think this is happening? Discuss your
answer in light of your own college experience.
4. Do you agree with Aristotle that practicing moral virtues and behavior is more
important for ethics ed1:lcation than the study of moral theory? Howmight his
approach be< integrated into a college ethics course?
Ihere are two traditional subdivisions of ethics: (1) normative ethics and
.(2) theoretical ethics. Theoretical ethics is concerned with apptaisíng the logi
.. cal foundations and internal consistencies of ethical systems. Theoretical ethics
8 S ECTl ON 1 The 5tudy oJEthics
is also known as metaethics; the prefix meta comes from the Greek word mean
ing "about" or "above." Normative ethics, on the other hand, gives us guide
lines Dr norms, such as "do not líe" or "do no harm," regarding which actions
are right and which are wrong. In other words, theoretical ethics, or metaethics,
studies why we should act and feel a certain way; norm<:llÍve ethics tells us how
we should aq in particular sítuations.
Normative Ethics
Normative ethics affecls our liv_es al all levels: personal, interpersonal, social
(bOlh 10cal1y and globally), and environmentaL Normative ethics gives us prac
tical hands-on guidelines or norms that we can apply to real-life situations.
Because of this, it is ~ometimes referred to as applied. ethics. A professional code
of ethics is an eiample of ~ set of practical moral guidelínes.
Moral guidelines are not simply a list of dos and don'ts that others impose
. u pon us, however. adults, it is not enough just to do as we are toldo We
expect to be given reasons for acting certain ways or takil!-g certain positions on
moral issues.
Iheoretical Ethícs
Theoretical ethics (also called theoretical moralíty or metaethics) operates at a
more fundámental level than normative ethics. Theoretical ethics takes as its
starting point the most basic insights regarding morality. However, philoso
phers in their search for a consistent moral theory made only a tentative pre
sumption regarding the legitimacy of these everyday insights. These insights
are presumptíons that first have to pass the test of rigorous analysis.
The division between normative and theoretical ethics is mainly a heuristic
tooL Moral norms' and guidelines need to be grounded in theoretical ethics;
otherwise, morality beéomes arbitrary. in this text, we will concern ourselves
primarily with the theoretical underpinnings of ethics.
Metaethical theories can be divided into cognitíve and noncognitive theo
ries. Noncognitive theories, such as emotivism, claim that there are no moral
truths and tha1 moral statements are neither tme nor false but simply expres
sions or outbursts of feelings. If moral statements are neither true nor false,
there is ho such thing as objective moral truths. .
Cognitive theories, on the other hand, maintain that moral statements can
be either tme or falseo Cognitive theories can be further subdivided into rela
üvist and universalist theories (Table 1.1). Relativist theories state that moral
ity ís different fon:lifferent peopIe. In contrast, universalist theories maintain
that objective moral truths exist that are tme for a11 humans, regardless of their
personal belíefs or cultural norms.
,.
TABlE 1.1 Metaethical Theories
NONCOGNlTIVE COGNITIVE
Cultural relativists, on the other hand, argue that morality is created col
lectively by graups of humans and that it differs fram society to society. Each
society has its own moral norms, which are binding on the people who belong
to that society. Each society also defines who is and who is not a member of the
moral community. With cultural relativism,. each circle or moral system repre
sents a different culture.
a universallaw.
~
Exercises
*1. Choose a moral issue from your tife as a college student. Discuss how this
issue affects decisions in your life in terms of the norms you adopt to guíde
your behavior. lf you are doing community service, relate your answer to your
service learning.
2. Discuss which of the ethical theories you would most likely use in judging the
morality of the different people-including the messy roommate, the thieving
classmate, the tardy professor, and the uncaring dean-in this chapter's open
ing scenario. To what l110ra1 theories, universalist or relativist, did the subject
*An asterisk indica tes that the exercíse is appropriate for students who are doing cornrnunity
service leaming as pan or the course.
12 SE CTION 1 The Study oJEthics
positive attitude toward the object of our affection (wisdom, in this case) but
also taking ac~ion and actively pursuing that object. This interp1ay of attitude
and action is reflected in the study of ethics. Ethics education a1so goesbeyond
theory by challenging us to live consistently with our moral values.
Philosophy, unlike most academic disciplines, involves the expansion and
systematic nurturing of a basic human activity rather than simply the accumula
tíon of knowledge. Philosophy arises out of a natural sense of wonder and what
many philosophers regard as a basic human need to find hígher meaning and
value in our lives. As small children, we wondered and asked countless ques
tions about the world around uso Indeed, child psychologists note that curiosity
and ethical concerns about justice and sharing emerge spontaneously in chil
dren sometime between the ages of eíghteen and thirty-six months, regardless
of their culture and without prompting from adults. 6'
Wísdom begins in self-knowledge. According to British philosopher
Philíppa Foot (b. 1920), wisdom, unlike ordinary knowledge or cleverness, pre
supposes good ends and the search for values. \Ve all share a common human
ity, but how we proceed in our quest for wisdom and the good life will vary
to sorne extent from person lO person and from culture to culture because we
a11 have different personalities and different experiences. Thís do es not imply,
however, that wisdom is relative, Rather, it suggests that there are several paths
to wisdom, just as there can be several paths to the top of a mountain.
Becoming Autonomous
In seeking answers lO questions about the meaning of life and the nature of
moral goodness, the philosopher goes beyond conventional answers. Rather
than relying on public opinion or what others say, it is up to each of us, as phi
losophers, to critícally examine and analyze our reasons for holding particu
lar views. In this way, the study of philosophy encourages us lO become more
autonomous.
The word autonomous comes Trom the Greek wOrds auto ("self") and nomos
("law")' In other words, an autonomous moral agent is an independent, self
governing thinker. A heteronomous moral agent, in contrast, is a person who
uncritically accepts answers and laws imposed by others. The prefix hetero
means "other."
Because philosophy encourages people to be independent thinkers and to
question the deeply held beliefs of their society, most people, as Socrates dis
covered, resist philosophy. Sócrates, who is known as the Father of Western
Philosophy, was born in Athens, Greece, in 469 BLE. At that time, Athens was
a flourishing city-state and a democracy. Socrates never wrote any books or
papers on philosophy. What we know of him comes primarily from the writ
ings of his famous student, Plato. Like most of the early philosophers, Socrates
was not a career philosopher; he most likely made his living as a slOnemason
(his father's profession) or anisan. His real love was philosophy, however. As
Socrates got older, he began hanging out more at the market and other places
CHA PT ER 1 Ethics 13
"The Death of Socrates," by jacques-Louis David. Socrates (469-399B.C.E.) was put to death by the
state for blasphemy and conupting the youth ofAthens. Pictured here surrounded by his disciples
as he drinks the poison hemlock, Socrates remained true 10 his principIes right up lo the moment of
hís death.
Self- ReaIízation
Sorne of the most important philosophical questions are those regarding the mean
ing and goals of our lives. What kind of person do 1want to be? How do 1 achieve
that goal? Many philosophers define this goal in terms of self-realization-also
known as self-actualizatíon and enlightenment. Self-realízation is closely linked
to the idea of moral virtue. According te psychologist AbrahamMaslow, self
actualized people are autonomous: They do not depend on the opinions 6f oth
ers when deciding what to do and what to believe. Phílosophers such as Socrates
and Buddha exemplified what Maslow meant by a self-realízed person. 8
Self-realízation is an ongoing process or way of life. People who are self
actualized devote their lives to the search for ultimate values. They are con
stantly searching for answers te questions like those we have raised in earlier
sections of this chapter. People who are not honest w1th themselves will have
a difficult time making good lífe choices. Being honest involves the courage
to be different and te work hard at being the best one can be at whatever one
does. People who are lacking in authenticity or sinceríty blame others for their
own unhappíness, giving in to what French philosopher Simone de Beauvoír
0908-1986) called "the temptations of the easy way." 9
The man who is aware ofhimse1f is henceforward independent; and he is never bored,
and life ís only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet
temperat~ happiness. He a1so lives, while peopIe, slaves of ceremony, let 11fe slip past
..
them in a kind of dream. Once conform, once do what other peopIe do because they
do it, and a lethargy steals over a11 [he finer nerves and facuIties of the soul.
-VIRGINIA WOOLF, Ihe Common Reader (first series) (1929)
People who are self-actualized. in contrast, are flexible and even weIcome
having their víews challenged. Like true philosophers, they are open to new
CHAPTER 1 EthíC5 15
. ,
ways of lookíng at the world.· They are willíng ro analyze and, if necessary,
change their views-even if this rneans taking an unpopular stand. This proc
ess involves actively working to recognize and overcorne the barriers to new
ways of thinking; chief among these is cultural conditioning.
Skepticism
Philosophers try ro approach the world with an open rnind. Rley question theír
own beliefs and those of other people, no matter how obviously true.a particu
lar belief may seem. Rather than accepting established belid systems uncrití
cally, philosophers first reflect on and· analyze them. By refusing ro accept
beliefs until they can be justified, philosophers adopt an attítude of skepticism,
or doubt, as their starting poinL
Skepticism, unlike cynicism, is grounded in wonder. The skeptic is always
curious and open-minded, with an eye ro the truth. Cynicisrn sometimes
masquerades as philosophy; however, it is very different. Cynicism is closed
minded and mocks the possibility of truth; it begins and ends in doubt. Cyni
cisrn denies rather than analyzes. In this sense, cynicism is a means of resisting
philosophical thought because it hinders analysis.
Ihe first [rule for seeking truth] was to accept nothing as tme whích 1 díd not c1early
recogníze to be so: that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitatíon and prejudíce in
judgments, and to accept in them nothing more than what was presented to my
mind so c1early and distinctIy that 1 couId have no occasion to doubt ir.
-RENÉ DESCARTES, Discourse on the Melhod 01 Rightly ConduCling lhé Reason
and Seeking Trulh in lhe Sciences (1637)
After a period of study, he feels the urge to retum to his fel10w prisoners and
share his knowledge with them. Each step back into the cave, however, is pain
fuI. He is ridiculed for his beliefs. At this point, the budding philosopher has
three options: (1) He can leave the cave again and return to the light. In this case,
his newfound wisdom will become irrelevant to the world ofhuman experience.
(2) He can give up the wisdom he has acquired and retum to his old beliefs.
By doing so, he gives in to public opinion rather than risk being unpopular. Or
(3) he can remain in the cave and persist in his quest to share his wisdom with
others. This last option, aeeording to Plato, is the path of the true philosopher.
Plato believed that truth was embodied in changeless universal forms that
could be discemed by the use of reason. Plato's student Aristotle disagreed
with Plato's analysis. In his Nicomaehean Ethies, Ari~lotle argued that even if the
Form of Good did exist, it would be too abstraet lo guide us in making every
day moral decisions. Other philosophers see truth, rather than being static and
absolute, as dynamic and as constantly revealing itself to uso Pre-Socratic phi
losopher Heraclitus Ce. 535-475 BLE.) taught that an essential feature of reality
is that it is ceaselessly changing, like a flowing river. Just as you cannot step
into the same ríver twice, permanenee is an illusíon. Everything in flux. And
Zen J3uddhists speak of truth as being found in "the eontinued or repeated
imfolding of the one big mind."
Alle9or~ofthe(a-uE
Plato
[C)ompare the effect of educatíon and of fettered, able to see only in front of them,
the lack of ir on our nature to an experience because their bonds prevent them from tum
like this: Imagine human beings living in ing their heads around. Light is provided by
an underground, cavelike dwelling, with an a fire buming far above and behind them.
entrance a long way up, which ís both open Also behind them, but on higher ground,
to the lightand as wide as the eave itself. there is a path stretehing between them and
They've been there sinee childhood, fixed the fire. Imagine that along this path a low
in the same place, wíth their neeks and legs wall has been built, like the screen in front
of puppeteers above which they show theír
puppets....
Plato, The Republie, Book VII, 514a-517c, translated by
G. M. A. Grube, revised by C. D. C. Reeve (lndianap Do you suppose, first of aH, that these
olis: Hackett Publishing lnc., 1992), pp. 186-189. prisoners see anything of themselves and
Copyright © 1992 by tIackett Publishing Company, one another besides the shadows that the
lne. Reprinted by permíssion of Hackett Publishíng
fire easts on the wall in front of them 7 ...
Co. All ríghts reserved (To read the complete text of
Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," go to http://classics.mit And what if their prison a1so had an
.edu/Plato/Republic.html) echo from the wall facing them? Don't you
e HA P TER 1 Ethícs 17
think they'd belíevethat the shádows pass irrítated at being treated that way? And when
ing in front of them were talking whenever he carne into the light, wíth the sun filling
one of the carriers passing along the wall his eyes, wouIdn't he be unable to see a sin
was doing so? ... gle one of the things now said to be true? ...
Then the prisoners would in every way 1 suppose, then, that he'd need time to
believe that the tmth is nothing other than get· adjusted before he could see things in
the shadows of those artifacts.. . the world aboye ....
Consider, then, what being released from The visible realm should be likened to
their bonds and cured of their ignorance theprison dwelling, and the light of the tire
would naturally be like. When one of them inside it to the power of the sun. And if you
was freed and suddenly compelled to stand interpret the upward journey and the study
~'; up, turn his head, walk, and look up toward of thíngs aboye as the upward journey of the
the light, he'd be pained and dazzled and soul to the intelligíble realm, you'll grasp
unable to see the things whose shadows he'd what 1 hope to convey, sínce that is what
seen before. What do you think he'd s ay, if you wanted lO hear abour. '''¡V'hether it's tme
we told him that what he'd seen before was or not, only the god knows.But this is how
inconsequential, bu( that now-because he 1 see ir: In the knowable realm, the form of
,. is a bit closer to the things that are and is the good is the last thing to be seen, and it
turned towards thíngs that are more-he is reached only with difticulty. Once one has
sees more correctly? ... [D]on't you think seen ir, however, one must conclude that it
he'd be at a 10ss and that he'd believe that is the cause of all that ís correct and beauti
the things he saw earlier were truer than the fuI in anything, that it produces both light
ones he was now being shownL .. and its source in the visible rea1m, and that
And if someone dragged him away from in the intelligible realm it control s and pro
there by force, up the rough, steep path, and vides tmth and understanding, so that any
didn't let him go unti1 he had dragged him one who ís to act sensíbly in private or public
into the sunlíght, wouldn't he be paíned and must see ít.. , :
Sorne people believe that mora lit y demands a son of rigid, absolutist attitude;
in other words, a person should stick to his or her principIes no matter whaL
However, if we believe that truth is constantly revealing itself to us-whether
through reason; experierice, or intuitíon-in our quest for moral wisdom we
must always be open to dialogue with each other and with the world at large.
lf we think at sorne point that we have found truth and, therefore, close our
minds, we have then ceased to think like a tme philosopher. We will lose our
sense of wonder and become rigid and self-righteous.
For a philosopher to stop seeking tmth is like a dancer freezing in one
posítion because he thinks he has found the ultimate dance step or an artist
stopping painting because she thinks she has created the perlen work of art.
Similarly, to cease being open-minded and wondering is lO cease thinking like
a philosopher. Totease thinking like a philosopher is to give up the quest for
the good life.
18 S E e TI o N 1 The: 5tudy 01 Ethics
~
Exercises
1. What is the difference, H any, between wisdom and knowledge? Which are
you acquiring at college? How does one actively seek wisdom or live wisely?
What is the connection between wisdom and morality? Between knowledge
and mora lity?
2. According to Socrates, the first step on the path to wisdom is to "know thy
self." Discuss the following questions in light of this mandate.
a. What is my goal or plan of life?
b. What sort of person do 1 want to be?
c. How close am 1 to my goal?
*d. For those who are doing community service, how does your servicefit in
with or assist you in clarifying and achievingyour life goals?
3. Do yo,,! agree thát self-actualization is linked to virtue and to happiness?
Explain why. To what extent are you a self-actualized or enlightened person?
15 becoming self-actualized one of your goals in life? What barriers are holding
you back from achievingself-actualization? What can you do to remove sorne
of those barriets?
4: German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche asked us to imagine what sort of lHe
we would create for ourselves if we knew that it would be repeated over and
over again for the rest of eternity. This 1S known as the theory of eterna1 recur
rence. Nietzsche described it as follows: .
"What if, sorne day or night a demon were to steal after you into your
loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived
it, yoú will have to Uve once more and innumerable times more; and there
will be nothing new in ít, but every pain and every joy and every thought and
sign and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return
to you, all in the same succession and sequence-even this spider and this
moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and 1 myself. The eternal
hourglass af existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it,
speck of dustt'
'"Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the
demon who spoke thus? _.. Or how well disposed would you have to become
to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervemly than this ultimate eter
nal confirmation and sea!?" 10
How would you answer Nietzsche's questions? Are you satisfied with the
life you are now creating for yourself? If so, why? lf not, what could you do to
make it a bel:fer life, one that you would want to be repeated over and over ad
infinítum? Explain.
S. Discuss sorne of the other assumptions that underlie Western philosophy,
or your own philosophy of life, that usually go unquestíoned. How do these
assumptions affect the way you or others treat other human and nonhuman
beíngs? How do they affect your perception of your place in society and in the
world?
eHA PT ER 1 Ethícs 19
6. Discuss your own lífe in terms of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." Where are you
now in your journey? Are you still chained up in the cave? Have you had a
glimpse of the light 7 How did you respond 7 Did you try sharing your insights
with others? How did they respond?
Ethical theories do not stand on theír own but are grounded in other phílo
sophical presumptions about such matters as the role of humans in the uni
verse, the existence of free will, and the nature of knowledge. Metaphysics
.:is the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of the nature of reality,
.including what it means to be human.
Our concept of human nature has a profound inflw;nce on our concept
of how we ought to live. Are humans basically selfish? Or are we basically
altruistic? What ís the relationship between humans and the rest of nature?
Do humans have a sou!? Or are we purely physical beings governed by our
instincts ~nd urges? Do we have free will? Or is all of our behavior subject to
causallaws?
I Metaphysícal assumptions about the nature of reality are not símply abstract
theories; they can have a profound effect on both ethical theory and normatíve
ethiés.Metaphysical assumptions playa pivotal role, for bener or for worse, in
structuring relations among humans and betweeri humans and the rest of the
world.
MetaphysicaI Dualism
According to metaphysical 'dualists, realíty is made up of two distinct and·
separate substances: the material or physical body and the nonmaterial mínd,
..:which also referred to as the soul or spirit. The bódy, being material, is subject
.<to causallaws. The mind, in contrast, has free will bec;ause it 1S nonmateríal imd
JationaL Sorne philosophers believe that only humans have a mind, and hence,
only humáns have moral value. The belief that adult humans are the central or
most significant reatity of the universe is known as anthropocentrism.
Accotding to most dualists, humans express their nature or essence through
reason, which is the activity of the nonmaterial mind. Only through reason can
we understand moral truth and achieve the good life. Dualistic philosophies
;tend to support a hierarchical worldview and a morality based on the exclusion
of some beings from the moral community-particularly nonhuman anünals
and humans who are regarded as not fully rationaL
20 SE CTI ON 1 The Study ofEthíés
Ecofeminist Karen Warren (b. 1947) argues that the domination of women
and the domination of nature that typify Western dualism are inexorably con
nectedY Both, she claims, are based on a híerarehical and dualistíc metaphysics
and a "logíc of domination" that as sumes that certain beings (whether human
or nonhuman) are morally superior and that those who are superior have a
right to dominate those who are subordinate.
For living is apparent1y shared with p1ants, but what we are looking for is the special
function of a human being: hence we should set asid e the life of nutrition and
growth. The lífe next in arder is sorne sort of 11fe of sensé-perception; but this too is
apparently shared, with horses, oxen and every animaL The remaining possibility,
then, is sorne sort of life of action on the part of the soul that has reason .
. . . the human function is the sou1's activity that expresses reason ... the human
functíon to be a cenain.kind of 11fe, and we take this lífe to be the soul's activity and
actions that express reason. The excellent man's functíon 1S lO do this finely and
we1l. Each function is completed well when its comp1etion expresses the proper
virtue. Therefore, the human good turns out to be the soul's proper function.
-ARlSTOTLE, Nicomacnean Etnics, Bk. 1, Ch. 1
Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which are animated; of the
animated, those which subsist by íntelligence; of the intelligent, mankind; and of
men, the Brahmans.
-The Hindu Laws ofManu
CHAPTER 1 Ethícs 21
Metaphysical Materialísm
There are many va,riatíons of nondualistie or one-substance theories. One of
the more popular one-substanee theories is metaphysical materialism. In this .
worldview, physicar matter is the only substance. Therefore, materialists do not
have ro de al with the mind-body problem. On the other hand, materialists have
a diffieult time expláining the phenomenon of eonsciousness. Because meta
physical materialists reject, or consider irrelevant, abstraet eoncepts su eh as
mind or soul, morality must be explained in terms of physical matter.
Sociobiology is based on the assumption of metaphysieal materialism.
As a braneh of biology, sociobiology applíes evolutionary theory to the social
sciences-including questions of moral behavior. Soeiobiologist Edward O.
Wilson claims that moralíty is based on biological requirements and drives,15
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), also known as Mahatma C'great soul"), nationalist leader of
India, 1931 (right; talking to Jawaharlal Nehru). Gandhi's use of nonviolent resistance as a strategy
for political and social r~form has han a tremendous influence on later civil rights movements,
induding the 1960s civil rights movement in the United Sta tes.
22 S E e T ION l· . The Study oJ Ethics
are governed by causal laws just as all other physical objects and beings are.
According to stríct determinism, if we had complete knowledge, we could
predict future events with 100 percent certainty. The emphasis on the scien
tific method as the source of truth has contributed lo the trend in the West to
describe human behavior in purely scientific terms. 19
Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) claimed that humans are
governed by powerful unconscious forces and that eveu our most noble
accomplishments are the result of prior events and instincts. Behaviorists
such as JohnWatson (1878-1958) and B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) also believed
that human behavior is determined by past events in our lives. They argued
that, rather than the unconscious controlling our actions, so-called men
tal states are reallya function of the physícal body. Rather than being free,
autonomous agents, we are the products of past conditioning, elaborately pro
grammed computers~according to Watson, an assembled organic machine
ready to runo
Existentialist philosophers go to the opposite extreme. According to them,
we are defined only"by our freedom. ExistentialistJean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
argued that "there °is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. ..
Man [therefore] is condemned to be free."20 He argued that, as radically free
beings, we each have the responsibility to create our own essence, including
choosing the moral principIes upon whích we act. Because we are free and not
restricted by a fixed essence, when we make a moral choice, we can be held
completely accountable for our actions and choices.
ics. In particular, it raises serious questions about to what éxtent we can hold
people morally responsible for their actions, Making excuses for our actions is
. as old as humankind: Adam excused his behavior by blaming Eve for the apple
~
Exercises
*1. Discuss how your concept of reality and human nature influences the way
you think aboDt morality.For examp1e, are humans made of two dis
tinct substances-mind and body? lf so, should one's degree of ratíonality
e H A P TER 1 Ethics 25
a killer, but thís does not mean that he ought to kilI. Morality creates in us
obligatíons to carry out or refraín from carryíng out certain actions in a way that
our nature or natural tendendes do not. Second, basic moral knowledge,
according to Connor, is self-evídenL We may need to justífy our behavior, but
we do not have to justify the general moral principIes that inform our moral
decisions,
Of course, not everyone would agree with John Connar that the princi
pIe of nonmaleficence entails that it 1S always morally wrong to kill unarmed
people. Disagreement or uncertainty, however, does not negate the existence .
of moral knowledge>We also disagree about empírical facts, such as the age of
our planet, the caus'é of Alzheimer's disease, whether people in comas can feel
pain, and whether i[';·is going to rain on the weekend. When we disagree about
an important moral'issue, we don't generally shrug off the disagreement as a
matter of personal opinion. lnstead, we try to come up with good reasons for
acceptíng a particula'r position or course of action. We also expect others to be
able to back up theír positions or explain their actions. In other words, most
people believe that;moral knowledge is possible and that it can help us in mak
íng decisíons about"rnoral íssues.
Even the mos(i~goistic people generally accept a sort of moral minímal
ism. That is, they believe that there are certain mínimal morality requirements
that include, for example, refraining from torturing and murderíng innocent,
helpless people. The one exteption ro this ís psychopaths, whom we'll be exam
iníng in Chapter 6 on moral development.
ErnotivisJ11:. . •c:'-·
Alfred]. Ayer
[Ilt is our business to gíve an account of making any funher statement about it. 1 am
tory in itself and cdnsistent with our general lt is as if 1 had said, "You stole that money,"
empiricíst principlf5. We shall set ourselves in a peculiar tone of horror, or written it with
lO show that in so fir as statements of value the addition of sorne special exclamation
are significant, they are ordinary "scien marks. The tone, or the exclamatíon marks,
tific" statements; and that in so far as they adds nothing to the literal meaning of the
are not scientific, they are not in the literal . sentence. It merely serves to show that the
sense significant, but are simply expressions expression of it is attended by certain feel
of emotion which can be neither true nor ings in the speaker. ...
falseo ... It is wonh mentioning that ethical terms
We begiri by admitting that the funda do not serve only to express feeling. They
mental ethical concepts are unanalysable, are ca1culated also to arouse feeling,-~and so
inasmuch as there is no criterion by which to stimulate action. lndeed sorne of them are
one can test the validity of the judgements in used in such a way as to giv.e the sentences
which they occur.... We say that the rea in which they occur the effect of commands.
son why they are unanalysable is that they Thu~ the sentence "It is your duty to teH the
are mere pseudo-concepts. The presence truth" may be regarded both as the expres
of an ethical symbol in a 'proposition adds sion of a certain son of ethical feeling about
nothing to its factual conten!. Thus if 1 say to truthfulness and as the expres5ion of the
. someone, "You acted wrongly in stealing that command "Tell the truth." ...
money," 1 am not stating anything more than We' can now see why it i5 imp05sible
if 1 had simply safa; "You stole that money." to find a criterion far determining the valid
In adding that this action is wrong 1 am not ity of ethical judgements. It i5 not because
they have an"absolute" validity which is
mysteriously independem of ordinary sense
From A. J Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (New York:
Dover Publicatíons, lnc., 1952), pp. 31, 102-103, 107 experience, but because they have no objec
109. Copyright © 1946 A. J Ayer. tive validity whatsoever.
J/
~
Exercises
1. Philosophers who believe that moral knowledge is intuitive argue that every
one (or almost everyone) would agree that causíng pain to an infant for one's
own amusement ís morally wrong. How would yau respond to someone who
thinks that torturing infants is either morally right or, in the case of the posi
tivísts, morally neutral?
2. Discuss Alfred Ayer's claim, in the selection from his essay "Emotivism," that
moral judgments are nothing more than expressians of feeling and have no
validity. lf morality is simply an expression of feeling, is there any such thíng
~ ,
CHAPTER 1 Ethícs 31
Summary
1. Ethics is concerned with the study of rignt and wrong and how to live the good
life.
2. The two main suodivisions bf ethics are theoretical and normative ethícs. The
oretical ethics, of:metaethics, ís concerned wíth appraising the logical foun
dations of ethicál'systems. Normative ethics gives us practical guidelines for
dedding which 3..óions are right or wrong.
3. There are two typ"es of ethical theories. Nancagnitive theories, such as emotivism,
claím that moral statements are neither true nor falseo Cognitive theories claim
that moral statements can be true or falseo Cognitive theories can be funher
subdivided into relativist theories and uníversalist theoríes. Relatívist theories
maintain that right and wrong are creations of either individuals or groups of
humans. Universalist theorÍes claim that ihere are universal moral values that
apply ro all hurñans.
4. Philosophy is, lite rally, the "love of wisdom."
5. The 50cratic methad ínvolves a dialogue in which a teacher questions people
about things they thought they already knew.
6. Wisdom begir:ts in self-knowledge, which in turn leads lO self-realization or self
actualization.
7. True philosophersapproach the world with an ofien mind. They begin the
process 6f inquiryby adopting an initial positíon of skepticism or doubt.
8. Plato's "Allegory pt,lhe Cave" defines the task of the philosopher: movíng out of
our conventional;.mode of thinkíng (the darkness of the cave) into the light of
truth. This expe¡j~nce of truth should in turn:be shared with others ~ho are
stilllíving in darkness.
'9. Metaphysics ís thephilosophical study of the nature of realíty, íncluding human
nature.
10. Metaphysical dualism claims that reality is made up of two distinct substances:
physical matter and nonmaterial mind. Metaphysical materialism, in éontrast,
claims that physical matter is the only substance.
11. Buddhist metaphysícs maintains that realíty is auníty and manifestatÍon of
one substance.
32 SECTION 1 The: 5tudy ofEthics
12. Sociobíologists claim that morality is genetically programmed into humans and
other animals. Behaviorísts, on the other hand, claim that mora lit y is shaped by
our environment.
13. Determinism claims that all events, including human actions, are caused by
previous events (predetermined) and that free will is an illusion. If there is no
free will, then of course there is no such thing as moral responsibility.
14. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Most traditional Western philosophies
emphasize reason as the primary source of moral knowledge; most non-West
ern and feminist philosophies emphasize intuition or sentiment.
Emotívism is the theory that moral statements are meaningless because they do
not' correspond to anything in the physicaI world. Emotivism arose from an
attempt by the positivists to scientifically legitimate the study of philosophy.