The Moral Point of View

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Why Study Ethics?

Moral concerns are unavoidable in life. Analogy: morality is a lot like nutrition.

Principal concern: health The role of experts Disagreement

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Professional discussions of ethical issues in journals. We come back to ideas again and again, finding new meaning in them.

Ethics as an Ongoing Conversation

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Ethics and Morality

Morality: first-order set of beliefs and practices about how to live a good life Ethics: a second-order, conscious reflection on the adequacy of our moral beliefs.

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Moral Health

The goal of ethical reflection is moral health. Thus we seek to determine what will nourish our moral life and what will poison it.

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Ethical Inventory

Take the ethical inventory on pp. 810 now or on the web at:

http://ethics.sandiego.edu/ActiveWebSurvey/theory/

Return to your answers after finishing each chapter.

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The Moral Point of View

What makes something a moral issue?

Content:

duties, rights, human welfare, suffering, character, etc. impartial, compassionate, etc.

Perspective:

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Example: Cheating
Imagine a situation in which you see a classmate cheating. There are several elements from a moral point of view:

Some people are hurt by the cheating There is deception in the situation Cheating seems to be unfair to those who dont cheat There are conflicting valueshonesty, loyalty, etc. There are questions of character.

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The Language of Moral Concerns

Some philosophers have argued that moral issues are characterized by a particular kind of languageterms such as duty, obligation, right, and good.

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Impartiality
Many philosophers have argued that the moral point of view is characterized by impartiality, that is, I dont give my own interest any special weight.

Immanuel Kant John Stuart Mill

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Compassion

Other philosophers have seen the origin of the moral life to be in compassion, feeling for the suffering of other sentient beings. Josiah Royce: Such as that is for me, so is it for him, nothing less.

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Universally Binding

Moral obligations, some philosophers maintain, are universally binding and that is what gives them their distinctive character. Kant: morality is a matter of categorical imperatives.

Distinguish between hypothetical and categorical imperatives.

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Concern for Character

Philosophers from Aristotle onward have seen the primary focus of morality to be character. Two questions:

What ought I to do? (Kant and Mill) What kind of person ought I to be? (Aristotle)

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The Focus of Ethics

Ethics as the Evaluation of Other Peoples Behavior

We are often eager to pass judgment on others

Ethics as the Search for Meaning and Value in Our Own Lives

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Ethics often used as a weapon Hypocrisy Possibility of knowing other people The right to judge other people The right to intervene Judging and caring

Ethics as the Evaluation of Other Peoples Behavior

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Ethics as the Search for Meaning and Value in Our Own Lives

Positive focus Aims at discerning what is good Emphasizes personal responsibility for ones own life

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What to Expect from a Moral Theory

Functions of theory: Describe Explain Give strength (Stockdale) Prescribe

Open new possibilities Wonder

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What to Expect from a Moral Theory, 2

What is ethics like? Physics

Clear-cut, definitive answers Several possible ways of doing things, many ways that are wrong

Engineering

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The Point of Ethical Reflection

Ethics as the evaluation of other peoples behavior

Sources of mistrust about moral judgments

Hypocrisy Knowing other people The right to judge Judging and intervention Judging and caring

Ethics as the search for the meaning of our own lives

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Conclusion: Ethics & Good Health

Ethics is like nutrition

One studies bodily health, the other moral health Significant disagreement in both fields Still there is a significant common ground.

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