CALLED TO HAPPINESS

SEARCH FOR THE TRUE HAPPINESS:

CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN
ACHIEVING HAPPINESS

Thy 1 – Unit 2.A.1

CONTEMPORARY
MORAL TRENDS
UNIT 2: LESSON 1
CONTEMPORARY MORAL TRENDS
§ Might is right
§ Morals are mores
§ The individual is the measure
§ The human Race is the basis of right
§ Right is moderation
§ Right is what brings pleasure
§ Right is the greatest good for the greater
number
§ Right is what is desirable for it's own sake
§ Right is indefinable
§ Right is what God wills
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS

• The theory of duty or moral

obligation
• “What one is compelled to do by
reason of duty”
IMMANUEL KANT

• Kant claimed that various actions

are morally wrong if they are
inconsistent with the status of a
person as a free and rational
being,
• Acts that further the status of
people as free and rational beings
are morally right.
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS

• One of the most important

implications of deontology is
that a person's BEHAVIOR can be
wrong even if it results in the
best possible outcome.
• And an ACT can be righteous
even if it results in a negative
outcome.
CONSEQUENTIALISM
• Consequentialism insists that
WHAT people accomplish is
usually more important than
HOW people accomplish their
goals.

• An ethical theory famous for

its claim that THE ENDS
JUSTIFY THE MEANS.
INTRINSICISM

• is the belief that VALUE is a non-

relational characteristic of an
object.
• This means that an object can be
valuable or not, good or bad,
without reference to who it is
good or bad for, and without
reference to the reason it is good
or bad.
SUBJECTIVISM

• The belief that values are

subjective.
• This means that values are
whatever we choose to pursue
and whatever we desire.
ALTRUISM
• is a code of ethics which holds
the welfare of others as the
standard of "good" and self-
sacrifice as the only moral
action.

• The unstated premise of the

doctrine of altruism is that all
relationships among men
involve sacrifice.
ETHICAL EGOISM

• Focuses on the
pursuit of self-
interest in human
conduct.
PACIFISM
• the moral principle
which advocates that
the use of force is wrong
for any reason.

• This applies to both the

initiation of force, as
well as defensive or
retaliatory force.
•If your life is being
threatened, pacifism holds
that you should not defend
yourself.

•If someone has stolen from

you, pacifism holds that you
should not retrieve your
property.

•If someone has murdered

other people, pacifism holds
that nothing should be done
about it.
ANARCHISM
} Derived from word
αναρχια "without
archons" or "without
rulers“

} Centered on rejection of
any form of compulsory
government and
supporting its elimination
EXISTENTIALISM

• Emphasizing action,
freedom, and decision as
fundamental.
• “Life is not essentially
meaningful; but, it is, or can
be, existentially meaningful.”
DETERMINISM

• Everything is caused and

determined by previously
existing causes that preclude
free will and the possibility
that humans could have
acted otherwise.
• Fatalism
HUMANISM
• Expresses renewed confidence
in the power of man to respond
positively to his own problems
and so discover new things for
himself.
• In focusing on the capacity for
self-determination, humanism
rejects dependence on faith, the
supernatural or divinely
revealed texts.
PRAGMATISM

• the meaning of concepts is to be

sought in their practical bearings.
• the function of thought is to guide
action truth is preeminently to be
tested by the practical
consequences of belief.
UTILITARIANISM

• The ethical doctrine which believes

that the moral worth of an action is
solely determined by its
contribution to overall utility.
• Utility, the good to be maximized,
whatever brings the greatest
happiness to the greatest number
of people.
Other Contemporary Trends in
Achieving Happiness

HEDONISM, MATERIALISM, CONSUMERISM, RELATIVISIM,

INDIVIDUALISM and SECULARISM
HEDONISM
• What brings pleasure
to an individual is
good.

• is the claim that all

and only pleasure has
worth or value, and
all and only pain has
disvalue
 MATERIALISM & CONSUMERISM
MATERIALISM
• Materialism suggests that material
possession, success, and progress
are the highest values in life.
CONSUMERISM
• Wellbeing and happiness depend,
on the level of consumption,
particularly on the purchase of
material goods.
 RELATIVISM & INDIVIDUALISM
RELATIVISM
• relativism, as point of view, is the
denial of the absolute because
everything in reality changes.
INDIVIDUALISM
• It is “the tendency to magnify
individual liberty, as against
external authority, and individual
activity, and against associated
activity.
SECULARISM
• Shift of focus from religion
to other ‘temporal’ and
‘this-worldly’ things with
emphasis on nature, reason,
science, and development.
• It intends to form a
sociopolitical movement to
make the roles of faith and
religion largely irrelevant in
the public arena.
SECULARISM

• Happiness for a secularist

negates the idea that God
is its ultimate source and
destiny.
VIRTUE ETHICS
• Happiness is achieved
through the
development of “good
habits:”
• “Golden Mean” –
neither excess nor
deficiency.
• Seeks to develop
individual character. A
good person will make a
good decision.
THANK YOU! J