Morals and Ethics: METS 173

Lecture 4: Theories of Ethics and Morality

Lecturer: Bernice Adjei

 Overview
 Introduction

 Moral Subjectivism

 Cultural Relativism

 Divine Command Theory

 Utilitarianism

 Categorical Imperative

 Conclusion
 Introduction
 A theory is a structured set of statements used to explain (or predict) a set of facts or

concepts.

 A moral theory, then, explains why a certain action is wrong -- or why we ought to act

in certain ways.

 In short, it is a theory of how we determine right and wrong conduct. Also, moral

theories provide the framework upon which we think and discuss in a reasoned way,

and so evaluate, specific moral issues.

 Introduction Cont…d
 There are several theories of ethics and morality that sets into
perspective the meaning and understanding of the concept of ethics and
morality. Among them are;

 Moral Subjectivism

 Cultural Relativism

 Divine Command Theory

 Utilitarianism

 Categorical Imperative
 Moral Subjectivism

 Right and wrong is determined by what you -- the subject -- just

happens to think (or 'feel') is right or wrong.

 In its common form, Moral Subjectivism amounts to the denial of

moral principles of any significant kind, and the possibility of moral
criticism and argumentation. In essence, 'right' and 'wrong' lose their
meaning because so long as someone thinks or feels that some action is
'right', there are no grounds for criticism.
 Moral Subjectivism Cont…d
 If you are a moral subjectivist, you cannot object to anyone's behavior (assuming

people are in fact acting in accordance with what they think or feel is right).

 This shows the key flaw in moral subjectivism -- probably nearly everyone thinks

that it is legitimate to object, on moral grounds, to at least some peoples' actions.

This is, it is possible to disagree about moral issues.


 Cultural Relativism
 Right and wrong is determined by the particular set of

principles or rules the relevant culture just happens to hold at

the time. Cultural Relativism is closely linked to Moral

Subjectivism. It implies that we cannot criticize the actions of

those in cultures other than our own.

 Cultural Relativism Cont…d

 Again, it amounts to the denial of universal moral

principles. Also, it implies that a culture cannot be mistaken

about what is right and wrong (which seems not to be true),

and so it denies the possibility of moral advancement .

 Divine Command Theory
 Many claim that there is a necessary connection between morality and religion,

such that, without religion (in particular, without God or gods) there is no

morality, i.e., no right and wrong behavior.

 Although there are related claims that religion is necessary to motivate and guide

people to behave in morally good way, most take the claim of the necessary

connection between morality and religion to mean that right and wrong come

from the commands of God (or the gods).

 Divine Command Theory Cont…d
 This view of morality is known as Divine Command Theory.

The upshot is that an action is right -- or obligatory -- if God

commands we do it, wrong if God commands we refrain from

doing it, and morally permissible if God does not command

that it not be done.

 Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism is one of the newer areas of ethical thinking. The word originates
from the Latin meaning useful. This school of thinking was initiated in England,
with Jeremy Bentham regarded as the founder.

 The principle it supports is simple: good is useful. The objective is to maximize

utility for as many people as possible. In Europe and North America, this is the
most widespread ethical system around today.

 Anzebacher describes the way to maximize useful good for the widest population
possible by using empirically rational principles.
 Utilitarianism Cont…d
 Utilitarianism builds its ethics on two pillars:

--- Empirically proven actions; and

--- Reasonably justified gain

 For the purposes of business ethics, only actions that achieve gain are
considered good

 Utilitarianism; Usefulness is the main principle, and the truth is what

brings to as many people as possible.
 Utilitarianism Cont…d
 According to the Utilitarians an action will then be said to be “right” as long as it

satisfactorily causes good consequences compared to alternative actions, and it

will be “wrong” if it doesn’t.

 To conclude, in order to know if something is morally preferable for a utilitarian,

we must ask, “Will it lead to more benefits and less harms than the alternatives?”

If the answer is, Yes, then it is morally preferable.

 Categorical Imperative
 The categorical imperative asks us to act in a way that we can

consider to be a universal law. In other words, it asks us to

behave in a rational way that would be rational for anyone. If it

is right for me to defend myself when attacked, then it is right

for everyone to defend themselves in self defense.

Application of some of the theories to Life Situations
 Applying Utilitarianism
 Killing people – Killing people is usually wrong either because people have
value (and they might not exist after dying), because everyone has a desire to stay
alive, or because killing people makes other people unhappy.
 Stealing – Stealing is usually wrong because it makes people unhappy to lose
their possessions, they might need their possessions to accomplish certain
important goals, and because the right to property makes it possible for us to
make long term goals involving our possessions.
 Courage – Courage is essential for morality because people must be willing to do
what they believe will be right even at a personal cost. Sometimes doing the right
thing requires altruism, such as when a whistle blower must tell the American
public about corruption at the work place (despite the fact that they might be
killed for doing so).
 Applying Utilitarianism Cont…d
 Education – Education is good because it helps us know how to be a productive member of
society, it helps us know empirical facts that are relevant to knowing which actions are likely to
benefit or cause harm (e.g. better parenting techniques or healthy eating), and it helps us think
rationally to make better decisions.
 Promising – It is wrong to break a promise because doing so would make other people upset
and waste their time. People depend on the honesty of others in order to take business risks,
plan on their retirement, and so on.
 Polluting – It is wrong to pollute if the pollution will harm others. It is preferable to refuse to
pollute if too many people doing so could also harm others, but we are not necessarily
personally responsible for the harms caused by an entire civilization.
 Homosexual behavior – Homosexual behavior does not automatically cause harm and it is
something many people find pleasurable and part of living a happy life. Therefore, it is not
always wrong. Homosexuality can cause someone harm from discrimination, but to blame
homosexuality for the harms of discrimination is a form of blaming the victim just like blaming
a woman who gets raped for being too weak.
 Applying the categorical imperative
 Killing people – Killing people is wrong whenever it would be inappropriate for
someone to kill us, and we need to consider the motivational reason for killing
someone. It would be wrong for people to kill us out of greed just to take our
money, so it is wrong for everyone to kill out of greed to take other people’s
money. However, it would be right for someone to kill us if necessary to defend
themselves from attack out of self-respect, so it is right for everyone else as well.
 Stealing – Stealing is wrong whenever it would be inappropriate for someone to
steal from us, such as when they want something without paying for it. However,
if stealing is necessary to survive because no one is willing to share food, then it
might be necessary to steal out of self-respect.
 Courage – Courage is rationally necessary for us to be willing to do the right
thing when the right thing is done at personal risk to oneself. Emotions must be
disregarded if they conflict with the demands of moral reason.
 Applying the categorical imperative
 Education – Education is a rational requirement insofar as ignorance puts others at risk. If we can rationally
demand others to become educated because of the dangers of ignorance, then we are also rationally required to
become educated.

 Promising – Keeping a promise is a rational requirement insofar as we can rationally demand that other people
keep their promises (out of respect for our humanity). It might be that breaking a promise is necessary from time
to time (to respect our humanity), but only when it would be wrong for anyone in that situation to break the
promise.

 Polluting – Although “everyone polluting by driving cars” causes harm, it isn’t clear that polluting is always
wrong. “Everyone committing their life to medicine” would end up causing harm, but we don’t want to say that
someone is doing something wrong for committing her life to medicine. However, it might be wrong to cause
pollution whenever we know that it will cause harm. If we can rationally demand a business to pollute less, then
others can make the same demand on us.

 Homosexual behavior – If having sex for pleasure can be rational for heterosexuals, then having sex for pleasure
can be rational for homosexuals. Doing something to attain pleasure is not irrational as long as there’s no