UNIT I: CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS

(TEACHER’S NOTES)

UNIT I INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS IN ETHICS

DEFINITION : What is Ethics?

I. Moral Philosophy/Ethics (as a branch of philosophy)

1. Rational/systematic attempt to understand moral , statements, principles, and theories.

2. Assessing moral principles and theories,

4. Applying principles and theories to moral problems.

II. ETHICS AND MORALITY

1. Customs, precepts and practices that deal with matters of good/bad and wrong/right.

2. It has to do with how people ought to act

3.'A normative codes, of behavior acceptable/prohibited

4.Ethics' names a field of inquiry while 'morality'names the object of that inquiry.

III.QUESTIONS OF ETHICS

Ethics studies the nature and concepts of morality in a systematic way, employing the tools of critical
reasoning.

• What is right or wrong?and how can we determine it

• Can there be several equally right ways of acting in a given situation?

• What makes something right or wrong?

• What does it mean to say that an action is morally wrong/good or desirable

• Is it a necessary truth that an action that is forbidden by God is morally wrong?

• Do objective values exist somewhere in space and time? or relative (i.e., place/time/group)

• What are the grounds of morality (i.e., why do people think one action is right and another

IV.ETHICS (, LEGALITY, ETIQUETTE, VALUE AND SYSTEM OF RELIGION)

A.LEGAL CODE

1 Represents the minimum acceptable behavior of a particular group.

2 Assessment: Legal/illegal

3 Basis: The authority of the lawmakers.

4 Punishment: Fines, prison terms, exile, death, torture, etc. inflicted by the enforcers of the law.

5 Rewards: Typically none.

CONSIDERATIONS

1 What is (un)ethical is not necessarily (il)legal, and vice versa:

1. EX: Ethical and legal: donating money to charity.

\ 2. EX: Ethical and illegal: hiding Jews in Germany during WWII.

3. EX: Unethical and legal: slavery (years ago in America).

4. EX: Unethical and illegal: first degree murder

N:B: What is common ,both attempt to control the behavior of individuals .The distinction lies in the
severity of the punishments associated with each kind of violation. Societies more tolerant of moral
violations than of violations of the law

B. ETIQUETTE

2 is not ethics or morality(talk with your mouth full but it is not unethical or immoral

3 represents the broadest possible set of behavioral expectations of a society.

4 Assessment: Polite/impolite, proper/improper, rude.

5 Basis: Social agreement, custom, etiquette authorities.

6 Punishment: Social disapproval. Rewards: Social approval.

7 It can be immoral to ignore etiquette.Things required by etiquette might be immoral.

C.VALUE
1. A measure of worth; includes both moral and non-moral worth.

3. Positive Value/Negative Value

4. Extrinsic value: Derives its value from something else.

a.A means to an end.

b. Something useful.(c. Examples: money, medicine, education, work, etc.

5. Intrinsic value: Valuable in and of itself.( Example: persons.)

D. SYSTEM OF RELIGION

1 A normative system, i.e., it tells people how to behave. Usually entails non-natural sanctions for
violations of the code of conduct

2 Often been used as the basis of morality.

3 Extensive overlap: religion raises many moral issues and morality raises many religious issues.

N:B: Analysis of morality difficult (different normative social systems overlap ). For example, while failing
to pay your taxes is clearly a violation of the legal code, it does not seem to be rude, immoral, or
impious.

V.TYPES OF ETHICS

A. Ethics is the discipline concerned with right and wrong human actions. Various sub-types within
ethics:

A.DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS:

1. Psychological, anthropological, or sociological explanations, with the goal of attaining empirical

knowledge of the morality of accepted moral views. The views could be current or past moral views.

QUESTIONS OF DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS

• Why did we as a culture accept slavery, as a practice? Why does this person have these views of
abortion

B.NORMATIVE ETHICS-
1 deals with questions relating to the prescription of norms i.e. it attempts to offer a theory that
explains what one ought to . Tells us what actions are right and what actions are wrong .Deals with the
systematic articulation and justification of moral intuitions.

QUESTIONS OF NORMATIVE ETHICS

• Are abortions in the case of the imminent death of the mother morally permissible? Is the
death penalty morally permissible?

C.METAETHICS -

1 analyzing the nature of moral judgments and specifying appropriate methods for the
justification of particular moral judgments and theoretical systems. Tells us about the nature of moral
language and the objectivity of the codes articulated under the normative side of ethical theory.

QUESTIONS OF METAETHICS

• Are there any moral facts?

• What makes an action right or wrong?

• Where do moral obligations come from?

• Is God necessary for morality?

D.APPLIEDETHICS

1. Application of normative philosophical principles to moral issues in society.(Abortion,

Euthanasia, Capital punishment, poverty)

VI.ETHICS AND MORAL EDUCATION

A. Moral education typical involves

1. Conveying information about morality.

2. Instilling values, rules, precepts, guidelines and practices.

3. Training in right behavior.

B . Moral education is a matter of controversy and debatable issue

C. Practicality of MoraL Education

1. To persist as a society it needs to ,educate on its values-including moral values.

a. However, moral values and practices tend to change with time.

b. The question of whether the specific values are correct or not still remains.

2.Society without any standards would collapse into chaos.

3. Moral education necessary for the survival of societies and cultures.

D.Desirability of Moral Education

A. Human Nature?

1. If humans are good by nature, relatively easy (refinement and guidance).

3. If humans are naturally inclined towards goodness keeping people on the right track

4. If humans are naturally neutral challenging involve directing people towards goodness.

5. If humans are naturally inclined towards evil, methods that pushed people away from evil

6. If humans are naturally evil, very difficult and would require powerful methods

B. Possible?

1. Past generations have passed on moral teachings to following generations.

C. Desirable?Debate

1. Should morality be taught?-is it ethical to teach morality?

2. Some thinkers opposed because these methods are regarded as coercive.

3. Most regard as desirable on practical grounds- make people behave better.

III Who, Why, What?

A. Purpose?

1. Practical aim of making people good.

2 Theoretical aim of informing people about moral views.

3. Help clarify the student’s values.

B. Educators?Who should be responsible?

1. Standard answers include: family (parents, religious institutions (churches), educational institutions
(schools), and the state.

C. One Morality?

1. Some argue that moral education should convey a single morality.

Reason: Problematic to teach different moralities .inconsistent ,contradictory, would be confusing

2.Imposing one morality authoritarian and violation of rights.

D. Content? Is it theistic non- theistic(Christian,Buddhist,Islam,Confucian)

E. Methods?

1. Discourse-moral lectures and discussions.(critical,philosophical analysis)

a. Encourage the young to question their moral stand/beliefs

F. Practice

A. Putting it into Practice

1. End is not theoretical,but practical knowledge (adopt any means to become good.

B. Nature & Instruction

1. Goodness can only be induced in a suitably receptive character.

2. Some claim it is by nature or habit or instruction that some people become good.

C. Analogy to land

1. Land has to be prepared before planting. The mind of the pupil has to be prepared

2. We must have a character (an affinity to virtue-do what is noble and objects to what is base.

VII. FOCI OF THIS COURSE(USE OF CRITICAL THINKING)

1. not to arrive at necessary truths involving ethical concepts.

2. not to construct a sound moral theory that would, answers all ethical questions.

FOCI OF THIS COURSE

1.Engage in 'low-level normative ethics'(not high level meta-ethics or normative ethics).

2.Some decree of metaethical analysis(need to adress metaethical questions(objectivity)

3.Using ( C.T.P.A) to arrive at a general theory that contains all correct basic moral principles

4.Apply that general theory to arrive at the correct answers to specific, lower-level questions.

REASONS: Application of( C.T.) provide good reasons for changing one’s moral beliefs.
1.Person has Inconsistent Moral Beliefs (potential conflict with actual moral beliefs.)

2.Moral Beliefs that are based upon non-moral Belief that turn out to be False

EXAMPLE :Abortion is always wrong because, there is an immaterial soul present in human beings from
conception.

VIII.WHY WE NEEDTO STUDY ETHICS

1.Man has a deep desire to know what is right and wrong

2.To consistently apply that knowledge in all aspects of our lives.

3.Most people have some ethical system, taken from different sources. (brings inconsistency of beliefs
and moral guides)

4.Need to apply philosophical/critical scrutiny to our moral behavior/decisions to behave as we ought.