PHILOSOPHY - 1

Faculty Name:
Cdr Anand Kumar
 PHILOSOPHY - 1

BA LLB-2ND YEAR: SEM IV

 PHILOSOPHY - 1

Module – V
Axiology/ Theory
of Morals

Module – III
Metaphysics/
Reality
Module – IV
Epistemology/
Nature of
Module – I Knowledge
Module – II
Philosophy
Methods of
Philosophy
 REFERENCE MATERIAL

Introduction to Philosophy – GTW Patrick

Types of Philosophy – William Ernest Hacking

History of Philosophy – Frank Thilly

An introduction to Philosophical Analysis – John Hospers

Research materials – Pdf from open sources (which I will discuss and share)
 PHILOSOPHY

What is meant What is

by ‘Good’? meant by
What if ‘Evil’??
meant by
What is ‘Values’?
What do you meant by
understand by ‘Ethics’?
‘Morals?
 AXIOLOGY
➢ Axiology – theory of Morals

➢ Etymologically the term “ethics” corresponds to the Greek word “ethos” which means
character, habit, customs, ways of behaviour, etc

➢ Ethics is also called “moral philosophy”

➢ The word “moral” comes from Latin word “mores” which signifies customs, character,
behaviour, etc

➢ Thus ethics may be defined as the systematic study of human actions from the point of
view of their rightfulness or wrongfulness, as means for the attainment of the ultimate
happiness

➢ It is the reflective study of what is good or bad in that part of human conduct for which
humans have some personal responsibility
 AXIOLOGY
➢ In simple words ethics refers to what is good and the way to get it and what is bad and
how to avoid it

➢ It refers to what ought to be done to achieve what is good and what ought not to be
done to avoid what is evil

➢ As moral philosophy, ethics is the philosophical thinking about morality, moral problems,
and moral judgements

➢ Ethics is sometimes distinguished from morality

➢ In such cases, ethics is the explicit philosophical reflection on moral beliefs and practices
while morality refers to the first-order beliefs and practices about good and evil by means
of which we guide our behaviour (e.g. music and musicology)

➢ However, in most cases they are referred to as having the same meaning
 ETHICS

Metaethics Normative Ethics Applied ethics

➢Metaethics investigates ➢tries to arrive at moral ➢involves examining specific

the origin and meaning of standards that regulate controversial issues, such
ethical concepts right and wrong conduct as abortion, infanticide,
animal rights,
➢It studies where our ➢It is a more practical task environmental concerns,
ethical principles come homosexuality, and so on
from and what they mean ➢ In applied ethics, using
➢It is a search for an ideal
the conceptual tools of
litmus test of proper
metaethics and normative
➢It tries to analyse the behaviour
ethics, one tries to resolve
underlying principles of
these controversial issues
ethical values
ETHICS
 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?
➢ Why should we be moral?

➢ Why should we take part in the moral institution of life?

➢ Why should we adopt a moral point of view?

➢ In every human person there is a deep desire for good

➢ Human beings by nature tend to be good – summum bonum

➢ Each man/woman desires what is best for himself/herself

➢ The ethical principles and moral practices help one to attain what is best

➢ Morality has to do more with one’s interior self than the practice of some customs or set
rules
 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?

➢ The rational nature of human being makes him/her aware of certain fundamental
principles of logical and moral reasoning

➢ This means that there is not only a subjective aspect to every human action but also an
objective one that prompts a human person to base himself/herself on certain common
principles

➢ We also find that for the functioning of any society we need certain rules and regulations

➢ The institutions which are designed to make life easier and better for human being,
cannot function without certain moral principles
 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?
➢ However, what about individual freedom? – Free will !!!

➢ How far the society can go on demanding?

➢ Should it not respect the freedom of the individual?

➢ Is morality individual or individual is made for morality?

➢ Morality is a lot like food/ nutrition

➢ Most of us have never had a course in nutrition or even read much about it

➢ Yet many of us do have some general knowledge of the field, of what we need to eat and
what not

➢ However, we also make mistakes about these things

 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?
➢ Remember, the crash dieting, intermittent dieting, Keto dieting, Junk foods

➢ So too is our moral life

➢ While nutrition focuses on our physical health, morality is concerned about our moral
health

➢ It seeks to help us determine what will nourish our moral life and what will poison it

➢ It seeks to enhance our lives, to help us to live better lives

➢ Morality aims to provide us with a common point of view from which we can come to
agreement about what all of us ought to do

➢ It tries to discover a more objective standpoint of evaluation than that of purely personal
preference
 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?

‘Ethics’ and ‘Morals’

➢ Ethics is the theory of right and wrong conduct

➢ While ethics involves the values that a person seeks to express in a certain situation

➢ morals refers to the way one sets about achieving this

➢ Ethics is concerned with the principles of human behaviour

➢ Morals with the application of these principles, in a particular situation

 WHY SHOULD WE BE MORAL?
‘Moral’, ‘Immoral’ and ‘Amoral’ Actions

➢ An action is said to be moral when it is done deliberately to attain the ultimate happiness
➢ A morally good action has to be a moral action and a human action
➢ An action is moral only if it is done freely and in view of an end

Immoral
➢ Immoral means ‘not observing a particular known moral rule’
➢ Immoral actions are all those actions that are morally bad actions (e.g. Incest, homicide, etc.)

‘Amoral’ or ‘non-moral’
➢ ‘Not relevant to, or concerned with, morals’.
➢ We can note some of the non-moral actions: actions of inanimate objects or events (flood, famine,
etc.) They are indifferent actions and are beyond the moral sphere

➢ Reflex actions: they are automatic and immediate (e.g. breathing). Accidental acts, actions of
children below the age of reason/ insane persons and actions done under the spell of hypnosis
 GOOD & BAD

➢ Many statements state facts

➢ Statements like 'he is a tall man', or 'India is the largest democracy in the world’

➢ However, there are statements which do not just describe facts but also express our
judgment

➢ Statements like 'stealing is bad' or 'use of atomic bomb is destructive; 'sound mental and
physical health is desirable', 'this painting is beautiful' etc

➢ These categories of statements express values we attach to something. In other words, in

such statements we are making judgments of value

➢ The term good in an ethical context, is interpreted differently by different thinkers

 GOOD & BAD

➢ According to the utilitarian view, any act is good if it promotes or tends to promote
maximum happiness to the maximum number of people in the long run

➢ The utilitarian definition has however some meri because it attempts to define in terms of
the consequences it produces.

➢ The term good is defined as the end or the objective of human action

➢ Greatest happiness of greatest number

➢ This view evaluates moral actions in terms of whether they contribute to the good

➢ The results/consequences determine the rightness or wrongness of actions

 INTRINSIC & INSTRUMENTAL GOOD
➢ There are other Deontological theories, which argue the priority of the right over the good

➢ Actions are intrinsically right or wrong without any regard to the consequences they
happen to produce

➢ In short, certain actions are intrinsically good or bad, right or wrong

➢ Their goodness or badness do not depend on the consequences they produce

➢ For example, if I perform my duty with sincerity I should not bother about what might be
the consequences

➢ Something in this world are valuable, desirable, worthwhile, i.e. good for their own sake

➢ Whereas other things are good only as means to some end

 INTRINSIC & INSTRUMENTAL GOOD

➢ They are security, peace, pleasure, money, enjoyment, happiness, knowledge, honesty,
kindness, intelligence, affection, beauty, etc. which are worth having or desirable

➢ But some of these are desirable for their own sake and others are means to something
that are desirable for their own sake

➢ For example, money is good only as a means to some other things like material comfort,
freedom from certain fears, happiness, and peace

➢ But are all these things that money brings worth having for their own sake

➢ Surely no
 INTRINSIC & INSTRUMENTAL GOOD
➢ Happiness is intrinsically good

➢ Thus, intrinsic value is the ethical thing that an object has in itself or for its own sake

➢ An object with intrinsic value may be regarded as an end or end-in itself

➢ It is contrasted with instrumental value (or extrinsic value), the value of which depends on how
much it generates intrinsic value

➢ Pleasure is a certain kind of consciousness (not verbally definable), a psychological state, with
which we are all acquainted from our experiences

➢ We speak of pleasure of eating, drinking, sexual experience, taking a walk in the morning, reading a
book, contemplating works of arts, listening to music, engaging in conversation with friends etc

➢ All these things are sources of pleasure. Pleasure may be physical such as eating, drinking, sexual
experience or it may be mental and spiritual
 INTRINSIC & INSTRUMENTAL GOOD
➢ Happiness and pleasure are not synonymous terms

Happiness
Pleasure

➢ We may experience pleasure for a few seconds but it would be strange to speak of being happy for
a few seconds

➢ The relation of pleasure and happiness is like that of part and the whole happiness consists of the
sum of pleasures
 HEDONISM – GOOD
➢ Hedonism as a normative ethical philosophy means that pleasure and happiness constitute ultimate good

➢ In other words it can be said that something is normally good or right if it promotes or tends to promote
maximum happiness to the maximum number of people in the long run

➢ According to the philosophy of hedonism, only that pleasure is intrinsically good - that is, worth having for its
own sake

➢ On the basis of this theory, the more pleasure and happiness are in the world, the better it is

➢ Life containing the most intrinsic good is the one that contains maximum pleasure and the least displeasure

➢ According to the hedonist, pleasure and happiness are intrinsically good

➢ There are many things that the hedonist would consider good, but only pleasure and happiness are
considered intrinsically good

➢ For example works of Art are good in that they provide the possibility of pleasant aesthetic experiences
 HEDONISM – GOOD & BAD

➢ Among the things that are instrumentally good (in the hedonistic sense) are moral qualities
or virtues-honesty, benevolence, truth, non-stealing, industriousness and so on

➢ In general, moral qualities are those that tend to make one and all better human beings;

➢ Though it is difficult to make a sharp distinction between moral and non-moral qualities

➢ Excess of everything is bad??

➢ Happiness also is not good without conditions

➢ Happiness of a teacher Vs happiness of a thief !!!

➢ Atomic bomb Vs Atomic energy !!!

 HEDONISM – GOOD & BAD

➢ Loyalty, honesty and generosity are evil when used for a bad cause as exemplified by
fanatics’

➢ Loyalty to their party and ready to slaughter thousands

➢ Similarly, if a doctor tells truth to a patient who suffers from some incurable disease it will
do more harm to the patient than good
 THE EVIL & THE TYPES OF EVIL

➢ The problem of evil challenged the existence of God

➢ Philosophers and theologians have discussed the problem of evil for centuries

➢ They tried to classify evil into two broad categories, namely, moral and natural

➢ Moral evil - This covers the willful acts of human beings (such wars, crimes, self destructive
vices and damages they cause in human life as murder, rape, etc.)

➢ Natural evil - This refers to natural disasters (such as famines, floods, and destructive
effects of earthquakes and so on
 THE EVIL & THE TYPES OF EVIL
➢ There are two classes of evil:

➢ 1. Physical evil - This means bodily pain or mental anguish (fear, illness, grief, war, etc.)

➢ 2. Metaphysical evil - This refers to such things as imperfection and chance (criminals going
unpunished, deformities, etc.)

➢ There is another way to distinguish evil as moral and non-moral

➢ Evil is what harms human beings

➢ The moral evil is harm done by human beings to other human beings

➢ The non-moral evil is viewed as a harm done to human beings by non human agents and
events.
 LOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM EVIL
➢ The classical form of argument from evil demonstrates the impossibility of God’s creating a
world containing any evil whatsoever

➢ This basic idea was put forwarded by Epicurus , Greek philosopher was forcefully restated
by David Hume, eighteenth century Scottish philosopher and fierce critic of Christianity in
his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion :

➢ ‘Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able?

➢ Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing?

➢ Then He is malevolent

➢ Is He both able and willing?

➢ Whence then is evil?’

 LOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM EVIL

➢ This may put it in this logical sequence:

➢ 1. If God exists and is perfectly good, then He will prevent as much evil as He can.

➢ 2. If God exists and is omnipotent (and omniscient), then He can prevent any evil from
occurring

➢ 3. There is evil Conclusion: God does not exist, or He is not omnipotent and omniscient, or
He is not perfectly good

➢ Good and evil are nothing in themselves but only social constructs
 LOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM EVIL

➢ St Augustine (354-430) put the problem most concisely: "

➢ Either God cannot abolish evil, or he will not; if he cannot then he is not all-powerful; if he
will not then he is not all good.“

➢ St. Augustine and Reinhold Niebuhr stressed evil’s inward character

➢ Its roots in human pride, arrogance, sensuality, selfishness, and alienation form the divine
DISCUSSIONS !!!

Q & A !!!
THANK YOU ALL