Deontology: Respect for Persons

Upcoming Due Dates

5/23: DB#3 Due (start of class)
5/27: Quiz #4 Due (8am)
6/3: Case Analysis (Draft)
6/6: Bonus Quiz Due (optional)
6/10: Case Analysis (Final)

48-hour grace period applies
Tips for Case Analysis
1. Read & Follow Assignment Instructions

2. This is an opportunity for you to show what you know.
(a) Explain in your own words
(b) Cite your sources

3. Write in multiple drafts

4. Address any issues from your previous work

5. Proofread your work

6. Now is the time to draw conclusions!
Moral Theories (individual application of theory)
Utilitarianism
Virtue ethics
deontology

Individual Analyses
what you (as an individual) think, based on your groups
application of theories

Group Conclusion
what your group decides, together, based on discussion
of your individual analyses
More Moral Tests
Creative Middle Way
There may be some situations in which different
moral values or duties come into conflict with one
another.

For example, say you promised to meet a friend at a
specific time. You have just enough time to make it.
But as you drive, you come across the scene of an
accident. You can help, but then youll definitely be
late. Do you honor your promise or help the
accident victim?
Creative Middle Way
Assuming that the meeting is something like
dinner and no real harm is done by being
late the need to offer assistance is the higher
priority.

When priorities come into conflict it is often
difficult to DO what is right. But it is not so
difficult to KNOW what is right.
Creative Middle Way
Resolution in which all the conflicting demands are at
least partially met.

For example, suppose youre an engineer working for
a company that uses a chemical process that is
dangerous and polluting. You have an obligation to
the company, but you also have an obligation to the
public. It may be that there is some other process
that could be used which would be cleaner and,
perhaps, cheaper in the long run than the dirtier
chemical process being used. Such an approach
would be a creative middle way.
Creative Middle Way
In finding a creative middle way, it is often
helpful to consider a range of options and
then pick the one that could best meet the
conflicting obligations and duties.
Existentialist Ethics
Existentialism
Like the term philosophy,
there is probably no non-
controversial way to
define existentialism.
Common Theme
Existentialists can be theists or atheists, but
their founding principle is generally taken to
be that existence precedes essence (or
subjectivity must be the starting point).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-
uQWNd540I&feature=player_embedded
An Example Based on Sartre
A desk is an object which has been made by an
artisan whose inspiration came from a concept. He
referred to the concept of what a desk is and known
methods of production. Hence, the desk is at once
an object produced in a certain way, for a specific
purpose. The objects essence precedes its
existence.
God as the creator
When we conceive of God as the Creator, He is
generally thought to be a superior sort of
artisan. So the concept of humans appeared
in Gods mind before He created them.
But what if there is no God?
In the 18th century, the philosophes discarded
the idea of God. According to the atheistic
existentialists, if God does not exist, then
there is at least one being whom existence
precedes essencea being who exists before
he can be defined by any concept, and that
this being is man.
Existence Precedes Essence
Existence precedes essence means that, first
of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the
scene, and only afterwards, defines himself.
At first, man is nothing.
Only afterwards, will he
be something and he
himself will have made
him what he will be.

There is no human
nature, since there is no
god to conceive it.
Man is what he makes of himself
This is also what others have [derogatively]
called subjectivity. But Sartre sees his view as
demonstrating that humans have greater
dignity than a rock.

Man is at the start a plan which is aware of
itself, rather than being a patch of moss.

Man will be what he will have planned to be.
Implications
If existence really does precede essence, man
is responsible for what he is.
Acts Affirm
In fact, in creating the man that we want to
be, there is not a single one of our acts which
does not at the same time create an image of
man as we think he ought to be. To choose to
be this or that is to affirm at the same time
the value of what we choose, because we can
never choose evil. We always choose the
good, and nothing can be good for us without
being good for all.
One for All
When we say that man chooses his own self,
we mean that every one of us does likewise.
And in making that choice, that person also
chooses for all men.
I AM Responsible!
If we grant that we exist and fashion our image at
one and the same time, the image is valid for
everybody and for our whole age. Our responsibility
thus involves all of humanity.

For example, if I want to marry, to have children
even if this matter depends solely on my own
circumstances or passion or wish, I am involving all of
humanity in monogamy and not merely myself.
Therefore, I am responsible for myself and for
everybody else.
Common Existentialist Terms:
Anguish

Forlornness

Despair
Anguish
the man who involves himself and who
realizes that he is not only the person he
chooses to be, but also a law-maker who is, at
the same time, choosing for all mankind as
well as himself, cannot help escape the feeling
of his total and deep responsibility.
Not more Anguish?
The anguish is much like the feeling of the
military leader who sends his soldiers into
battle, knowing that some will not return.

Those who are not anxious are simply fleeing
from this feeling.
Know Thyself
For every man, everything happens as if all
mankind had its eyes fixed on him and were
guiding itself by what he does. And every man
ought to ask himself:

Am I really the kind of man who has the
right to act in such a way that humanity
might guide itself by my actions?
VII. Existentialist Ethics

1. Identify the moral issue under consideration.

2. Note available options.

3. Ask this question for each available option: Would I want all of
humanity to accept my example as an endorsement and
standard of morally correct behavior?

4. Any answer of no to an option, would negate that option as
a morally permissible choice.

5. An answer of yes to an option is inconclusive, as it may
simply mean that the subject doesnt care about the
consequences of his or her actions.
Forlornness
God does not exist and we have to face the
consequences of this. If there is no god that
created us, there was also no god to set forth
rules for human conduct.
Huh?
Another example: Ss brother killed in war, so
S wants to avenge his death and help fellow
citizens. But Ss mother needed S to carry on.
The only way for S to determine the value of
his affection is to perform an act which
confirms and defines it. But since that
affection is required to justify the act, S is
caught in a vicious circle.
Despair
we shall confine ourselves to reckoning only
with what depends upon our will, or on the
ensemble of probabilities which make our
action possible. . . Given that man is free and
there is no human nature to depend on, I
cannot count on men whom I do not know by
relying on human goodness. We must limit
ourselves to what we see.
Virtue Ethics
Consider
The friend who visits
you in the hospital
because he or she is:


A good Utilitarian.
A good Kantian.
Good men
don't need
rules. Today is
not the day to
find out why I
have so many
of them.
Morality of Actions or Persons?
We assess the not only the morality of actions,
but also the morality of persons.

Persons are described as good, decent,
immoral, corrupt, etc.
Dispositions and Attitudes
Rather than focus on what a person does, one
might look at the desires, attitudes, and
dispositions of a person.

For example, how do we view the sort of
person who would take candy from a baby?
Consider
The case of the ex-convict...

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=32
1105
Turning to Virtue
Possessing Virtue
According to the Greeks, to have virtue was to
have the quality of excellence.

This term might be applied to objects, such as
tools. It might also be applied to persons (e.g,
a virtuoso violinist).
A Virtuous Person
So, what would it mean to be a virtuous
person?
Aristotles Virtue Ethics
from Nichomachean Ethics
Happiness
Happiness consists in doing well or living well.
Persons
To really know what doing well or living well
consists in, we need to know the function of a
person.
Function of Persons
The function of man is activity of soul in
accordance with reason.

How does Aristotle arrive at this? He looks at
what makes humans different from other
entities.
Function of Persons
The function is not simply life, as other things
are alive.

The function is not sensation, for other beings
experience sensations, too.
Function of Persons
. . . it is the active life of the rational part of
mans being.

By active life, he refers to some kind of
activity.

Two Senses of Rational
1. possessing and exercising reason and
intelligence

2. obedient to reason (i.e., actually following
through deliberations referred to in #1)
Virtue
Virtue is partly intellectual and partly moral.

Intellectual virtue is originated and fostered
mainly by teaching.
Virtue
Moral virtue is the outcome of practice or
habit. Hence, its not implanted in us by
nature. (Otherwise, it could not be
transformed by habit.)

MV imply a right attitude toward pleasures
and pains.
Just Do It!
It is by doing just acts that one becomes just.
By doing brave acts, one becomes brave.
Implications
It is our duty, therefore, to keep a certain
character in our activities, since our moral
states depend on the differences in our
activities.
Implications
It is also important to have the right training
early on, as this is when we will begin to make
associations between pleasure and pain.
Deeds
Deeds are called just and temperate when
they are such that a just and temperate
person would do them [because they are just
or temperate].
Dont Just Theorize
Theorizing about the good is not the same as
performing it. It would be the moral
equivalent of seeing doctors and receiving
advice, but then failing to put the advice into
practice.
V. Virtue Ethics: Moral Exemplar

1. Identify moral issue under consideration.

2. Note available options.

3. Identify a moral exemplar (i.e., morally virtuous person who may serve as an
example).

4. Ask what the moral exemplar would do, given the available options.

(a) If the moral exemplar faced a situation like the one youre considering the decision
should be easy.

(b1) If the moral exemplar did *not* face a situation like the one youre considering, things
are a little more complicated. You may identify some noteworthy behavior of the moral
exemplar.

(b2) Then, based on the behavior of the moral exemplar you have noted, extrapolate to
determine what the moral exemplar *would have* done.

The behavior the moral exemplar engaged in OR would have engaged in is the
morally correct thing to do.
Moral Mean
Virtue is a state of deliberate moral purpose,
consisting in a mean relative to ourselves.
Moral Mean
The mean is between two vices (excess and
deficiency), as determined by reason.
Problem with the Vice of Bravery
Cowardice=not enough bravery

Rashness=too much bravery

Bravery=mean between cowardice and
rashness
No Mean?
In some cases there is no mean (e.g., malice
and adultery OR temperance and courage).

For example, the actions may be intrinsically
wicked.
Epistemic Problems
Since we have trouble finding the mean, it
may be advisable to steer clear of evil and
avoid situations which put is in a difficult
position.