MORALS & ETHICS

TOPIC 7 part 1 : ETHICS

THEORY AND CRITIQUE
-Social Morality
- Personality Virtue
 Social Morality Theory
• Refers to moral standards, social norms, law
and the global environment as practised in
society
• Individual has responsibility to obey rules from
the _authorities__________ e.g. governments,
laws, regulations, cultural traditions and local
norms
• People are punished if they do not resist selfish
motivation to steal, lie, and murder no matter
how much they may want to.
 Characteristics of Social Morality
• We need to practise social morality as a
requirement of social life; therefore, allow us
to live together in cooperative, mutually
beneficial, social harmony & peace
• we need to follow societal rules e.g. “Do not
steal, lie in court, or murder”
• As humans, no man can live alone e.g school
of fish moves as a group for protection and
survival
 Characteristics of Social Morality

• Social morality might __contrast_________

with personal values or “individual ideals.”
• This is because it comprises of rules that both
“provide the conditions to achieve our
ambitions” but also “at the same time, limit
our choices about how to pursue them.”
 Weaknesses in Social Moral Theory

1. supporting leaders who are

__authoritarian_________ who cause
sufferings to their society.
Eg. Adolf Hitler who required Germans in
the 1930s to accept everything that he said
as absolute law, and was able to impose a
death sentence on anyone who failed to do
so.
Adolf Hitler • He blamed Jews for
Germany's economic
issues, which lead to the
slaughter of 6 million Jews
in concentration camps.
• His invasion of Poland also
sparked World War 2 in
which millions more were
killed in the conflict from
1939-1945.
2. Different communities have different sets of
rules, laws, cultures and moral values.
Therefore can cause misunderstanding,
conflict________ and tension between cultures,
e.g. eye contact, physical proximity, foul
language
3. Can make it hard for you to adapt to another
culture in another country esp Asian vs western
culture
4. Some rules and regulations are
___unjust________ and you have to obey them
against your own wishes e.g. Apartheid rules in
South Africa
Apartheid: Discriminatory Rules against black
People in South Africa
 Theory of Personality Virtues
• Virtue Ethics promotes traits of character, habits,
tendencies, and dispositions that make a person
_good________. Promoted by philosophers e.g.
Aristotle, Confucius
• A morally __virtuous______ person is a person
whose every action is as good as possible. People
live better when they possess most or all of the
virtues.
• Therefore, virtue can give a greater opportunity
for living a fully human life
(“__flourishing__________”)
• Virtues are not separate from happiness itself.
They can be the means to
____happiness_______.
• Virtues e.g. courage, loyalty, honesty, & fairness
are important in our relationships with family,
friends & coworkers.
• Virtues help us to fulfil the requirements of our
__roles________. E.g. teachers ought to be
patient and kind.
• Involve acting with a _proper motive__________:
practising a virtue constantly with appropriate
motive or attitude
Confucius born in China Aristotle born in Greece
( 551 – 479 BCE) (384 – 322 BCE)
• _Vice__________ is the opposite—a habit that
reduces one’s chances of achieving personal
happiness. It is bad; there cannot be a good vice.
• Virtue Ethics encourages us to develop the good
traits (virtues) and get rid of the bad ones (vices).
• The virtues are developed through
__repetition_________/habit. The importance of
developing good habits of character, e.g. by
practising courage or honesty, we become more
courageous & honest as a habit.
• The same for vice. The person who lies & lies again
finds that lying is easier & telling the truth is more
difficult.
• -acquired e.g. learning to speak/read/write
-but not inherent e.g. born with 5 senses
• Aristotle defines moral virtue as something
good, an "_excellence__________" of human
character, and as a mean/average/median
between two extremes of deficiency and
excess which are vices

___________ courage ___________

Examples of Examples of
_Virtues__________ __Moral
Humility, Modesty Vices_________
Generosity, Charity :
Kindness, Gratitude Pride, Arrogance
Patience, Compassion Avarice, Greed
Chastity, Purity Envy, Jealousy
Temperance, Wrath, Anger
Moderation Lust, Impurity
Diligence, Fervor Gluttony,
Voracity
Sloth, Laziness
• Virtues are valuable to us because they are
the requirements for living the good life.
• Doing something to undermine our virtues or
our ability to practice virtues is a great harm
to people because it _scandalises________
others.
E.g. Kidnapping children and forcing
them to be child soldiers.
 Questions to think about
Imagine it’s your funeral. You’ve lived a long life,
and the people closest to you gather to make a
speech about you. Your husband/wife, children,
siblings, friends, colleagues. One by one, they
speak about your life and what they like most
about you. What would you want them to say?
A. You were a great man… You had so much $$$.
B. You was a great salesman. You helped your
company earned millions.
C. You was so famous. You had 1000 followers
on your Instagram account.
D. You were a good friend, loving parent, a kind
colleague.
E. You were kind, generous, joyful, hardworking,
caring, honest, selfless
F. You have made a positive impact on others
around you and contributed to the society.
Weakness of Theory of Personality Virtues

• Variable –Virtues can be variable.

E.g. You need to be honest, but in some situations,
not always.
E.g. Courage is a virtue but in the extreme, it
becomes recklessness(too fearless) or cowardice
(too fearful)
• Virtues conflict – Virtues can come into
_conflict________ with each other – sometimes
we have to choose to be kind or be honest, but
can’t be both.
How Theory of Personality Virtues develop?
• In childhood –you learn personality virtues from your
parents and family. Children usually obey rules set up by
parents. Get rewarded and punished. Learned at school
through education & punishment.
• In Adolescents –you are influenced by people around
you both your peers and people you admire. You know
the _consequences________ of right and wrong actions.
You start to learn to think for yourself
• In Adulthood –you are more __mature_______ & can
decide what morality you believe in and want to live by
because of what you experience and the consequences
you get from certain choices you made.
Case Study 1: Drugs Company’s Greed
• Valeant, a pharmaceuticals company often raise the
price of its drugs overnight. E.g. it raised the price of
the diabetes pill Glumetza, about 800 percent.
• Valent says they have a duty to shareholders of
Valeant to wring the maximum profit out of each
drug and to richly reward its investors and made it
one of Wall Street’s most popular stocks.
• “How can they just do this?” said Gail Mayer, a
retiree who said her monthly supply of Valeant drug
went from $519.92 in May to $4,643 in August. “I’m
sure it didn’t cost them $4,000 more to make.”
“You don’t just go buy a bottle of milk and suddenly the
supermarket charges you $100.”
Case Study 2: Food Contamination
• A peanut plant manager,
Parnell and two others are
charged with knowingly
shipping tainted peanut butter
and covering up lab tests that
showed salmonella
• His actions cause a nationwide
salmonella outbreak killed
nine Americans and sickened
more than 700 people five
years ago.
 Tutorial Questions for Topic 7
1. What are the strategies to develop
characteristics of personality virtues? Give
three
2. Give 2 advantages of practicing personality
virtue ethics.
3. Explain briefly how you can acquire virtues
4. What are the weaknesses of social moral
theory