Ethics: a very

(very) basic
introduction

Mukund Padmanabhan
What is a moral
dilemma?

• Two or more options.

• There are moral reasons
for choosing either or all
these options.
• Someone is conflicted
between these choices.

Image source: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2013/10/03/ethics-case-study-7-moral-dilemma/

 • Your best friend invites you dinner, takes a lot
of care over it, is desperate for you to try his or
her new dish (lets say some Onam Sadya
preparation); it’s the worst dish you have ever
eaten; and then you are asked the questions –
Was it tasty?
Food for • And you can respond one of the two ways:

thought • Yeccch. It was awful.

• Yes, it was lovely. Thank you.

How would you respond?

 • The assumption that morality is governed
by a set of rules.
• One may supersede or take precedence
What moral over another.
dilemmas • That we act in everyday life with rules at the
back of our mind.
reveal • Such rules exist in religious texts
• They vary from country to country, culture to
culture, one historical period to another.
 Two broad views
1. Ethical absolutism (also generalism)

If there are • Absolute standards against which moral

questions are assessed
moral rules, • That morality is inherent in some actions,
they are bad or good in itself.
what kind of • There are no exceptions to moral laws. For
instance, killing is bad.
rules are 2. Ethical relativism (also particularism,
situationism)
they? • There are no such absolute standards
• The morality of actions depends on context.
Different kinds of Ethical Relativism
•Descriptive relativism
•(Notions of right and wrong vary from one culture/society to another)

•Cultural/Ethical relativism
•(Notions of right and wrong depend on or are dictated by culture/or by personal beliefs)

•Ethical non-cognitivism
(Ethical sentences (‘statements’) lack truth value, are neither true or false

Would you describe yourself as a ethical relativist?

Arguments against Ethical Relativism
• Disagreement and difference not enough to support ER
• Diversity of morals between cultures exaggerated
• No way of judging even the most horrendous customs
• ER obviates the need to improve ourselves
• There are differences even within a culture.
 Consequentialism: The view that
the morality of an action depends
only on its consequences.

Three
schools of Deontology: The view that the
morality of an action depends on a
ethical clear set of rules.

theory
Virtue Ethics: The view that Ethics
focus and on moral virtues and
good character.
 “- Virtue means doing the right thing,
“Act only according to that maxim by at the right time, to the right extent,
“It is the greatest happiness for the which you can at the same time will in relation with the right person, in
greatest
“It is the number
greatestthat is the measure
happiness for the that it should become a universal the right manner, and for the right
of right and
greatest wrong.”
number that is the measure law.” purpose
-ofJeremy
right and wrong.”
Bentham -Immanuel Kant -- Aristotle
Image
Image source:
source: Image source: Image source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ari
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant stotleImage

Three schools, three representatives

 May be regarded A relatively new
Practical Ethics

as a sub-field of intellectual
ethical theory pursuit
(or Applied

Multi-disciplinary.
Points of view are
Deals with difficult
Ethics)

influenced by
moral questions
developments in
that people face
other fields such
in their lives.
as neurology,
psychology, etc.
Some characteristics of applied ethics
• It is specific.
• For instance, the debate about abortion and capital punishment are different even if they
sometimes invoke the same principle about taking life.
• It is controversial.
• We need to have two sides to the debate. Child pornography or child neglect are not usually
addressed in practical ethics discussions.
• Opposing views exist despite a broad agreement on facts.
• In other words, this is an ethical divide. Euthanasia and abortion are good examples of this.
• It is not merely a matter of law or social policy.
• In other words, tax laws, traffic laws and building permission sanctions wouldn’t ordinarily make
the cut. Though social policy and morality often intersect – many social policies forbid what we
regard as immoral.
Abortion and Ethical
Theory
• Kantian’s and abortion – conservative?
• Utilitarians and abortion – liberal?
• Virtue Ethicists and abortion – middle ground?
Thank you