Ethics
How do we decide what is morally
right and what is wrong?
Many people’s first reaction when asked about ethics
is to point to the Ten Commandments.
In this clip, Stephen Colbert interviews American
Congressman Lynn Westmoreland. Westmoreland
wants to display the Ten Commandments in public
places.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-
videos/70809/june-14-2006/exclusive---georgia-s-8th
The Ten Commandments
According to the account believed by Jews,
Christians and Muslims, the Ten Commandments
were dictated by God to Moses at the top of Mount
Sinai shortly after the Israelites’ escape from Egypt.
They are:
10 Commandments
1)
I am the LORD thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other
gods before me.
10 Commandments
1) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them
10 Commandments
1)
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD
thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
10 Commandments
1) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy…
in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy male or female
slave, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates.
10 Commandments
1) Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy
days may be long upon the land which the
LORD thy God giveth thee.
10 Commandments
10 Commandments
10 Commandments
1) Thou shalt not steal.
10 Commandments
10 Commandments
1) Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor
anything else that belongs to him.
Done?
Can we post the Ten Commandments in all
public places and consider ourselves done with
Ethics?
Done?
Using the Ten Commandments as a basis for ethics presents several problems. •First, those who do not believe in God will question the authority of the
commandments.
•Second, the commandments make no mention of what most of us consider to be serious moral infractions such as rape and assault.
•Third, the fourth and tenth commandments condone slavery, which is no longer considered morally acceptable.
•Fourth, they condemn activities which we consider to be routine and morally neutral, such as taking the Lord’s name in vain and working on the Sabbath.
•Fifth, some are quite ambiguous. For instance, the commandment “thou shalt not kill” does not seem to apply to warfare or executions. It also sheds little light on today’s abortion debate because it doesn’t explain when life begins.
•Sixth, biblical scholars will point out that there are actually 613 commandments in the Bible, most of which we routinely ignore.
•Seventh, Christians believe Jesus’ teaching as supersedes many of the commandments.
Religious Ethics
Religious Ethics are ethics based on the teachings of
one’s religion. They vary from religion to religion,
and they go well beyond the Ten Commandments,
even in religions that ascribe importance to the Ten
Commandments. In a nutshell, a follower of
Religious Ethics tries to act in a manner consistent
with the teachings of his/her religion and the example
of its founders. There is, therefore, some overlap
Advantages of Religious Ethics
In theory, if the teachings of a religion on a given
topic are sufficiently clear, Religious Ethics
provide a clarity and uniformity that other
schools of ethics sometimes lack. It is easy for
adherents of Religious Ethics to determine right
from wrong on some subjects without a great
deal of soul searching and tiresome debate.
Can we use reason to decide what it
right and what is wrong?
•
Kant
–
Kant believed actions are only ethical if they are
motivated by duty rather than by hope of reward or
fear of punishment.
–
Kant believed that we can figure out if an action is
ethical by imagining what would happen if
everybody did it. If everyone could do it without
causing chaos or major problems, it is ethical.
Kant (Advantages and
Disadvantages)
Advantages
•
Fair
•
Rational
•
Motivated by duty, not selfishness
•
Not influenced by emotion or habit
Disadvantages
•
Rule worship – doesn’t allow for particular
circumstances
•
How does one resolve the situation when two duties
conflict?
•
How do you define “chaos or major problems?”
•
Cold
Can we use reason to determine
what is right and what is wrong?
•
Utilitarianism
–
According to the ethical school of Utilitarianism,
the correct course of action is always the one that
brings the greatest happiness for the greatest
Utilitarianism (advantages and
disadvantages)
Advantages:
•
Democratic and fair
•
Rational
Disadvantages:
•
How do you measure happiness?
•
What makes people happy?
•
Can allow the majority to ignore the rights of the
minority.
Utilitarianism: The Trolley Problem
This is a conundrum first introduced by Phillipa Foot in 1967:
Imagine a trolley is racing down a track that is about to fork. A
villain has tied five people to one fork in the track and one
person to the other. You are standing by the switch that
determines which track the trolley will travel down. At the
moment, the switch is set to send the trolley down the track to
which five people have been tied. They will certainly be killed
unless you pull the lever to send the trolley down the other track.
If you do that, the person tied to that track will definitely die.
Should you pull the switch?
Utilitarianism: The Trolley Problem
Utilitarianism: The Trolley Problem
According to Utilitarianism, the answer is obvious – you kill one person to save five others. However, as you read it, it probably doesn’t feel quite so obvious. One problem is that, until you pull the switch, you are uninvolved. Once you pull the switch, you have made a decision to kill a person.
Various variations make the problem even less clear. What if the one person is your child and the five people are strangers? What if, instead of pulling a switch, you have to push an obese person onto the track to stop the tram?
All of this suggests that, rightly or wrongly, our sense of right and wrong doesn’t just come from Reason.
Virtue Ethics
•
A set of philosophies that hold that moral life
should be concerned with cultivating a virtuous
character, as opposed to following rules of
action.
•
Moral judgments are emotional responses to
the world around us. We should train ourselves
to feel the proper emotions so we
Virtue ethics have been around for thousands of
years. Four examples are the Buddhist “Eightfold
Path”, the Greek “Cardinal Virtues”, Confucius’
“Five Virtues” and the Christian “Seven
Heavenly Virtues”
As you read the following sets of virtues, you
will notice that there are some similarities
The Buddhist Eightfold Path
1) Right Understanding: Being aware of the world the way it
really is.
2) Right Purpose: Determination to live life with compassion
and right understanding and avoid desire, anger, hate, and
aggression.
3) Right Speech: Not lying, using words to hurt others, or
chattering unnecessarily about trivial things.
4) Right Action: Avoiding killing or harming people or
animals, not stealing, not lying
5) Right Occupation: Earning your living in a legal way that
doesn’t hurt people or animals.
6) Right Effort: Trying to think and act rightly all the time.
7) Right Attention: Always concentrating on the present and
on what is important and good.
8) Right Meditation: Training the mind to stop wanting things
through deep thought.
The Greek “Cardinal Virtues”
•
Prudence (Good judgment)
•
Temperance (restraint/moderation)
•
Courage
The Christian Seven Heavenly Virtues
1)
Chastity (moral wholesomeness and purity
of thought)
2)
Temperance (moderation/ restraint)
3)
Charity (generosity in thought and action)
4)
Diligence
5)
Patience
6)
Kindness
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Virtue Ethics
Advantages:
•
Adaptable to different situations.
Disadvantages:
•
Unless we control our thinking carefully, the reliance
on emotion as a Way of Knowing in Virtue Ethics is
likely to cause us to make more of en effort for those
close to us and for those who “tug on our heartstrings”
than for strangers who might have more need of our
help.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Virtue Ethics
If you have an extra £20, what use of it would give
you the biggest emotional payoff?
a)
Giving it to the Red Cross to be used to pay for
vaccinations for children in Somalia.
b)
Buying your son/daughter/niece/nephew the latest
book in the series he/she has been reading. – the one
that won’t be available in the library for three months.
Moral Relativism
A common criticism of Virtue Ethics, (and, to some extent, of
Utilitarianism) is that they can lead to moral relativism – the
idea that right and wrong vary from culture to culture or from
person to person, and therefore, that any action can be morally
justifiable. It is undeniable that there are differences of
opinion on ethics between cultures and individuals, but there
are also important similarities.
Our aim in TOK is not to throw up our hands and say
“anything goes” but to think about how we ourselves will
decide what is right and what is wrong. Such decisions may
not be as black and white as mathematical proofs, but giving
up and saying “it’s all relative” is intellectually lazy.
