
Ethics
1. Definition And Key Questions
2. Prevailing Views
3. Philosophers And Texts
1. Definition And
Key Questions. Ethics is
the branch of philosophy concerned with actions that can be considered
right or wrong, good or bad, appropriate or inappropriate. Ethicisits
explore
questions about duty, obligations, responsibility, and individual rights. What
should I do? Do I have any obligations as a human being -- to others, to
myself, to God, to society? What is the summum bonum (highest
good)? Is it virtue, knowledge, altruism, charity, self-actualization, lifelong pursuit of
truth, communion with God? Is there such
a thing as "moral knowledge," or are all statements employing terms like
ought and should merely expressive of desires and tastes?
Most people would agree that a man who walks into a public space, pulls
out a revolver, and indiscriminately fires at others is doing something
"wrong," something "immoral," irrespective of any
rationale he can advance. How exactly do we know that
such an action is "wrong"? Do we say the action is
"wrong" because we've been inculcated at an early age to believe
it is wrong -- because our thoughts are the product of so much religious
and social conditioning? Or is the conviction about the "wrong"
action owing to some other factor, such as an innate moral sense, for
instance? But then what's the difference between having an innate moral
sense and having a conscience? And if human beings have an innate moral
sense -- some intuitive power to distinguish what's right from what's
wrong -- why have some
among us perpetrated or condoned so many heinous acts throughout history,
such as genocide, slavery, and imperialism?
If God doesn't exist,
are terms like
"right" and "wrong" meaningful in any objectively warranted sense?
2.
Prevailing Views.
Religious
Influences: Judaism ---
A moral life is one that complies with the Law (ten commandments) and is
responsive to the will of God. Buddhism --- The summum bonum
is the attainment of nirvana, the transcendence of earthly desires and
suffering and the cycle of being and becoming. Christianity --- The
moral life embodies Christ's teachings, with emphasis on charity,
meekness, poverty, the golden rule, and faith in God. Plato: Moral truth
exists; the ground of all moral knowledge is a transcendental world of
changeless Forms of which the Good is the highest archetype. The best,
most virtuous life is lived by philosophers, whose deepest passion is to
purify the soul and to know the Truth. Aristotle: The good
is that "for whose sake everything else is done. In medicine this is
health, in strategy victory, in architecture a house..." Happiness is an
activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. Temperance is the hallmark of
the good life, and the wisest people avoid extremes.
Epicureanism: The criterion of all good is pleasure. A moral
action is that which produces the greatest pleasure; an immoral
action one producing pain. Forerunner of later hedonistic/utilitarian
philosophies. Stoicism: Happiness consists in accepting the grim fact that we control and
influence very little in the world; serene resignation is the highest
good, along with the avoidance of grief and anxiety. "We must make the
best of those things that are in our power, and take the rest as nature
gives it," advises Epictetus. Thomism: The philosophy of Aquinas, which
sees recta ratio (right reason) as the ground of all moral
knowledge. An action is good or bad to the extent that it comports with
the dictates of reason. One problem with this view: notions of recta
ratio are more likely to be culture-determined than not. Spinozistic
Ethics:
Moral philosophy of Benedict Spinoza.
Distinction between "good" and "bad" should be dropped altogether. Humans
have but a partial and preferential view of things, so that what we call
"bad" at any time may not really be bad at all (e.g., in the eyes of an
omniscient observer), but only bad with respect
to our own likes/dislikes. Only God can really know what is "good" or not.
Used relatively, "good" refers usually to what preserves our being, to
what aids us, and "bad" to what hinders us. Intellectual love of God is
the highest "good". Kantian
Deontology: The righteousness of an act depends on motive and the
fulfillment of law, not on its consequences. Only "Good Will" is truly
good. Moral behavior is governed by the categorical imperative (doing
something because it is right, not because some advantage can be derived from it),
not by the hypothetical imperative (e.g., a salesman is honest with a
customer, but only because he thinks honesty is the best means to win the
customer's business). People should always treat others as an end, not as
a means. Emphasis here is on obligation, duty, not the fruits of one's action.
Utilitarianism:
The moral philosophy of Bentham and
of James and John Stuart Mill. A hedonistic system which sees the greatest
happiness of the greatest number of people as the chief good. "Moral"
behavior leads to pleasure; "immoral" behavior leads to pain. Nihilism: Philosophy most notably of Friedrich Nietzsche. There is no moral
knowledge, no moral truth, no objective values or ideals. Nietzsche
introduced, however, the notion of master morality and slave morality, the
latter being inculcated by religion (especially Christianity). Like
Spinoza, he wished to jettison the distinction between "good" and "bad"
altogether but, unlike Spinoza, wasn't quite successful. He put forth his
own version of the "good man," what he called the Overman
(Ubermensch), someone with the perfect blend of apollonian and
dionysian attributes. Nietzsche sometimes flirted with the notion of
"good" being brute strength, military prowess, the imposition of will on
weaker natures. Existentialism: The bent of mind
of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers and a host of literary artists,
from Dostoevsky and Kafka to Camus and Hesse. The view that moral truth
doesn't exist a priori. There are no values
independent of human experience, no pre-existing, transcendent first
principles to guide human conduct. Through free will and free choice,
someone defines his/her moral nature and can add goodness to the world.
This sense of nothingness is described by existentialists in different
ways: e.g., as "despair," as "forlornness," as "nausea," as
"inauthenticity". A good life is one that is authentic, autonomous,
creative, humanistic, rather than routine, conformist, impersonal, and
isolated. Modern society has tended toward the latter, in the eyes of
latter-day existentialists like Sartre.
3. Philosophers And Texts.
The Analects of Confucius, trans. by Arthur Waley
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Plato: Phaedo; Crito; Apology;
Republic
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics; Eudemian Ethics;
Magna Moralia
Epicurus: The bulk of his work is lost, but fragments remain of
On Nature.
Epictetus: Enchiridion
Marcus Auelius: Meditations
St. Augustine: The City of God
Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica
Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy (Arguably the greatest
poem ever; the poet journeys through hell, purgatory, and heaven
and offers an effulgent vision of the good life.)
Benedict Spinoza: Ethics
Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason; Foundations of
the Metaphysics of Morals
David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Ralph Waldo Emerson: The essays "Nature,"
"Self-Reliance," and "Compensations"
J.S. Mill: Utilitarianism
Friedrich Nietzsche: Geneology of Morals; Beyond Good And Evil;
The Will To Power.
G.E. Moore: Principia Ethica
George Santayana: The Life of Reason (5 vols.)
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Story of "The Grand Inquisitor," as
found in The Brothers Karamazov.
Jean-Paul Sartre: Being And Nothingness; Nausea (a novel);
No Exit (a play).
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