Ethics and Morality February 25, 2014 Part A

1. Engineering Character “The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself” ZAMM “A man not at peace with himself will not be at peace with others.” “Assembly of Japanese bicycle takes great peace of mind” ZAMM “On doing the right thing” “Be a role model and expect role models” “If you tell the truth you will not have to remember what you said” “Character is destiny” “All good teachers of ethics come to remind more than to instruct” Ethics and Morality February 25, 2014 Part A

2. Engineering Character Is the problem us or our institutions? What kind of person do I want to be? How do I become that person? Means no regrets How do I make sense of my life? What am I to do with my freedom? How can I help others?

3. What to do with your freedom? Excellence Indifference Those who need instruction will profit from this discussion and those who already have this knowledge will revive the memory of what they already know. Teach others who may need direction or are confused about the direction of their life.

4. Roadmap to this sequence of classes: • Why? We tend to make a mess of our lives. 60 minutes story on bad ethics • What is Truth? and -Isms • On going astray • Definition of ethics and morals • Moral conscience • Aristotle’s ethics & happiness • Virtue • Human actions • On ignorance • Morality of human actions (object, intention, circumstances) • situation ethics, utilitarianism, consequentialism, proportionalism • Principles for evaluating human actions • NSPE quiz • 60 Minutes story on a Whistle Blower • essays on virtues and BNW

5. A focus on Character What kind of person do I want to be? How do I become that person? Our character is shown by what we: 1. think about 2. what we say 3. what we do Character means that at all times we need to act in accordance with right reason. Who or what are you willing to let control your life? You can say what you say but what you are is what you are

6. Living a moral or ethical life is more than just debating or learning how to be for or against social and institutional policies. You are not just a moral spectator trying to sort out what to believe. As a member of society you are responsible for your human actions. If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. But you must consider the importance of your own personal responsibility and practical decency, your footprint. That is, how we, you, are to behave. Read the news and you will see many examples that highlight how good people went wrong through a failure of personal responsibility: the great, the not so great, people just like you and me. Character Think about this. Everything you do today is being recorded, there is an electronic trail that you leave behind, just like a foot print

7. We live in the age of Many –ISM’s We now live in an age of pluralism. People free to believe whatever they want to believe. Most arguments about ethics or moral issues come down to the question of what is truth? The good news is that these -isms help us to understand how folks see the moral life in our world However, the danger is that there are no universal moral rules, usually the poor, the weak, the old, the vulnerable are the ones that will suffer.

8. Moral relativism is the idea that what is praiseworthy or contemptible is a matter of cultural conditioning, i.e. cultural pluralism, a matter of one’s own opinion, that there is no standard of goodness or decency, anything goes. So is there such a thing as an objective truth to guide our moral life?

9. Relativity Theory Relativism – is basically the belief that all truth is relative, that there is no such thing as an objective truth, that truth depends on many factors such as history, the situation, the people, those in power etc. Leads to the belief that there are no universal moral rules, we can always imagine a situation where it would be ok to lie, to steal, cheat on your spouse, or even to kill. The end justifies the means.

10. Those with the Gold make the Rules Snowball and Napoleon (2 young pigs) by their studies had succeeded in reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments, they would form an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live by for ever after. These were painted on the wall of the barn for all to see. The last two were: 6. No animal shall kill any other animal 7. All animals are equal. However, later, things became corrupted. “Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin (a donkey)?” So “he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a Single Commandment. It ran:” All Animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

11. Leads to Collectivism Mustapha Mond, Resident World Controller for Western Europe, to Bernard and the Savage: But as I make the laws here, I can also break them. With impunity… The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma. Man becomes a tool, to be used and discarded when no longer useful. Read Animal Farm, BNW, or move to China or North Korea

12. A Two Flavor World: Objective vs. Subjective Truth Objective truth is that which lies outside of ourselves or our personal beliefs. Truth is not an attitude and not how we know, i.e. a process, the truth is what we know. Objective does not mean “known by all” or even “believed by all”, you don’t get to the truth by simply counting noses. Even if everyone believes a lie, a lie is still a lie. Even liars know about objective truth, since the best way to lie is to sprinkle in a little bit of objective truth. Most arguments about ethics or moral issues come down to this question. So what objective means is that it is independent of the knower and not an opinion, “I itch” is a subjective truth, “Huxley wrote BNW” is an objective truth. Objective truth is then “telling it like it is.”

13. The World of Subjective Truth Subjectivism – claims that all truth is subjective, that is it is “in” or dependent on each person individually (the subject). Sort of like “what you say may be true for you, but not for me.” “That the truth is relative,” or “What right do you have to impose your beliefs on me. You are judgmental.” Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, leads to indifference. The contradiction lies in the subjectivists claim that truth is absolutely or objectively subjective! Which is itself an objective truth! Hence subjectivism itself cannot be true for a subjectivist. Ethics classes are more about moral values (subjective, what I value) instead of moral laws (objective, right & wrong).

14. Alternative Theories of the Truth Skepticism – claims that no truth is knowable. But this is also contradictory for it claims to know that it is true that no one can know the truth. It is an objective truth that says there is no objective truth!

15. The Pragmatist Pragmatism – truth is whatever works, or what you think works, or what works for you. Pragmatism is a form of subjectivism and relativism. However, what is true is not always practical (e.g. a flat tire) and what is practical is not always true (e.g. a “successful” lie), leads to the idea that the end justifies the means.

16. Empiricism Empiricism – truth is only what we can experience, for example by experiments. Some things we sense are not true (i.e. mirages), some things we all know are true are not sensed, i.e.: Empiricism is simply that everything we need to know about our world is knowable by our senses as a fact, a form of materialism.

17. Rationalism – “truth is what can be clearly and distinctly understood by reason” or “what can be proved by reason alone.” You can’t prove that truth is only what can be proved. Some truths are not perfectly clear, some things are a mystery. Why do two people fall in love? Why would you risk your life to save someone else? The Rationalist

18. Emotivism Emotivism – “truth is what I feel,” or an emotion, sort of like 2 + 2 = 5!!!! But many feelings are false. Just because I feel that I did well on an exam does not mean in an objective sense that I did!

19. So Who Does Get to Decide? Civilization depends on the civilized imposing their standards on the uncivilized. But who decides who the civilized are? The civilized do, that’s who. If you cannot accept that then you are against civilization. Although this may seem hard to accept then consider the fact that science is what scientists say it is. And who decides who scientists are? The scientists. Or who defines “biotransport,” me and some others as well. They set the standards by which persons are recognized as doing properly scientific work or for that matter bioengineering, as opposed to dilettantism, quackery, or magic. This is not arrogance, although there can be abuses, but simply recognizes that there is an objective truth as a result of human minds trying to make sense of our world within the bounds of a specific field of endeavor. Those engaged in a profession must develop the standards of the profession and must judge who are the persons qualified to practice it. But what about deciding what is bad or good? Is there an objective standard here as well, an objective truth? What is our responsibility to ourselves and to others?

20. But this seems to open the door to a moral relativism or value judgments which we have seen are subjective and relative. But ask yourself how relative are our judgments about human goodness and evil or badness? Consider the following two lists of opposites: life death nourishment starvation material wellbeing destitution health sickness community isolation common good individualism respect humiliation friendship hatred marriage celibacy or adultery family alone knowledge ignorance truth lies and error meaning/purpose meaninglessness/nothingness Any doubt which of the above is the good and capable of being chosen for its own sake? No one pursues the RHS as ends in themselves. We pursue the good since they address the basic needs of human nature (what we ought to be or ought to do). A society based on the RHS would be unbearable and likely fail and would not be human in its essence.

21. So, what is ethics or being ethical? Ethics – comes from the Gk word ethikos or ethos which is the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; a body of moral principles or values; pertaining or dealing with morals or the principles of morality, that is right and wrong conduct or practice, the standards of a profession, also making sense of the way we make sense of our lives. How should I live? What am I to do? , i.e Oughtness Moral – of or pertaining to, or concerned with right conduct or its principles, conforming to these principles rather than to just law or custom, that is a moral obligation, Where does ethics or morality come from? - family, your faith or religion, your community, your education, your culture, your nationality, your history, experiences, your nature as a well-adjusted human being So what we are really talking about in ethics is being moral and doing the right thing. There is right and wrong.