The Commandant Example

1. The Commandant Example • The Baby? - or- • The 5,000? © 2002, Karey Perkins

2. Kinds of ETHICAL THEORIES In ethics, you can hold to, at any one moment of time, one or the other of the following mutually exclusive views: • Consequentialist -or- • Deontologicalist

3. The morality or immorality of an ACT (and hence the rightness or wrongness of an act) is a function solely of the consequencesof the act, and the natural tendency of those consequences to produce one or another of the following: pleasure or pain, or goodness, or happiness, in some degree and in some way. Act Based Theories Consequentialist (teleological) views Deontologicalist views The morality or immorality of an act has basically nothing to do with the consequences, but resides within the nature of the act itself. © 2002, Karey Perkins

4. Morality and immorality reside within the "well-developed," "actualized," "self-realized," or fully mature human being. That is, morality and immorality is determined and resides not in the acts, human behavior, or consequences, but in the development of the human character and person. Ethical views that are NOT based in the act: "Self-Realization" approaches “Meta-Ethics” Either there are no ethical or unethical acts, or we have no way of knowing what is or is not an ethical or unethical act. © 2002, Karey Perkins

5. Assuming that some acts are and can be known to be RIGHT or WRONG, how do we determine which are right or wrong? In other words, what is the answer to this question: "An act is right, if and only if, __________________ .”The history of ethics has the following theories or traditions, which can be characterized in the response to the above question as: THE TRADITIONS © 2002, Karey Perkins

6. Kinds of CONSEQUENTIALIST THEORIES • Ethical Egoism • Ethical Hedonism • Act Utilitarianism • Rule Utilitarianism © 2002, Karey Perkins

7. …the act tends, more than any alternative open to the agent at the time, to produce the greatest amount of happiness for the agent. (Ayn Rand, Max Stirner) ETHICAL EGOISM • Self-interest vs. Selfishness • Egoism vs. Altruism • Descriptive vs. Normative Egoism © 2002, Karey Perkins

8. …the act tends, more than any alternative open to the agent at the time, to produce the greatest amount of pleasure for the agent. (Epicurus) ETHICAL HEDONISM • Happiness vs. Pleasure • Long term vs. short term pleasure • Higher vs. lower pleasure © 2002, Karey Perkins

9. …the act tends, more than any alternative open to the agent at the time, to produce the greatest amount of good or pleasure for the greatest number of all those affected by the act. (Jeremy Bentham) ACTUTILITARIANISM • Applies only for this particular act, this particular time • No general rules, each situation is different • Then should Jones, a Republican, bother to cast his vote in a Democratic county? • Should Smith rob a bank if assured anonymity and the bank’s ability to absorb the cost? © 2002, Karey Perkins

10. …the act tends, when adopted as a rule, more than any alternative open to the agent at the time, to produce the greatest good or happiness for the greatest number of all those affected by the act. (John Stuart Mill) RULE UTILITARIANISM • Anyone in the same position should act in the same manner: Jones should vote; Smith should not rob the bank. • Ambiguity Objection: How can we know, and how should we choose? • Ten people receive ten units of happiness equally? –OR-- • Two people receive 30 units, and 8 people receive 5 units. © 2002, Karey Perkins

11. Kinds of DEONTOLOGICALIST THEORIES • Cultural Relativism • Kantianism • Intuitionism • Theologism (Divine Command Theory) © 2002, Karey Perkins

12. …the act is generally judged to be right by one's culture or group. (France Boas) ETHICAL RELATIVISM • Relativism vs. Absolutism • Polygamy • Status of Women in Other Cultures © 2002, Karey Perkins

13. …the agent willing the act could at the same time will that the maxim of the act be universal law. (Immanuel Kant) KANTIANISM • DUTY ETHICS • The Good Will Duty rather than inclination • Logically Consistent and Universalizable • The Categorical ImperativeA universal rule for all human beings to follow • The Practical ImperativeNo human being should be a means only © 2002, Karey Perkins

14. …theagent, in virtue of an innate knowledge or special ability, and in the absence of any known inferential process or discernment of the effects of the act, judges that the act is right in virtue of some nonnatural property or goodness that the act has and which the agent immediately apprehended without reasoning. (Plato, Descartes, and W.D. Ross) ETHICAL INTUITIONISM © 2002, Karey Perkins

15. …the act, more than any other alternative open to the agent at the time, is most consistent with what God wills, or commands, either directly or indirectly. (Diverse Religious Traditions) THEOLOGISM • Direct vs. Indirect knowledge • Objection: • Diversity of World Religions • Jim Jones and David Koresh • Reply: • Similarity of World Religions © 2002, Karey Perkins

16. In addition, there are other approaches to the above fill-in-the-blank exercise: Self-Realization Theories • Virtue Ethics • Developmental Ethics Meta-Ethics • Ethical Nihilism • Ethical Skepticism • Emotivism/Logical Positivism © 2002, Karey Perkins

17. Nothing is right or wrong, but we should act virtuously. (Aristotle) VIRTUE ETHICS • Virtue is a “mean” between two extremes (“Vices”) © 2002, Karey Perkins

18. Ethics is determined not by the act, but by human character development. The will of the fully mature (ethical) human becomes increasingly less self centered and more aligned with and motivated by larger concerns. (Based on a variety of psychological development theories.) DEVELOPMENTAL ETHICS STAGE ONE: The Liar, influenced and motivated by power and force, lives for self at the expense of others. STAGE TWO: The Conformist, loyal to one’s social group, obedient to authority, supports values and traditions of own community. STAGE THREE: The Thinker/Scientist, uses reason and self-discovered principles to make ethical decisions, independent and thinking. STAGE FOUR: The Mystic, operates out of compassion and caring for others, willing to sacrifice self for others, even those quite different from self. See http://www.kareyperkins.com/classes/445/445stageschart.html © 2002, Karey Perkins

19. “Meta-Ethics” or “No” Ethics • Ethical Nihilism: There are no right or wrong acts, only perhaps prudent and imprudent acts. (Nietzsche) • Ethical Skepticism: There may be right or wrong acts, but there is no way to know which are which. (Pyrrho) • Emotivism/Logical Positivism: The question is meaningless; it merely expresses one's emotions, or disapproval or approval, but has not substance in reality. (A. J. Ayer) © 2002, Karey Perkins

20. Bibliography • Almeder, Robert. Human Happiness and Morality: A Brief Introduction to Ethics. New York: Prometheus, 2000. • Thiroux, Jacques P. Ethics: Theory and Practice. 7th Ed. New York: Prentice-Hall, 2001. © 2002, Karey Perkins