Ethics and Behaviour: Philosophical Approaches

Marc Le Menestrel marc.lemenestrel@upf.edu Ethics and Behaviour: Philosophical Approaches

Session’s Menu • The Master • Aristotle and the Ethics of Virtue • Kant and Mill: Modern Ethical Views • Another Perspective

Two Fundamental Questions • What does ethics mean? • How should I act?

Aristotle: The Stagirite • Born 387 b.c. in Greece. • Student of Plato. • Studied and wrote about a wide range of subjects: logic, mathematics, physics, biology, politics, ethics, metaphysics, …

A Holistic Approach • Nature is a whole that acts upon us • Nature shows the mean, between excess and deficiency • Virtue is the reflect of the natural mean

A Word From Aristotle Everything aims at the Good Nicomachean Ethics

A Hedonic Answer: A Natural Model: We should act virtuously, in harmony with the essence of things, without excess nor deficiency Good emotions are produced when acting virtuously

How to act? Feel good Don’t feel good Good feelings are reflecting virtuous actions

Kant: a Systematic Approach • Born 1724 in Prussia. • Modernity: emancipation of thought from nature and religion, the subject becomes central, society is perceived from the point of view of the subject. • Kant’s systematic inquiry • How do we think? (pure reason) • How do we act? (practical reason) • How do we perceive? (faculty to judge) • What is a moral act? (metaphysics of morals)

Reason, Intentions and Norms • Ethics is based on reason alone and not on human nature or emotions. • Intentions count, independently of the consequences. • Norms (principles, rules, rights, duties) are the criterion of right intentions.

A Word From Kant Everything in nature works according to rules Logic

An Idealist Answer: A Rational Model: We should act according to a rule that can be universally applied There is no right to do wrong, neither in theory or in practice

Lying Not Lying Subject How to act? There is no right to lie, in theory or in practice

J.S. Mill: A Science of Liberty • Born in 1806 in London. • In search of a science that would reflect the human dimension of society: System of Logic; Principles of Political Economy; On Liberty; Utilitarianism; The Subjection of Women. • Practical engagement for liberty. • Heritage of J. Bentham’s utilitarianism.

Function & Consequences • Right and wrong are a function of the consequences of our actions. • We should act so as to attain the greatest possible balance of good consequences over bad consequences for everyone affected by our actions. • “Good” means happiness and pleasure.

A Word From John Stuart Mill Of two pleasures, if there is one that all or almost all prefer, by experience of it, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation, that is the more desirable pleasure Utilitarianism

Good consequences when lying Bad consequences without lying How to act? Calculation of consequences drives ethical behavior

A Pragmatic Answer: A Consequentialist Model: We should act so as to attain the overall best consequences When judgments conflict, experienced facts are the sole answer

Three Approaches to Ethics Virtue-based: Nature as a model Emotions as a criterion Idealism: Reasoning as a model Principles as a criterion Consequentialism: Consequences as a model Preferences as a criterion

Emotions, Principles & Consequences Looking for a criterion, these ethical perspectives identify the true answer to the tension between Does it feel good? (Emotions) Is this right? (Principles) Does it harm others? (Consequences)

Lying A preferred consequence A not preferred consequence Not Lying Ethical Dilemmas Is there always a ‘true’ solution to these dilemmas?

Your action is here Purely unethical Purely ethical Ethics as a Grey Zone Looking at the unethical side ? Looking at the ethical side It feels good And it gives energy but you risk bad surprises… You are honest and this is painful but you anticipate… What does it mean to say that grey is black or that grey is white? To manage our grey zone, we need to identify both the ethical and the unethical

On-Going Ethical Questions • Emotions/Virtue: Who am I when acting? Do I feel good? Would I feel good if it were public? Is this a natural way to act? Does this participate to my accomplishment? • Deontology/Idealism: What sort of principle, rule or norm do I respect? What happens if everybody does the same? What happens if I always act like this? • Utilitarianism/Consequentialism: What are the consequences for others? Would I like these consequences for myself? What are the consequences for the environment? Would my children suffer from them?

An On-going Question? Maybe ethics is the question itself. We may learn to accept the tension between how things are and how they should be. We can structure this tension and mature our feelings about it. Then, we may even like this tension, and use it as a source of energy

A Teaching from the Vedantas Materialism says, the voice of freedom is a delusion. Idealism says, the voice that tells of bondage is delusion. Vedanta says, you are free and not free at the same time; never free on the earthly plane, but ever free on the spiritual. Swami Vivekananda Vedanta: its Theory and Practice, XLIII

A Word from Swami Vivekananda Do not think that good and evil are two, are two separate essences, for they are one and the same thing appearing in different degrees and in different guises and producing differences of feeling in the same mind. XLIII, Vedanta: its Theory and Practice

From the Philosophers • Keep asking you questions, this is ethical thinking • Assume your responsibility, this is ethical behavior. • Listen to Nature, to Yourself and Others to enrich your ethical judgment and to better anticipate consequences Managing the ethical tension is an on-going process source of energy

Ethics and Behaviour: Philosophical Approaches