Moral Theories – what you should do

1. Moral Theories – what you shoulddo • Consequentialist theories (e.g. utilitarianism or Rawl’s theory of social justice) say that some actionor policy is right if it leads to the best possible consequences • What makes an action right? In order to answer this, you must know what makes a situation good.

2. Moral theories – what you shoulddo • Deontological theories (deon means “rule” in Greek) – Kantianism says an action can be right even if it leads to a situation that is not the best possible one. Ex. A friend gives you a gift and you accidentally break it. You know she will be upset if you tell her this. Consequentialist theories say the right thing to do is lie. Deontological theories say don’t lie even if it makes the situation worse.

3. Utilitarianism • The morally right action is the action which will maximize utility (Mill says utility is happiness). • The best situation is the one that has the most goodness in it. Ex. The inhospitable hospital: Six patients, five of whom are about to die. The only way to save the five, is to take the organs from the sixth patient, who just has a minor cold.

4. Social Contract Theories • How should we structure society (monarchy? Socialist democracy?) so that it is a just society? • Distributive justice – how money, power, property, rights, etc. ought to be distributed among members of a society. • John Rawls states that equal liberty makes a society just. Members of a society should have the maximum amount of basic liberties that is compatible with an equal amount of liberty for everyone.

5. Rawls’s difference principle • Rich vs. Poor • If society is structured so that some people are better off financially, this must result in everyone being better off than if the society were structured so that everyone was equally well off (leveling the playing field – is this a desirable goal?) • Ex. 20 people in a society. All work in an ice cream factory. Same job/same pay or diverse jobs (some harder, some easier) with diverse pay? Factory more profitable, some earning more.

6. Rights Theories • Natural or human rights – where do they come from? Who determines which rights are natural? Natural rights are usually moral rights • Societal rights – a person possesses these due to his/her membership in a particular society. Societal rights are usually legal rights.

7. Right Theories • Moral rights - claims which ought (morally) to be respected. • Legal (contractual) rights – can give us a reason to respect a person’s claims, but the law which provides the right must be a good (moral) law.

8. Rights Theories • Negative rights – claims that other people not interfere with you (e.g. the right not to be beaten or not to have your money stolen; the right to not have the government interfere with your speech) • Positive rights – claims that other people must help you in some way (e.g. the right to health care, or to a minimum standard of living).

9. Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau base their theories on two ideas: State of nature and social contract • State of Nature = Situation where people live without any government that rules over them

10. Social Contract • A hypothetical agreement between the people who are in a state of nature. This agreement transforms people out of a state of nature and into civil society. • They agree to allow an authority to rule over all those who consent to the contract