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Refresh our memory…. Which framework do you think you use the most? Your Initial Moral Orientation. Non-Greek Ancient Perspectives. Early Chinese Perspectives Early psychological thought was anchored to a larger worldview surrounding the number five.
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Refresh our memory… Which framework do you think you use the most? Your Initial Moral Orientation
Non-Greek Ancient Perspectives • Early Chinese Perspectives • Early psychological thought was anchored to a larger worldview surrounding the number five. • The Chinese accepted five basic elements (wood, fire, metal, earth, and water) as well as five senses, five colors, five emotions, five basic human relationships, and so on. • Confucius was a great humanistic philosopher who investigated human relationships among other topics.
The Chinese • Hsün Tzu was compared with Aristotle as a naturalist who emphasized the regularity and orderliness of nature. • Yin and Yang are both opposite and complementary forces. • Yang is associated with force, hardness, heat, dryness, and masculinity. • Yin is associated with weakness, softness, cold, moistness, and femininity. • Equilibrium between Yin and Yang is essential to physical and psychological health. • The Chinese opened the door to physiological psychology with their belief that mental processes are central and are associated with the physical body.
The Babylonians • Babylonia influenced the intellectual traditions of the Greeks, Egyptians, Jews, and Arabs. • The Babylonians recognized many Gods and devils, and they emphasized demonological methods as a diagnosis and a treatment of physical and mental illnesses.
The Egyptians • Egyptianpsychology was deeply intertwined with the polytheistic Egyptian religions and the emphasis on immortality and life after death. • Although the Egyptians appear to be the first to describe the brain, they most often viewed the heart as the seat of mental life. • By the way, women attained greater status among Egyptians than among most other ancient peoples.
Other Eastern Philosophies • Thinkers in India, as reflected in the Vedasand the Upanishads, investigated knowledge and desire, among many other topics. • Hebrewphilosophy and psychology must be understood in light of radical monotheism. • Humans have two sides, a biological, self-serving side and a spiritual side capable of serving the larger community. • The Hebrews had well-developed notions of mental disorders that were attributed to the anger of God or human disobedience.
Other Eastern Philosophies • Persia was the birthplace of the Zoroastrian religion based on the teachings of Zarathustra and the holy book Avesta. • Zoroastrianism is the first monotheistic religion recorded in history; flourished until the Muslim conquest of Persia. • Human beings were the testing grounds of good and evil, and mental and physical disorders were viewed as the work of the devil; demonological diagnoses and treatments were common.
Socrates & Plato • The Form Virtue • Virtue = Knowledge = Happiness • Being virtuous requires one to tend to the health of his soul which results in happiness • Those who know the right thing to do will always act accordingly • From the Apology: No one knowingly harms himself or does evil things to others because that would harm his soul.
Real World Application • Is it ethical to give medications to people who do not have a “disease”?
Socrates & Plato Assumptions and Premises: • The soul is immortal. • The body is not immortal. • THEREFORE, the soul does not permanently reside in one particular body. • Parallel to The Matrix : The soul is placed in the body at the moment of birth and leaves the body at the moment of death, only to be inserted into another body
Aristotle Per his knowledge of biology, Aristotle believed in the following, as regards living things: • 3 Degrees of Souls • Nutritive – plants • Sensitive – animals • Rational – humans • The purpose of life is the pursuit of eudaimonia. • Overall happiness, fulfillment, flourishing, doing well, living to your highest potential • PLEASURE IS NOT AN END IN ITSELF!
Aristotle In summary, his ethical framework consists of two main principles: 1. Humans must live a life consisting of acting well according to our natural human capacities. 2. Doctrine of the Mean: • Individuals must act appropriately rational AND emotional in a given situation. • AVOID THE EXTREMES!
Real World Application If animals have a different purpose from humans, does this change the “rules” for research?
Real World Application What does Aristotle consider a full human? How does this impact the way we view those with mental illness?
Major Ethical Frameworks • Consequentialism • Kantianism • Virtue Ethics
Comparing Ethical Frameworks • Consistency • Clarity • Completeness • Simplicity
Consequentialism Main Proponents: • Jeremy Bentham • John Stuart Mill “The ends justify the means.” “All’s well that ends well.”
Consequentialism Basic Tenets: -The moral worth of an action is to be judged by its consequences or utility; intentions do not matter. -Utilitarianism: The act which is “right” is the one that provides for the greatest good for the greatest number—the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain.
Consequentialism Greatest Happiness Principle: “Act so as to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number” Problems: - How do we calculate happiness? - Is utilitarian calculus inherently flawed? - Can we know the exact consequences of an action beforehand?
Consequentialism Act Consequentialism: -Act by act evaluation of what would provide for the greatest good for the greatest number (Situational) Rule Consequentialism: -There is a given set of rules governing behavior which maximizes the greatest good for the greatest number. Problems with these?
Consequentialism Ethical Egoism: - The well-being of an individual has more weight than the happiness of society as a whole. Ethical Altruism: - When performing the utilitarian calculus, you must consider all individuals’ well-being equally and always give to others whenever possible as long as that provides for the greatest amount of pleasure.
Kantian Deontology Main idea: The only thing which is good without conditions is good will or rationality. *If a person with good will cannot bring about good consequences, the individual is still acting morally. (non-consequentialist)
Kantian Deontology According to Kant, we have basic “duties” that he describes in ethical rules he calls “formulations.” The First Formulation: -An individual ought never to act except in such a way that he could also will that his maxim become a universal law. “Will” means to rationally desire Sustainability & Universalizability
Real World Application • Suicide -You cannot rationally will suicide upon yourself because rationality/the will desires to preserve itself.
Kantian Deontology The Second Formulation: -We ought to treat human beings always as ends in themselves, never merely as means to another end. (We will look at this in the second part of today’s class)
Real World Application “Savior Siblings” -My Sister’s Keeper
Virtue Ethics • We ought to act in accordance with virtue. • Based on rules which govern how we should act in any given situation • Ex. Aristotle’s ethical framework The question remains… Who decides what is virtuous? Who decides the rules?
Modern Divide • Cognitivism: Ethical statements express propositions that are truth-apt (meaning they can either be true or false) versus… • Non-cognitivism: Ethical statements are not truth-apt, suggesting that moral propositions reduce to “Boo!” or “Hooray!” or the expression of an emotion but NOT something objective in the world.
Moral Relativism • Different Levels • Between societies • Between members of the same society or group • Within the same person (intrapersonal)
Do you still believe that you make decisions based off of the same ethical framework as when we started this presentation? Why or why not?
