Notes Ethics 9-01-15

1
2
3
4

The
The
The
The

religious answer
Socratic Answer
Existentialist Answer
Rationalist Split-Level answer

Monotheistic/Abrahamic
Judeo-Christian-Muslim
The good is good for you
Judgement day
Hindu/Buddhism
What goes around comes around
Laws of Karma
Issues with religion
Very difficult to prove any religion is real.
No religion seems to have sufficient evidence to win over a large
number of rational people.
Socrates
The good is good for you. Psychological damage for those who win by
being immoral, not for those who deal with suffering or failure to be
moral.
Problem with this?
This seems to presuppose that we care about morality in the first
place.
Some people really dont care.
Others go after moral behavior because the effect it has on them.
Look at pg. 21
Victim Blaming people rationalize doing something immoral by
shifting moral obligation.
I did what I did because you made me do it.
The girl was raped due to what she was wearing.
Socratic Reply
Sooner or later the self deceived immoralist will be found out. If he is
not, he will eventually succumb to his disease due to his immoral way.
Existentialism Background

A philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of

the individual person as a free and responsible agent determing their
own development through acts of will.
Existentialist answer
Morality cannot be justified rationally. Each person must make a choice
how they will live.
Happiness and unhappiness are unrelated to morality, depending more
on how successful you are in attaining you project then whether or not
you are moral. The good is not always good for you.
Referring to Jack and Jim, Jack being the immoral success and Jim being
the moral failure, Jack is good because he is achieving his goals and
making himself happy.
Whats wrong with this is that yes, Jack is winning, but Jack is winning
by cheating or at the expense of others. There should be an idea that
unless we win by our own hand then its not winning.
Morality is not an arbitrary choice, but this idea of existentialism
certainly makes it arbitrary.
Most people with morals would feel wrong or bad when we do
something wrong.
When we win by immoral ways we are doing wrong and deceiving
ourselves in believing that we are correct.
Parents have a moral obligation to raise their children. We believe
their should be laws or rules that make this happen.
Casey Anthony
BUT, we acknowledge that sometimes the parents do not always have
the best ability to provide for some children. Safe places are out there
where people can give up their babies with no repurcussions.
When he says fun he means depressing
Rationalist Background
A belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason
and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.
Rationalist/Split Level Answer
1. wants to defend the thesis that the good is basically good for you.

2. Morality and self interest are closely, but not necessarily, allied
3. Moral life will most likely result in best life ( look at this slide later)
Psychological Egotism (find this definition)
First order reflection: what should I do in this situation
Second-order reflection: how should I live in my life
Just because something is self- interested doesnt mean that the
individual is the only one who benefits.
Split Level answer
We are social, we need each other
Just looked at four responses to the question is the good, good for
you?
Row Boat pg. 23
Pojman
Defends the fourth response
Long term overall self-interest is the logical starting point for ethics,
but not the ending point. Being altruistic and just, even when it may
not immediately profit you, is in your overall self interest because such
behavior, if generally negaged in by others, will likely reverberate
through the whole of society and will produce the most overall welfare.
So it is in all of our intersts to build a society that is deeply moral. Pg
24
Who is Ayn Rand?
Philsopher/Writer
Moved to the U.S. from communist Russia. Didnt like communism,
maybe due to her family being well of up until the communist
revolution. She decided that the government overseeing economics
was bad.
Objectivist ethics, the actor must benefit from the action.
Selfishness is a virtue
Altruism is a vice (look up this definition)
To accept altruism, the first concern is not how to live life, but how to
sacrifice it.
Altruism erodes mens capacity to grasp the value of an individual life.
(Check this slide)

Greed is good Gordon Gekko Wall Street

Ayn Rands argument
1. The perfection of ones abilities in a state of happiness is the higest
goal for humans.
2. the ethics of altruism prescribes that we sacrifice our interests and
lives for the good of others.
3.Therefore, the ethics of altruism is incompatible with the goal of
happiness
4. Ehtical egoism prescribes that we seek our own happiness
exclusively, and as such it is consistent with the happiness goal.
5.
False Dicotomy?(definition)
Ethical egoism says that you should never help other people, only
yourself.
Response All of the self preservation premise establishes is that life (or
the maintenance of life) is a precondition for any other value, not that
it is the highest value.
Utilitarism is doing the most good for the most people
Altruism is doing the most good for yourself
Rights
Negative rights - may include civil rights and political rights such as
freedom of speech and private property.
Positive Rights right to legal counsel, police protection?
Main problem with Ayn Rands arguments
False dilemma
Is simplistically assumes that absolute altruism and absolute egoism
are the only alternatives.
Rands philosophy has to do with stuff.isnt seeking to help others a
source of self-fulfillment?
Self interest may not be incompatible with other regarding motivation
Self interest: concerned to promote our own good, not necessarily at
any cost.
Selfishenss
Ayn Rands theory of only do whats good for you all the time can be
used in negative ways. If doing your good at any ones expense then
you can really see how this can turn bad.

Paradox of egoism
In order to reach the goal of egoism one must give up egoism and
become (to some extent) an altruist, the very antithesis of egoism.
Why act morally always
Escaping the paradox
If it is reasonable to do act A, then we should do it ( check this slide)
Character
Check these slides

Quasi Moralist
Not completely immoral, but confine theirmoral lives to their family
and friends. Not really worthwhile
Evolution and Altruism
Check this out
Birds 3 types of birds suckers, cheaters and grudgers
Check concluding slide as well