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The Problem and Subject of Ethics
Moral Philosophy Lecture 1 Mark Anthony Dacela Philosophy Department De La Salle University
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Q1:
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Q1:
Objection 1:
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Q1:
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty.
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Q1:
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty. a. b. If you keep the money you get to pay your debt or buy valuable things. Keeping the money is dishonest.
Suppose that
1. 2. S is down on his luck or struggling to make ends meet. There is no chance for S to get caught.
Q1:
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty. a. b. If you keep the money you get to pay your debt or buy valuable things. Keeping the money is dishonest.
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty. a. b. If you keep the money you get to pay your debt or buy valuable things. Keeping the money is dishonest.
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty. a. b. If you keep the money you get to pay your debt or buy valuable things. Keeping the money is dishonest.
Objection 1: If honesty entails C1. Given 1 and 2 honesty does not appear nearly as profitable as dishonesty. a. b. If you keep the money you get to pay your debt or buy valuable things. Keeping the money is dishonest.
B is a strong and overriding reason to return it. But why? This cannot simply be assumed.
Conclusion 1: Doing the honest thing given 1 and 2 is to act without good reason. Conclusion 2: Only ignorant and weak-minded people will act honestly given 1 and 2.
Conclusion 1: Doing the honest thing given 1 and 2 is to act without good reason. Conclusion 2: Only ignorant and weak-minded people will act honestly given 1 and 2. Unless one can show that you have good reason to be honest even in circumstances in which you could keep your dishonesty secret and profit from it these conclusions are unavoidable.
Conclusion 1: Doing the honest thing given 1 and 2 is to act without good reason. Conclusion 2: Only ignorant and weak-minded people will act honestly given 1 and 2. Unless one can show that you have good reason to be honest even in circumstances in which you could keep your dishonesty secret and profit from it these conclusions are unavoidable. One ought to do x given y.
Conclusion 1: Doing the honest thing given 1 and 2 is to act without good reason. Conclusion 2: Only ignorant and weak-minded people will act honestly given 1 and 2. Unless one can show that you have good reason to be honest even in circumstances in which you could keep your dishonesty secret and profit from it these conclusions are unavoidable. One ought to do x given y.
Conclusion 1: Doing the honest thing given 1 and 2 is to act without good reason. Conclusion 2: Only ignorant and weak-minded people will act honestly given 1 and 2. Unless one can show that you have good reason to be honest even in circumstances in which you could keep your dishonesty secret and profit from it these conclusions are unavoidable. One ought to do x given y.
iv. v.
iv. v.
iv. v.
The most happy of men is the one who practices injustice on a very large scale and succeeds. The completely just individual is at best a good-hearted fool.
Justice and honesty has no intrinsic merit and it therefore not worth practicing for its own sake. Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Two Notions of Morality 1. 2. Morality as an existing institution of a particular society, what is commonly called the societys conventional morality. Morality as a universal ideal grounded in reason.
v.
vi.
The primary aim of ethics is to determine how one ought to live and what actions one ought to do in the conduct of ones life. A conventional morality is a set of norms of a particular society that are generally accepted and followed by the societys members. Sometimes these beliefs rest on superstitions and prejudices, and sometimes the corresponding customs and practices promote cruelty and inflict indignity. It can happen that a person comes to recognize such facts about some of the norms belonging to his societys conventional morality and, though observance of these norms has become second nature in him, to conclude that he ought to reject them. Implicit in this is the realization that one has to look beyond the conventional morality of ones society to determine what ends to pursue in life and what it is right to do in the conduct of life. Therefore conventional morality cannot be the subject of ethics.
Argument against CM as the Basis of a Sound Decision to Act 1. 2. A sound decision requires a basis consist of standards that derive their authority from rational thought or reason. Conventional norms derives their authority in ones thinking from their being generally accepted and enforced in ones society. That a norm is being generally accepted and enforced in ones society is not a sufficient reason to follow it. To act merely on the basis of these norms is not a sound decision.
3.
4.
Universal Morality Conventional Morality Ethics is a practical discipline: Its primary aim is to determine how one ought to live and what actions one ought to do in the conduct of ones life.
Subject of Ethics
Universal Morality Conventional Morality Ethics is a practical discipline: Its primary aim is to determine how one ought to live and what actions one ought to do in the conduct of ones life.
Subject of Ethics
Universal Morality Conventional Morality Ethics is a practical discipline: Its primary aim is to determine how one ought to live and what actions one ought to do in the conduct of ones life.
Subject of Ethics
Universal Morality Conventional Morality Ethics as a philosophical study consists in finding the standards UM comprises, expounding them systematically, and establishing the rational grounds of their authority in practical thinking.
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Based on a mistake.
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
Based on a mistake.
It supposes that morality is a system of standards whose authority in practical thought is dependent on the desires and interests of those whose conduct the system regulates.
Q3: On what basis, if any, can we understand justice as admirable in itself, as something one has good reason to practice even in circumstances in which one would profit from injustice without the least fear of being found out?
T2
A complete ethical theory not only formulates and systemizes the standards of morality, but also justifies them by laying out the rational grounds of their authority in practical thought.
End Note
I have three objectives these past few weeks: 1) to explain what ethics is strictly speaking, as a philosophical study (what question does it seek to answer, what is its subject matter), 2) to offer a way of evaluating ethical theories by identifying their general features (that all theories seek to offer reasons for doing what is good, that they qualify what counts as doing the good, that they would assume a Moral Ideal, that they would assume a sense of ought and consequently a conception of morality), and 3) to offer a litmus test for these theories (i.e. Q1 and Q3). 1, 2, and 3 combined constitute a framework by which you can approach ethical theories. You may ask then the following questions when evaluating an ethical theory: 1) How does it answer Q1? 2) How does it answer Q3? 3) What sense of ought does it assume? and 4) What conception of Morality does it assume?