Ethical Relativism.....................................................................................................3
Cultural Relativism: Each culture determines what is morally right..............................5
Thrasymachus.............................................................................................................6
Socrates’ Objection:.....................................................................................................7
Difference between Ethical Relativism and Descriptive Relativism..............................8
Benedict: Cultural Relativism.......................................................................................8
Podcast: Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism (Critique)...........................................9
Critique of Relativism.................................................................................................10
Glaucon (a student of Socrates)................................................................................11
Psychological egoism................................................................................................12
Objections.................................................................................................................. 12
Egoism....................................................................................................................... 13
Ayn Rand................................................................................................................... 14
Harvard Uni Lecture: Michael Sundell- Utilitarianism.................................................15
Utilitarianism.............................................................................................................. 18
Aristippus................................................................................................................... 18
Epicurus..................................................................................................................... 18
Greatest Happiness for Greatest Pleasure- Jeremy Bentham...................................18
Utilitarianism Objections............................................................................................20
Kantian Ethics - Duty Ethics (deontological ethics).................................................21
Objections to Kant.....................................................................................................24
Practice Questions.....................................................................................................26
Aristotle...................................................................................................................... 26
Aristotle- Textbook Notes...........................................................................................28
Class notes- Aristotle.................................................................................................31
Objections to Aristotle................................................................................................32
Existentialist Ethics....................................................................................................33
Sartre......................................................................................................................... 34
Beauvoir................................................................................................................. 34
Feminist Ethics.......................................................................................................35
Ethics
,People normally use the terms Ethics and Morality interchangeably
● Sometimes people make a distinction with morality having to do with principles, as if
we have a kind of moral code
● And ethics has to do with the exercise of this code
○ For example applied ethics, bioethics, business ethics
● We will use the terms interchangeably
Sections:
1. Normative ethics
2. Metaethics
3. Applied ethics
a. Biomedical
b. Wealth/poverty
Normative Ethics- what we ought to do, what should be a norm
● Ethics is looking for the best way to live according to certain principles
● Looking for a set of rules that guide our actions
● Examples:
○ Don’t kill
○ Don’t steal
○ Honesty
○ The golden rule
● Sets a framework or foundation for how we are together in society
● When we make these principles, we are guided by values
● Value: intrinsic
● What values do we have?
What are our moral values?
p.444
● What is a good person and what is a good action
○ A good person is someone who is not blinded by selfish gains and is rather,
guided by selflessness and feelings of empathy and sympathy.
○ Good action- something that benefits others, that is done for its intrinsic value
and because it causes good consequences.
○ Good intentions leading to good consequences
● What can we do to promote the happiness and well-being of others
○ Put ourselves in others’ shoes
○ ‘Veil of ignorance’
○ Give to others what we have in abundance ourselves
○ Emotional and psychological relation- feel empathy and sympathy
● What moral obligations do we have toward other people
, ○ Treat them like we want to be treated
● When should we be held morally responsible
○ When we treat someone in the way that we don’t want to be treated, because
this shows that intrinsically, we know better, and could have acted differently
○ ‘When we know better’
○ When we do something with bad intentions which causes bad consequences
○ The question is should we be held morally responsible when we do not have
bad intentions yet our actions still lead to bad consequences?
■ I don’t think we can be held morally responsible. For example
someone who is mentally ill may not know
● Is it wrong to divulge a secret
○ Yes, unless you divulge it with good intentions that will lead to good
consequences, or you believe will.
● Should we eat meat- no. Wear animal skins- no
○ Causes harm to ourselves and the environment and only leads to bad
consequences
○ Wearing animal skins only for material rewards and has no good intention or
good consequence
○ Has no purpose in and of itself
● Yes- life is a right to anyone and everyone.
○ I’m against the death penalty- but mostly because i feel as though it serves no
purpose- it does not deter crime rates and leads to torture
What kind of situations require a moral compass
Moral dilemmas: situations where there is no obvious right and wrong
● Almost always involves others
● Medicine - euthanasia
● Abortion
● No clear answer
● Consequences as both negative and positive
Purpose of morals:
● We may make mistakes, but if we know where we’re headed we enable it as a
possibility
● Moral compass
Is ethics relative?
Textbook notes: p.449-459
Ethical Relativism
● The theory that ethical values depend on the individual or culture
, ● The view that all moral values are relative to the individual or specific culture
Ethical subjectivism: each person determines what is morally right
● The belief that the ultimate moral authority is the individual or subject
● Can be considered a ‘live and let live’ morality, but there are problems
● The fatal flaw is that it does not entail tolerance for the views or interests of others
○ Simply invests each individual with the moral authority to decide what is right
and wrong
○ Therefore it is not a ‘live and let live’ view because it does not guarantee a
tolerant acceptance of the rights and interests of others Definition of
tolerance: an ethical value that transcends any individual’s point of view
● Recipe for moral anarchy
● ‘With moral choices, you have to go with your inner feeling, what you think is right’
○ Assumes a universal principle of tolerance
○ By committing yourself to a universal principle - we are no longer
subjectivists
Roots of ethical subjectivism
Why people are drawn to it:
1) Confusion between descriptive ethics (what is the case) and normative ethics (what
ought to be the case)
● Individuals have a diverse array of of moral beliefs which vary from person to person
from culture to culture
○ To say this is to simplyd escribe what is the case
○ Different from saying how things ought to be
○ Yet this is exactly what ethical subjectivism says
○ - the idea that each individual should have their own moral beliefs and that
these beliefs are by deifnition morally right
● The naturalistic fallacy:
○ You cannot go from saying ‘people have many different moral beliefs’ to
‘people should have different moral beliefs and they should act in these
beliefs because they are right for them’
○ John Searle: one cannot derive ‘ought’ from ‘is’. ...no set of descriptive
statements can entail an evaluative statement without the addition of at least an
evaluative premise. To believe otherwise is to commmit the naturalistic fallacy
2) misunderstanding about the nature and logic of moral beliefs
● Temptation to think that because people have different moral beliefs that these beliefs
all have equal value, like matters of taste
● ‘Everyone entitled to their own belief’- no right to say someone else’s belief is wrong.
○ Seems tolerant and democratic
○ However, it doesn’t work well with mores
Cultural Relativism: Each culture determines what is morally right..............................5
Thrasymachus.............................................................................................................6
Socrates’ Objection:.....................................................................................................7
Difference between Ethical Relativism and Descriptive Relativism..............................8
Benedict: Cultural Relativism.......................................................................................8
Podcast: Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism (Critique)...........................................9
Critique of Relativism.................................................................................................10
Glaucon (a student of Socrates)................................................................................11
Psychological egoism................................................................................................12
Objections.................................................................................................................. 12
Egoism....................................................................................................................... 13
Ayn Rand................................................................................................................... 14
Harvard Uni Lecture: Michael Sundell- Utilitarianism.................................................15
Utilitarianism.............................................................................................................. 18
Aristippus................................................................................................................... 18
Epicurus..................................................................................................................... 18
Greatest Happiness for Greatest Pleasure- Jeremy Bentham...................................18
Utilitarianism Objections............................................................................................20
Kantian Ethics - Duty Ethics (deontological ethics).................................................21
Objections to Kant.....................................................................................................24
Practice Questions.....................................................................................................26
Aristotle...................................................................................................................... 26
Aristotle- Textbook Notes...........................................................................................28
Class notes- Aristotle.................................................................................................31
Objections to Aristotle................................................................................................32
Existentialist Ethics....................................................................................................33
Sartre......................................................................................................................... 34
Beauvoir................................................................................................................. 34
Feminist Ethics.......................................................................................................35
Ethics
,People normally use the terms Ethics and Morality interchangeably
● Sometimes people make a distinction with morality having to do with principles, as if
we have a kind of moral code
● And ethics has to do with the exercise of this code
○ For example applied ethics, bioethics, business ethics
● We will use the terms interchangeably
Sections:
1. Normative ethics
2. Metaethics
3. Applied ethics
a. Biomedical
b. Wealth/poverty
Normative Ethics- what we ought to do, what should be a norm
● Ethics is looking for the best way to live according to certain principles
● Looking for a set of rules that guide our actions
● Examples:
○ Don’t kill
○ Don’t steal
○ Honesty
○ The golden rule
● Sets a framework or foundation for how we are together in society
● When we make these principles, we are guided by values
● Value: intrinsic
● What values do we have?
What are our moral values?
p.444
● What is a good person and what is a good action
○ A good person is someone who is not blinded by selfish gains and is rather,
guided by selflessness and feelings of empathy and sympathy.
○ Good action- something that benefits others, that is done for its intrinsic value
and because it causes good consequences.
○ Good intentions leading to good consequences
● What can we do to promote the happiness and well-being of others
○ Put ourselves in others’ shoes
○ ‘Veil of ignorance’
○ Give to others what we have in abundance ourselves
○ Emotional and psychological relation- feel empathy and sympathy
● What moral obligations do we have toward other people
, ○ Treat them like we want to be treated
● When should we be held morally responsible
○ When we treat someone in the way that we don’t want to be treated, because
this shows that intrinsically, we know better, and could have acted differently
○ ‘When we know better’
○ When we do something with bad intentions which causes bad consequences
○ The question is should we be held morally responsible when we do not have
bad intentions yet our actions still lead to bad consequences?
■ I don’t think we can be held morally responsible. For example
someone who is mentally ill may not know
● Is it wrong to divulge a secret
○ Yes, unless you divulge it with good intentions that will lead to good
consequences, or you believe will.
● Should we eat meat- no. Wear animal skins- no
○ Causes harm to ourselves and the environment and only leads to bad
consequences
○ Wearing animal skins only for material rewards and has no good intention or
good consequence
○ Has no purpose in and of itself
● Yes- life is a right to anyone and everyone.
○ I’m against the death penalty- but mostly because i feel as though it serves no
purpose- it does not deter crime rates and leads to torture
What kind of situations require a moral compass
Moral dilemmas: situations where there is no obvious right and wrong
● Almost always involves others
● Medicine - euthanasia
● Abortion
● No clear answer
● Consequences as both negative and positive
Purpose of morals:
● We may make mistakes, but if we know where we’re headed we enable it as a
possibility
● Moral compass
Is ethics relative?
Textbook notes: p.449-459
Ethical Relativism
● The theory that ethical values depend on the individual or culture
, ● The view that all moral values are relative to the individual or specific culture
Ethical subjectivism: each person determines what is morally right
● The belief that the ultimate moral authority is the individual or subject
● Can be considered a ‘live and let live’ morality, but there are problems
● The fatal flaw is that it does not entail tolerance for the views or interests of others
○ Simply invests each individual with the moral authority to decide what is right
and wrong
○ Therefore it is not a ‘live and let live’ view because it does not guarantee a
tolerant acceptance of the rights and interests of others Definition of
tolerance: an ethical value that transcends any individual’s point of view
● Recipe for moral anarchy
● ‘With moral choices, you have to go with your inner feeling, what you think is right’
○ Assumes a universal principle of tolerance
○ By committing yourself to a universal principle - we are no longer
subjectivists
Roots of ethical subjectivism
Why people are drawn to it:
1) Confusion between descriptive ethics (what is the case) and normative ethics (what
ought to be the case)
● Individuals have a diverse array of of moral beliefs which vary from person to person
from culture to culture
○ To say this is to simplyd escribe what is the case
○ Different from saying how things ought to be
○ Yet this is exactly what ethical subjectivism says
○ - the idea that each individual should have their own moral beliefs and that
these beliefs are by deifnition morally right
● The naturalistic fallacy:
○ You cannot go from saying ‘people have many different moral beliefs’ to
‘people should have different moral beliefs and they should act in these
beliefs because they are right for them’
○ John Searle: one cannot derive ‘ought’ from ‘is’. ...no set of descriptive
statements can entail an evaluative statement without the addition of at least an
evaluative premise. To believe otherwise is to commmit the naturalistic fallacy
2) misunderstanding about the nature and logic of moral beliefs
● Temptation to think that because people have different moral beliefs that these beliefs
all have equal value, like matters of taste
● ‘Everyone entitled to their own belief’- no right to say someone else’s belief is wrong.
○ Seems tolerant and democratic
○ However, it doesn’t work well with mores
