Lecture 17 Notes

Introduction to Ethics

1. The Importance of Careful Reasoning with Respect to Ethics--The consequences of bad ethical thought can be severe because of what is at stake in many ethical questions (e.g., abortion, euthanasia).
2. Two Critical Questions:
1. What is the scope of ethical principles?  Is some form of relativism correct, or do ethical principles apply universally?
2. What is the justification for ethical principles?  What ultimately makes an act right or wrong?
3. Important Distinctions To Bear in Mind:
1. Morally Permissible vs. Morally Forbidden vs. Morally Obligatory--A morally permissible act is an act that it is permissible to perform or not to perform.  A morally forbidden act is an act that it is not permissible to perform.  A morally obligatory act is an act that it is not permissible not to perform.
2. Legal vs. Moral--Some actions are legal but not moral (e.g., lying to your spouse); some actions are moral but not legal (e.g., the underground railroad).
3. Particular Moral Judgments vs. General Moral Principles--Some particular moral judgments are difficult to generalize into moral principles.  For example, suppose that you break your roommate's computer.  You might think that it is immoral to lie to her about it.  But you probably wouldn't want to affirm the general moral principle that all lying is immoral.  Suppose your roommate has a stalker who comes to the door and asks for her whereabouts.  Though you know she is hiding in the closet, lying might be the moral course of action in this case.

Moral Objectivism vs. Moral Subjectivism

1. Definitions
1. Objectivism=The moral status of an action is completely objective; conflicting views cannot all be right.
• Morality is not dependent upon attitudes, preferences, or culture.
• Moral claims are true or false in the same sense as scientific claims.
2. Subjectivism=The moral status of an action is not completely objective; conflicting views can all be right.
• Morality depends on attitudes, preferences, or culture.
• Moral claims are true or false in the same sense in which fashion claims are true or false.
2. A Popular Form of Subjectivism: Cultural Relativism--the moraltiy of an action depends on the culture in which you live.
   
3. The Cultural Differences Argument
1. Different cultures have different moral codes.
• Appeal to famous cases (Ex. Certain Eskimo cultures practice infanticide.)
  
2. Therefore, there are no objective, universal, culturally independent facts or considerations which determine the truth or falsehood of different moral claims.
4. Problems with the Cultural Differences Argument
1. Extreme Consequences of Relativism
• Can't justify criticizing other societies
• Can't justify criticizing aspects of our own society
• No such thing as cultural progress
• Sometimes used in a self-refuting manner--It is immoral to believe that there are objective moral truths.  But is that an objective moral truth?!?
2. Argument is Invalid--The premise does not guarantee the conclusion.  It is consistent with the premise to conclude that there are objective moral truths and some cultures are just wrong.
3. Rethinking the First Premise
• All cultures share in common certain moral rules that are necessary conditions for societies (e.g., indiscriminate killing is wrong, some forms of dishonesty are wrong).  Moreover, some cultural differences are merely biases as opposed to moral rules (e.g., manners, dress codes).  The question is: Are there objective truths about issues that are clearly moral (as opposed to biases) but are not necessary conditions for society (e.g., slavery is wrong, racism is wrong, etc.)?
  
• Even Eskimo infanticide wasn't indiscriminate killing.  The Eskimos let female babies die because there was a food shortage and the female babies would not contribute to hunting and gathering food.