Initial Perspective on Ethics: Important Terms and Issues

handout b

I. "Ethics" = rational reflection on morality

and

    "Morality" = actual standards of right/wrong, good/bad, obligatory/forbidden/permissible, etc.

or

    prevailing view of what constitutes living rightly and well

A. It is important to distinguish:

1. "Spoken Morality" – what people say constitutes their morality

from

2. "Lived Morality" – those standards and principles by which people actually live.

B. It is important to distinguish:

1. the "moral" vs. "amoral" distinction – what people do and don’t consider essential to living rightly and well  

       from

2. the "moral" vs. "immoral" distinction – what people accept and reject in terms of their moral standards and principles.

C. It is useful to distinguish:

1. "Moralists"

       from

2. "Ethicists"

D. Alternative Approaches to Ethics:

       1. Descriptive or Social Scientific

       2. Philosophical

            a.) Normative Theory 

            b.) Casuistry of Applied Ethics

            c.) Metaethics

E. Scope and Importance of Morality: Compare/Contrast with Law

F. Our Approach: An emphasis on Normative Theory in a Multicultural "History"  

II. To clarify our initial perspective: A simplifying focus on "Moral Judgments"

A. Object of Moral Judgments:

       1.Deontologism = the viewpoint of obligations

       2. Consequentialism = the viewpoint of desirable consequences

B. Nature of Moral Judgments:

       1. Descriptivism/Cognitivism

            a.) Ethical Naturalism

            b.) Metaphysical Moralism

       2. Intuitionism (Non-naturalism)

       3. Nondescriptivism/Noncognitivism

            a.) Emotivism

            b.) Prescriptivism

C. Status of Moral Judgments:

       1. Objectivism

       2. Intersubjectivism

       3. Subjectivism

D. Rationality of Moral Judgments:

       1. Moral Realism

       2. Moral Skepticism               

E. Standards for Moral Judgments:

       1. Moral Absolutism

       2. Relativism

            a.) Cultural Relativism

            b.) Ethical Relativism

F. The Subject Matter for Judgment:

       1. An "Ethics of Being" expressed in aretaic judgments

       2. An "Ethics of Doing" expressed in deontic judgments

G. Differences in Metaphysical Foundations:

       1. "Religious Ethics" rooted in the morality of surrender

       2. "Secular Ethics" rooted in the morality of effort

H. The Question of Human Nature:

       1. Ethical Optimism = the view that human nature is good

       2. Ethical Pessimism = the view that human nature is bad

I.  The Question of Human Motivation:

       1. Egoism

            a.) Psychological Egoism

            b.) Ethical Egoism              

       2. Altruism

J. A Crucial Social Consideration:

       1. The Ethics of the Powerful (or Socially Dominant)

       2. The Ethics of the Weak (or Socially Oppressed)

K. The Special Importance of Ethics:

       1. For the "life of the mind" and "rational self-governance"

       2. For personal and global transformation