ETHICS

LESSON 4

SENTIMENT AND MORAL DECISION-MAKING

A rational person is completely different from a moral one, because rationality in and of itself is not automatically
equivalent to morality.

Immanuel Kant - Man as a moral agent can only attain virtue if feelings play no significant role in making
decisions.
Ronald Desousa - Emotions, for him, can be considered rational, for there is a logical need in man to communicate
emotional expressions
Stanislaw Jerzy Lec - Impartiality is not neutrality. It is partiality for justice

Cognitive Dissonance - Those who suffered from leprosy (or Hansen's Disease) back in the Middle Ages were
expelled from mainstream society and resettled in "leper colonies" due to the unfounded belief that the disease is
incurable and spreads fast

THE SEVEN-STEP GUIDE TO MORAL REASONING BY MICHAEL DAVIS

1. State the problem.
2. Check the facts.
3. Identify relevant factors.
4. Develop a list of options
5. Test the options.
6. Come up with a choice or decision based on the above mentioned steps.
7. Review Steps 1-6.

Moral Courage To thoroughly interrogate man's character, one should raise the question.
Virtue is a trait of character, manifested in habitual action, that is good for a person to have (Rachels, 2003).

Physical And Moral Courage

Physical courage is the enactment of virtue through actual activity. Conversely, moral courage is never always
demonstrated on a strictly physical level. Instead, moral courage engages in such acts serves mainly to further typify
the virtues one lives by.

MORAL COURAGE: DETERMINANTS

Bystander Effect (or "Bystander Apathy") When you don't act because you assume others will, that's the
bystander effect in action.
> Revealed that people respond to emergency situations, where victims' safety are much evidently at stake, quicker
and with little regard for the bystander effect compared to ordinary helping situations In short, moral courage is
rather easy to arouse in truly dire scenarios, thus removing the "Bystander Effect" as a genuine determinant.

Mood is said that people are more likely to help others if they are in a positive mood, because doing so is seen as a
factor in prolonging it.

MORAL COURAGE: FOSTERING FACTORS

1. Social Norms : predominantly the most salient prosocial ones, in encouraging morally courageous acts.
2. Anger : Morally courageous acts are often caused by moral outrage, or the kind of anger provoked by the
violation of a certain moral or ethical standard.

Moral Courage : Three Elements

- Principles
- Danger
- Endurance

THE MORAL IMPERATIVE OF THE WILL

Will is the fortitude it takes for one to act or decide according to a personal set of principles

Immanuel Kant - Will is the faculty man has in order to act according to a conception of law.
Arthur Schopenhauer - Will is the "key to all existence". The will is the inner nature of being but visibly expressed
through and by the human body, which in itself is an idea. Thus, existence is will materialized, capable of generating
all that is desirable and otherwise in this world.
Thomas Aquinas- Will as guided by intellect, when desired, can be labeled as the appetite for reason.
Josiah Royce - For Royce, consciousness is where knowing begins, which itself is an act of will. He further added
that the highest form of good can only be attained if a person confers value and loyalty to a cause, even if he/she will
not actually benefit from it. For him, Will in and of itself, without relation to intellect, is what ultimately guides man
LESSON 5
Virtues - high moral standard
Pagan - worship many gods St. Thomas Aquinas
Eudaimonia - true happiness

5 component of virtue
1. habit - consistent
2. sensitivity to reason - you don't harm or lie to others
3. Emotion attributes - happy to perform
4. Natural inclination -natural when it comes to you
5. Practical wisdom - wise choices and decision

virtue as a good character

- good thoughts
- good actions
- good habits
- good character

Telos - Aristotle said that we must cultivate virtues because they are the qualities that will help the people to live
well. His ethics is founded on the premise that man strives for an ultimate goal-a Telos. He called this living well-
Eudaimonia - generally translated as happiness, though when applied, it refers more to flourishing of the human
being.
Virtue should be understood as being a habit. It should be something that has shaped one's character through
constant and consistent virtuous act
Virtues are characteristics or qualities that set a high moral standard

THE NATURAL AND THE REVEALED

> The natural would be within the sphere of philosophy where one has to observe first then make a conclusion.
Revealed theology means that our knowledge will come from God's revelation and that would be within the sphere
of faith- where it mandates believing first.

LESSON 6-7
Deontology & Ultiliarian Ethics

Emmanuel Kant - He is a Father of Deontology

Deontology is often associated with philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant believed that ethical actions follow universal
moral laws, such as "Don't lie. Don't steal.

Kant's Theory
> Represent deontological ethics
> For him a right action consists solely in an action that is ruled and justified by a rule or principle. It was the
rational and autonomous conformity of one's will to see right the universal moral law
> Foundations of Metaphysics of Morals, explains the philosophical foundation of morality and moral actions

Kant's Concepts
Morality :
Good Will - Only thing that is good without qualification.
> Other goods like intelligence and health can be qualified, Good Will is good by virtue because it is the will to
follow the Moral Law.

Nature of Imperatives - Imperatives are commands

> For kant there exist 2:
> Hypothetical Imperatives
> Categorical Imperatives

The Notion of Duty - Distinction between "I want" and "I ought".
> Moral actions are not spontaneous, if I see someone in need of help, I may be inclined to look the other way, but I
will recognize that my duty is to help.
> Considering only those actions that are seemingly good according to Kant are actions that seem good by duty, that
are good to my common sense of duty and for that they are right.

Hypothetical Imperatives
> If you want you ought. The ought or the duty is conditioned by your desires, wants and goals.
> Our goals are grounded in SELF-INTEREST
Categorical Imperative
> The general from of DO. (Unconditioned)
> For Kant there is only one imperative command and it is the Moral Law.

Divided in 2 formulations
First Formulation
> "Act as if the maxim of your action were to secure through your will a universal law of nature."
> Meaning act as if in your will you were defining a maximum rule for all to follow.

Second Formulation
> "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, always as an end and never as a
mean."
> See if your actions are using others or affecting others, in the meaning of never using them as a mean to achieve
but always as an end.

Moral Worth
> One can have moral worth only if one is motivated by morality.
> "In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others; in ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”

Utilitarianism - Is a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness and oppose actions that cause
unhappiness. Utilitarianism promotes "the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people

Making Ethical Judgments in Utilitarianism

> Utilitarianism says that the Result or the Consequence of an Act is the real measure of whether it is good or bad.
> This theory emphasizes Ends over Means.
> Theories, like this one, that emphasize the results or consequences are called teleological or consequentialist

Bentham's Formulation of Utilitarianism

> Man is under two great masters, pain and pleasure.
> The great good that we should seek is happiness. (a hedonistic perspective)
> Those actions whose results increase happiness or diminish pain are good. They have "utility.”

Jeremy Bentham's Hedonistic Calculus

> In determining the quantity of happiness that might be produced by an action, we evaluate the possible
consequences by applying several values:
> Intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness, fecundity, purity, and extent.

Hedonistic Calculus:
1. Intensity (How strong is the pleasure?)
2. Duration (How long the pleasure last?)
3. Certainty (How is one assured of the pleasure?)
4. Proximity (How soon will pleasure be experienced?)
5. Fecundity (How many times will pleasure be repeated?)
6. Purity (Will there be pain?)
7. Extent (How many people will experience the pleasure?)

Four Theses of Utilitarianism

> Consequentialism: The rightness of actions is determined solely by their consequences.
> Hedonism: Utility is the degree to which an act produces pleasure. Hedonism is the thesis that pleasure or
happiness is the good that we seek and that we should seek.
> Maximalism: A right action produces the greatest good consequences and the least bad.
> Universalism: The consequences to be considered are those of everyone affected, and everyone equally.

Two Formulations of Utilitarian Theory

Principle of Utility: The best action is that which produces the greatest happiness and/or reduces pain.
Greatest Happiness: We ought to do that which produces the greatest happiness and least pain for the greatest
number of people.

Two Types of Utilitarianism

> Act: An Action is right if and only if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number.
(Jeremy Bentham)
> Rule: An action is right
if and only if it conforms to a set of rules the general acceptance of which would produce the greatest balance of
pleasure over pain for the greatest number. (John Stuart Mill)