UU200 LECTURE 3A ETHICAL THEORIES OF CHARACTER

(Dr. Mishra)
Why are ethical theories important?
Any philosophical attempt to classify actions into right and wrong/good and
bad (www.uah.edu/colleges/liberal/philosophy/.../IntroEthicalTheory.pdf)
They offer pathways for making decisions and analysing issues
What are some types of ethical theories?
Ethics of character [Virtue ethics, Feminist Virtue Ethics] and Ethics of
Conduct [Consequentialism and Deontology]
How can we define Aristotles virtue ethics?
If our emotional responses are educated properly, we will take pleasure or
pain in the right things and to develop practical wisdom (phronsis).
Excellence of character is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean
relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the
man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two
vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect
(Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II.7, 1106b36-1107a3). Bravery: battlefield.
How have feminists used virtue ethics to create their own
theory on an ethics of care?
Traditional morality is male-centered and there is a unique female
perspective of the world which can be shaped into a value theory.
J. S. Mill: Women's morality result of social conditioning.
Catherine Beecher: a womans place is in the home; to be Christ-like.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Women should be pushed out into the public world
and not be left in the private world.
Carol Gilligan: Level One: What is best for me? Level Two: What is best for
others? Level Three: What is best for me and others? When women weave
their own interests together with others at Level Three, they display a kind
of thinking that is feminist (Gilligan, In a Different Voice, 1982)
UU200 LECTURE 3B ETHICAL THEORIES OF CONDUCT
(Dr. Mishra)
What is Ethics of Conduct?
Theorists studying conduct like to ask: What sort of actions should we
perform? How should we behave?
How can we define consequentialism?
Where ethical decisions are based on calculating the good in terms of the
consequences or the outcomes (Preston: 37).
Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right
action is the one with the best overall consequences
(http://www.iep.utm.edu/conseque/). The ends justify the means!
Ethical Egoism: it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally
right that maximizes one's self-interest (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egoism/)
Altruism: To act purely out of a concern for others.
Utilitarianism: emphasizes happiness or pleasure or utility as the
desirable goal for human choice and action (Preston: 36). GHF
What is deontology?
From Greek deon (obligation/duty) & logia (science/study); also duty,
obligation or rule-based ethics; relies on absolutes; non-consequentialism
Immanuel Kants Categorical imperative: Act only according to that maxim
whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal
law http://www.articlesbase.com/ethics-articles/understanding-kants-categorical-imperative-
1749611.html#ixzz17N5IfB00
What are some failings and benefits of ethical theories?
All ethical theories have flaws but when they are combined, they can help
us to arrive at the most ethically correct answer possible for each scenario.