“And the Moral Is…”

After reading "Ethics in a Nutshell," you should be able to discuss the following:

ETHICS IN A NUTSHELL

 Ethics:  A branch of philosophy that comes from the Greek word ethos (εθος ) meaning habit or custom.  In common English usage, it refers to a code or set of principles by which people live righteously.  Ethics are the principles that regulate a “just” society and prescribe how one ought to behave.

Ancient Ethical Theories -Because of its clear and plainspoken discussion of the heady moral philosophers, this straightforward, succinct Stanford encyclopedia provides perhaps the best resource available to philosophical neophytes. Simply put, it's scholarly yet accessible. Not only that, but the bibliography provides a treasure trove of scholarship worth its weight in academic gold.

NOTEWORTHY MORAL PHILOSOPHERS

• Plato’s student and teacher of Alexander the Great. 
• Aristotle loved to categorize things.
• In fact, he’s considered to be the greatest literary biologist of all time because his Poetics have been instrumental in defining the guidelines for literature.
• He wrote philosophical treatises on practically everything, and the term “metaphysics” is derived from the writings he did after he wrote about “physics,” or the nature of things in the material world.  (In Greek, meta (μετα) is a preposition that means “after”.) Of course, the word metaphysics has taken on much broader meaning since its inception.
• Believed that in order for our actions to be judged as moral or immoral, we must have a certain degree of health and wealth.
• Aristotle adopted a scientific, empirical approach to ethical problems.
• His primary work on ethics is called Nicomachean Ethics.
• How do we achieve happiness?
• The answer for Aristotle was to apply the “golden mean,” which, when applied to ethics rather than mathematics, means that in order to achieve happiness, we must act moderately, always striving for the harmonious balance between two extremes.
• Happiness, he argues, is not something static or stationary, but rather is an activity, a way of doing things.
• If one engages in the activities of life in a virtuous manner, then happiness accompanies these activities (though it should never be the goal of the activity).
• Happiness is the path taken on the journey to “the good live” and should not be confused with the destination itself.
• Moreover, what is good for one person may not be good for another, and without experimentation and trial and error, through the use of reason alone, one cannot determine what is best.

ARISTOTELEANISM
( http://www.ismbook.com)

• Aristotle was the first philosopher to create a more-or-less complete system of thought
  • originated or gave renewed force to individualism, eudaimonism, optimism, realism, humanism, naturalism, and even to a certain extent political liberalism
  • defended the importance of voluntary institutions and the rule of law
• Aristotle's writings in the West disappeared for centuries only to be rediscovered again around 1200 CE at the height of the logicism of the Middle Ages
  • Aristotle often is blamed for the mistakes and views of his interpreters
  • popular conception of Aristotelianism sometimes closer to neo-Platonism or especially scholasticism than anything Aristotle argued for in his writings
  • Aristotle was something of a conservative (and was seriously wrong about some things, such as the intellectual powers and moral worth of women)
  • views on most topics scientific and realistic
  • founded the science of logic
  • performed significant research in biology, political science, rhetoric, literary theory, and many other disciplines.

• To live pleasurably means that one must not suffer any undesirable effects from living in such a manner.
• If one engages in a life of pleasure that ultimately leads to some sort of pain, then such a life cannot be said to be pleasurable and thus is not “good.”
• dynamic pleasures such as lust, gluttony, fame, drunkenness, and marriage
• are all BAD by virtue of the fact that they are all accompanied by pain.
• better to avoid pain than to seek pleasure if it will produce pain. 
• passive pleasures such as friendship
• are good because they do not produce pain and suffering
• when people suffer great catastrophes, they instinctively seek pleasure as a means of comfort as well as a means of providing security in a collapsing world.

• Proposes that moral law requires that people be rewarded (not necessarily on earth, but rather in heaven) in direct proportion to their virtue.
• identifies the “essence of morality” as being in the motive behind the act
• gauges morality in terms of intention rather than consequence
• No matter what turns out to be the consequence of the action, it is moral if the person acting has good intentions
• believes the path to reward in heaven (not the path to hell) is paved with good intentions
• only voluntary actions (volition) can be described as being either moral or immoral.
• If we were acting under duress, then our actions are simply amoral, outside of morality.
• categorical imperative:  states that everyone should act in a righteous manner as if each action were to become a universal law.

PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

• contends that there is fundamentally one and only one good life for all to lead because goodness exists independently of human inclinations, desires, wishes, and opinions.  There exists an objective truth that is absolute and can only be found by training the intellect.
• Platonism and utilitarianism (see below) both presume objectivist viewpoints.
• Remember, Plato supposes that moral truths exist in the same sense as mathematical truths.  He also states that goodness is a moral fact.

• contends that there can be no absolute determination of morality based on some objective truth. 
• Truth is relative to the individual circumstances and can only be determined by taking into consideration the psychology and context of the person faced with the moral dilemma.
• A theory is subjectivist if it posits that ethical or moral judgments are neither true nor false or if it suggest that truth and falsity apply and can only be interpreted by each particular person.
• Thomas Hobbes's moral theory is considered subjectivist because he believed that moral language was just another way to express desires, inclinations, feelings, etc.  In other words, a statement like “This is good” can be translated as “I desire this.”
• cultural relativism claims that different cultures have different but perfectly legitimate and equally valid standards of truth and value

EMPIRICISM:

HEDONISM:

• an eastern/Oriental ethical philosophy
• roots in stoicism as well as a Christian philosophy in 17th century Europe
• comparable to Buddhist nirvana
• advises us to accept and succumb to adversity
• inner passivity essential for perfecting the spirit
• even though we suffer throughout our lives, our ethical duty is to make the best of things.
• promotes mental stillness and submersion in tranquility and meditation will help us achieve this goal
• based on the idea that the physical world of the senses is an illusion and that truth and happiness transcend the material world.

CYNICISM:

STOICISM:

UTILITARIANISM: