Title: Ethical Theories
1Ethical Theories
2- What is Ethics?
- Developed by
- Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks,
S.J., and Michael J. Meyer - A few years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart
asked business people, "What does ethics mean to
you?"
3Among their replies were the following
- "Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me
is right or wrong. - "Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.
- "Being ethical is doing what the law requires.
- "Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our
society accepts. - "I don't know what the word means."
- These replies might be typical of our own. The
meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the
views many people have about ethics are shaky.
4- Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people
tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But
being ethical is clearly not a matter of
following one's feelings. A person following his
or her feelings may recoil from doing what is
right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from
what is ethical. - Nor should one identify ethics with religion.
Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical
standards. Yet if ethics were confined to
religion, then ethics would apply only to
religious people. But ethics applies as much to
the behavior of the atheist as to that of the
saint. Religion can set high ethical standards
and can provide intense motivations for ethical
behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to
religion nor is it the same as religion.
5- Being ethical is also not the same as following
the law. The law often incorporates ethical
standards to which most citizens subscribe. But
laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is
ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and
the apartheid laws of present-day South Africa
are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that
deviate from what is ethical. - Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing
"whatever society accepts." In any society, most
people accept standards that are, in fact,
ethical. But standards of behavior in society can
deviate from what is ethical. An entire society
can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a
good example of a morally corrupt society.
6- Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever
society accepts," then to find out what is
ethical, one would have to find out what society
accepts. To decide what I should think about
abortion, for example, I would have to take a
survey of American society and then conform my
beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one
ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a
survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on
many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics
with whatever society accepts. Some people accept
abortion but many others do not. If being ethical
were doing whatever society accepts, one would
have to find an agreement on issues which does
not, in fact, exist.
7- What, then, is ethics?
- Ethics is two things.
- First, ethics refers to well based standards of
right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought
to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations,
benefits to society, fairness, or specific
virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those
standards that impose the reasonable obligations
to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault,
slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also
include those that enjoin virtues of honesty,
compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards
include standards relating to rights, such as the
right to life, the right to freedom from injury,
and the right to privacy. Such standards are
adequate standards of ethics because they are
supported by consistent and well founded reasons.
8- Secondly, ethics refers to the study and
development of one's ethical standards. As
mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms
can deviate from what is ethical. So it is
necessary to constantly examine one's standards
to ensure that they are reasonable and
well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the
continuous effort of studying our own moral
beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to
ensure that we, and the institutions we help to
shape, live up to standards that are reasonable
and solidly-based. - This article appeared originally in Issues in
Ethics IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987)
9- Ethics vs. Compliance
- As scandals swirl around the White House,
President Bush has ordered his staff to take a
refresher course in ethics. See related Newsline
story, Nov. 14. Not a moment too soon, many
would say. But there are two problems with the
president's directive. First, as any organization
knows, the tone is set at the top. So it is a
mistake for the president to exempt himself from
such a class. If he thinks that ethics in the
White House is important (and who doesn't?), then
he, as the leader in charge, must also attend the
session, at least to demonstrate that the classes
are serious, not just a public relations stunt. - The second problem with such an ethics course is
that it is about ethics in name only. In fact,
the course is about compliance with a set of laws
that basically address conflicts of interest and,
in this particular instance, rules for handling
classified information. The assumption behind
this kind of ethics class is that ethics is
rule-following. It is the mistaken idea that
ethics and following the law are the same thing.
Most of the time ethics and the law overlap but
not always. Just last week Rosa Parks was honored
by this nation for having the courage to have
broken an unjust law. In hindsight, everyone --
from the president to Supreme Court justices to
school children -- recognized that there are
times in which laws are themselves unethical, and
the right thing to do is not to comply with them.
10- But the more serious problem with equating ethics
with rule-following is that ethics often demands
more than memorizing and living by a set of
rules. A study done of law school students, for
example, shows that their ability to make sound
ethical judgments is impaired by their three
years in law school because ethics is presented
in a rule-based manner. The conclusion that
students reach is that all that is necessary to
be ethical is to follow the letter of the law.
Anything that is done to further your own case
that isn't illegal is, by this definition,
ethically acceptable. - Ethics -- real ethics -- requires the use of
judgment, and this is distinct from
rule-following. Judgment is acquired by
struggling with situations that aren't clear-cut
it requires self-reflection and an openness to
alternative possibilities. - Refresher courses in ethics is a fine idea -- if
ethics is broadly defined and if the person in
charge of the organization participates in those
courses. But courses that focus on ethics as mere
rules make matters worse. Ethics classes that
discuss the dilemmas of wealth and poverty, war
and peace, prosperity and the environment,
security and human rights, and immigration and
national identity are classes that will make a
difference. This is harder than what the
president proposes. But whoever thought ethics
was easy was fooling more than himself. - -Arthur Dobrin,
- Professor of Humanities, Hofstra University,
Hempstead, NY
11Law vs. Ethics
- http//www.quia.com/cz/13244.html
12What is Ethics and Morality?
- Ethos (Greek) and Mores (Latin) are terms having
to do with custom, habit, and behavior. - Ethics is the study of morality.
- This definition raises two questions
- (a) What is morality?
- (b) What is the study of morality?
13What is Ethics?
- Branch of Philosophy
- What is ..
- Good
- Other Branches? What is.
- Knowledge
- In the world
- Beautiful
- Our Relationship to Other People
14What is Morality?
- morality can be defined as
- a system of rules for guiding human conduct, and
principles for evaluating those rules. - Two points are worth noting in this definition
- (i) morality is a system and
- (ii) it is a system comprised of moral rules and
principles. - moral rules can be understood as "rules of
conduct," which are very similar to "policies."
15Summary
- Ethics
- Study of morality
- Branch of Philosophy
- Morality
- System of Rules
- Rules of conduct
16Wrong??
- Why do we do wrong things?
- Why do we disagree on what is right?
- How do we justify doing wrong things?
17"Roadblocks" to Moral Discourse
- 1. People disagree about morality so how can we
reach agreement on moral issues? - 2. Who am I/Who are we to judge others and to
impose my/our values on others? - 3. Isn't morality simply a private matter?
- 4. Isn't morality simply a matter that different
cultures and groups should determine for
themselves?
18People Disagree on Solutions to Moral Issues
- But
- (i) Experts in other fields of study, such as
science and math, also disagree. - (ii) There is common agreement about some moral
questions. - (iii) People do not always distinguish between
"disagreements about factual matters" and
"disagreements on general principles - in disputes involving morality.
19Who am I to Judge Others?
- We need to distinguish between
- Persons Making Judgments and Persons Being
Judgmental, and - Judgments Involving Condemnations vs.
Judgments Involving Evaluations - Also, we are sometimes required to make judgments
about others.
20Ethics is Simply a Private Matter
- Morality is essentially personal in nature and
therefore a private matter? - Private morality" is essentially an oxymoron or
contradictory notion. - Morality is a public phenomenon (Gert).
21Morality is relative A Matter for Individual
Cultures to Decide
- A moral system is dependent on, or relative to, a
particular culture or group. - Ethical Relativism.
- Need to distinguish between
- cultural relativism Different cultures have
different beliefs about what constitutes morally
right and wrong behavior. - moral relativism no universal standard of
morality is possible because different people
have different beliefs about what is right and
wrong. anything goes.
22Summary of Logical Flaws in the Discussion
Stoppers
Stopper 2 Who am I to judge others?
__________________ 1. Fails to distinguish
between the act of judging and being a judgmental
person. 2. Fails to distinguish between judging
as condemning and judging as evaluating. 3. Fails
to recognize that sometimes we are required to
make judgments
Stopper 3 Ethics is imply a private
matter. _________________ 1. Fails to recognize
that morality is essentially a public system. 2.
Fails to note that personally-based morality can
cause major harm to others. 3. Confuses moral
choices with individual or personal preferences.
Stopper 1 People disagree on solutions to moral
issues.
__________________ 1. Fails to
recognize that experts in many areas disagree on
key issues in their fields. 2. Fails to recognize
that there are many moral issues on which people
agree. 3. Fails to distinguish between
disagreements about principles and disagreements
about facts.
Stopper 4 Morality is simply a matter for
individual cultures to decide. ___________________
1. Fails to distinguish between descriptive and
normative claims about morality. 2. Assumes that
people can never reach common agreement on some
moral principles. 3. Assumes that a system is
moral because a majority in a culture decides it
is moral.