Virtue Ethics

1
Virtue Ethics

• Greek philosophers didnt focus on the act, but
  on the character traits of the individual
• Plato focused on what he called the Four Cardinal
  Virtues
• Temperance
• Justice
• Courage
• Wisdom
• http//jcomm.uoregon.edu/tbivins/J397/LINKS/lectu
  re_notes.html for source

2
Virtue Ethics

• Aristotle called this concept the Golden Mean
• Moral choice is always a continuum
• Moral persons will gravitate toward a moral
  mean, which somewhere between the extremes of
  behavior (excessive and deficient)

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Golden Mean
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Virtue Ethics

• Useful?
• Doesnt give us a clear method to determine right
  from wrong
• Virtues can conflict should I be honest or
  kind?

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Chapter 2
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Conventional Morality

• Purchasing Abroad story how would you deal
  with this?
• What if the company that you bought from, bought
  from one of those countries?
• What if the company you bought from, bought from
  a company that bought from etc.?
• Is morality a personal view or a shared view?
• Are rights and wrongs universal, cultural,
  societal, family-oriented, or personal?
• If shared, is a belief that our shared morality
  is superior to other countries arrogant?

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Ethical relativism

• In this view
• There are no inherent rights and wrongs
• When in Rome view
• No individual country or culture is superior
• The opposite of a universalistic view

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Kohlbergs three levels of moral development

• Level 1 Preconventional level
• Stage one We react to punishment no sense of
  right or wrong
• Stage two We do things to get rewards and praise
• Level 2 Conventional level (where most people
  never leave)
• Stage one Good Boy/Nice Girl Morality we
  react to expectations of others, we understand
  the norms
• Stage two Law and Order stage conformity with
  societal roles and rules
• Levels 1 and 2 are driven by external influences

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Kohlbergs three levels of moral development

• Level 3 Postconventional level
• We know why things are right and wrong
• We can reason why theyre right/wrong
• Stage one
• Contract and individual rights
• Stage two
• We can give a rational defense of our guiding
  principles
• We dont do things because others tell us, but
  through rational decision-making
• Level 3 is internal

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Right and Wrong

• Judgments of right and wrong often involve
• Moral decisions as universal
• Moral judgments as important
• More important than our personal needs or even
  legal requirements
• Praise and blame based on moral decisions

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Subjective and objective morality

• What is the difference between a subjectively
  correct/incorrect moral decision and an
  objectively correct/incorrect moral decision?
• Subjectively correct means we believe were right
• Objectively correct means were adhering to moral
  laws and norms
• We usually dont deal with the beliefs of the
  participants, only the actions
• Because of this confusion, many feel all moral
  questions are subjective

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Normative ethical relativism
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Normative Ethical RelativismThree types

• There is no absolute right or wrong, just
  opinions
• What are implications when right and wrong is
  about individual feelings and not objective
  behaviors?
• If you cant disagree with an opinion, everyones
  always right, so
• There is an absolute right or wrong, but it is
  determined by the culture
• What are the implications here?
• We should not judge things as right or wrong
  because theres no way to know
• Implications?
• Is it worth investigating why something is
  right or wrong?
• Search for agreement?

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Moral Absolutism

• The opposite of moral relativism
• Moral behaviors as external and universal
• That doesnt necessarily mean we can know what
  they are
• This book contends that there is an ideal we
  can strive towards, but it isnt necessarily
  external or universal
• This is neither relativism or absolutism,
  according to the author

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Conventional Morality

• Morality must be shared to a great extent, if it
  is to have any purpose in a society
• Particularly in a pluralistic society like ours.
• While differences exist, nations share some basic
  moral values (murder, lying, respect for
  property)
• National sovereignty limits what can be done
• When in Rome, do like the Romans what about
  this?
• Some adherence is obvious traffic laws example
• What about norms that go against our basic
  beliefs?
• Further, can we, should we, or must we IMPOSE our
  morality on others?

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Two basic approaches to moral reasoning

• Teleological approach
• Based on consequences, ends consequentialism
  utilitarianism
• Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
• Deontological approach
• Based on the notion that things are inherently
  right or wrong, and the situation/consequences
  are irrelevant
• Judeo-Christian approach is deontological
• Kant
• What most discussions of business ethics, social
  ethics use
• Moral imagination is required (cognitive
  complexity)