Ethics

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Ethics

• A Crash Course

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Simply Stated

• Ethics is the science of morality. Ethics are
  very important because they can answer the big
  question, "How should we live?"
• Ethics presuppose that we can define how we
  should live. Without this context, ethics is
  generally just talk implying moral judgment.
• Simple ethics are useful to distinguish "good
  from bad" socially just as we might distinguish
  "good from evil" morally. Ethics are also
  useful to recognize that we use the word "right"
  to judge what is correct. Ethics begins when we
  try to use "right,""wrong," "good, "bad" and
  "evil" as labels in a predictable, way.
  Otherwise, ethics are just a moral judgment and
  not a basis for cooperation with other people in
  any due process or law.

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Aristotle

• Aristotle thought that ethics were separate from
  rhetoric a distinct science and that the
  principal concern of ethics was the well-being of
  human beings. Like Plato, he regards the ethical
  virtues (justice, courage, temperance and so on)
  as complex rational, emotional and social skills.
  But he rejects Plato's idea that a training in
  the sciences and metaphysics are a necessary
  prerequisite for a full understanding of our
  good (Stanford).

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Aristotelian Ethics

• Aristotle is deeply indebted to Plato's moral
  philosophy, which states that moral thinking must
  be integrated with our emotions. Preparation for
  this begins in childhood and is centered in
  education.
• No one had written ethical treatises before
  Aristotle . To be sure, we can find in Plato's
  works important discussions of these phenomena,
  but they are not brought together and unified as
  they are in Aristotle's ethical writings
  (Stanford).

• For our purposes, it is important to understand
  two concepts developed by Aristotle
• The Human Good
• The Function Argument

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• The Human Good
• It is not simply because we want to have
  knowledge, but because we will be better able to
  achieve our good if we develop a fuller
  understanding of what it is to flourish.
• Aristotle's search for the good is a search for
  the highest good whichhas three
  characteristics it is desirable for itself, it
  is not desirable for the sake of some other good,
  and all other goods are desirable for its sake
  (Stanford).

• The Function Argument
• Aristotle asks what is the function (Gk ergon as
  in ergonomics) of human beings?
• This function consists in activity of the
  rational part of the soul in accordance with
  virtue (Stanford).
• Doing anything well requires virtue or
  excellence, and therefore living well consists in
  activities caused by the rational soul in
  accordance with virtue or excellence.

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• Aristotle's conclusion about the nature of
  happiness is in a sense uniquely his own. No
  other writer or thinker had said precisely what
  he says about what it is to live well. But at the
  same time his view is not too distant from a
  common idea. As he himself points out, one
  traditional conception of happiness identifies it
  with virtue (1098b30-1). Aristotle's theory
  should be construed as a refinement of this
  position. He says, not that happiness is virtue,
  but that it is virtuous activity. Living well
  consists in doing something, not just being in a
  certain state or condition. It consists in those
  lifelong activities that actualize the virtues of
  the rational part of the soul (Stanford).

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Why are ethics important in this course?

• The artful and ethical speaker wants to
  persuade
• Rhetoric should work to preserve character.
• Therefore, in a rhetorical situation, ethics are
  necessary. We must appeal to the highest good.

• As scholars, we must be honest.
• We must derive our information from the most
  accurate and ethical sources.
• Academic honesty, (i.e. not plagiarizing) relies
  on an academic code of ethics.

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For discussion

• Can we apply a code of ethics to our writing?
• What types of things, besides plagiarism, would
  be considered unethical?
• Are ethics and morals interchangeable?
• Is it permissible to break the laws of man in
  order to preserve a common good?
• Besides academics, what other professions rely on
  a code of ethics?