Ethical Discussion Ideas, Schemes and Mind Maps of Ethics

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Lec 15: Are There

Absolute Moral Rules?

Lec 15: Are There Absolute Moral Rules?

Moral Duties

 Absolute Moral Duties: These are

moral obligations one has without

exceptions.

 Prima Facie Moral Duties: These are

moral obligations one has, but there

can be exceptions or cases in which

one is released from the obligation.

Marijuana

 Pleasure and pain?

Harms and benefits?

Intrinsic vs. Extrinisc  (^) Intrinsic moral value: The act itself has moral value.  (^) Extrinsic moral value: the consequences of the act provide the moral value.

Dropping The Nuclear Bombs

in WWII:

Harry Truman vs.

Elizabeth Anscombe

Harry Truman and Elizabeth Anscombe on absolute moral rules  (^) Truman  Dropping an atom bomb on Japanese cities--though it killed innocent men, women and children--was justified because it saved lives.

Anscombe on absolute moral rules :

Killing innocents as a means to ends is murder (wrong)  "If you had to chose between boiling one baby and letting some frightful disaster befall one thousand people (or a million if a thousand is not enough), what would you do????"

Enemy morale and terror

bombing

 One of the aims of war is to

demoralise the enemy;

 Facing continual death and destruction

may make the prospect of peace or

surrender preferable.

 Terror bombing is an emotive term used

for aerial attacks planned to weaken or

break enemy morale.

 Hiroshima and Nagasaki//

 Cut off the city in Syria

Consequentialism vs. Deontology

 Consequentialism:

 (^) C onsequentialists say any moral rule may be broken if circumstances demand it  (^) Act morally we must base our actions on their probable results or consequences , rather than out of duty, in cases where duty and promoting good consequences come into conflict.

 Deontology:

 (^) Rather than in considering the consequences of one’s actions, in cases where duty and promotion of consequences come into conflict.

Deontology

 Deontology: any ethical theory which

prescribes a moral duty or obligation to

perform certain moral acts because

they have intrinsic moral worth.

 For example deontologists might claim

we have a duty to be truthful regardless

of the consequences.

The Ethics of Immanuel

Kant

 (^) “Thou shalt not lie,” does not hold only for men, as if other rational beings had no need to abide by it, and so with all other moral laws properly so called….the ground of moral obligation here must therefore be sought not in the nature of man nor in the circumstances of the world in which man is placed, but must be sought a prioi solely in the concepts of pure reason.  (^) Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, p.

Two Kinds of

“Imperatives” or

Commands

 (^) 1. Hypothetical Imperative: an action you should do if you want to promote some goal or end you already have.  (^) For example: “Study for the test” is a good command to heed if you want to pass the test. That is, the command depends on your desires for its force.  (^) 2. Categorical Imperative: A moral directive from reason that is binding without condition; a command that applies to all rational beings, no matter what.  (^) Example: “Don’t use someone for your own purposes

9.2 The Categorical Imperative  (^) According to Kant, we must ignore the consequences because they tempt us away from our duty.  (^) Our Reason tells us what is the right thing to do. We musn’t let our emotions (fear and desire) fudge the line....

9.2 The Categorical

Imperative

 1 st^ formulation of the "categorical

imperative"

 “Act only according to that maxim by

which you can at the same time will

that it should become a universal law.”

Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)

Maxim: a sentence giving a general truth or

rule of conduct