ETH202 Official Handouts

Lesson 1

Defining Ethics; and its relation to Philosophy:

Ethics is one of the major disciplines of Philosophy. Philosophy literally means love of wisdom, the Greek word Philia meaning love or friendship and Sophia meaning wisdom. Philosophy is an enterprise that begins with wonder at the marvels and mysteries of the world, that pursues a rational investigation of those marvels and mysteries, seeking wisdom and truth, and that result in passionate moral and intellectual integrity. Believing that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” philosophy leaves no facet of life untouched by its inquiry. It aims at clear, critical, comprehensive conception of reality.

Philosophy is the discipline concerned with the following questions:

1. 1. What counts as genuine knowledge? (Epistemology)
2. 2. What sorts of things and what are their essential natures? (Metaphysics)
3. 3. How one should live? (Ethics)

So Philosophy is concerned with three areas of studies:

1. 1. Epistemology-----the study of knowledge, belief, truth, falsity, certainty, and perception.
2. 2. Metaphysics-------the study of what exists, the nature of what exists, the cause and effect, freedom, and determination.
3. 3. Ethics------the study of morality, good, bad, right, wrong, human conduct and behavior in a moral sense.

Ethics and Morality:

The word ‘ethics’ is derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’, that means character i.e., individual character of a person. The word ‘morality’ is derived from the Latin word ‘moralis’ that means custom or manner, or relationship between human beings. Although there is no difference in ordinary language between what is ethical and moral ----------- unethical or immoral, in Philosophy, however, the term ‘ethics’ is also used to refer to specific area of study --- the area of morality, which concentrate on human conduct and human values.

Following are the characteristics of those human activities that are regarded as good/bad and right/wrong morally:

1. 1. Happiness or Pleasure: It is an empirical fact that whatever human beings consider good involves happiness and pleasure in a way, and whatever they consider bad involves unhappiness and pain in some way.
2. 2. Excellence or Perfection: Whatever is good will also involves some kind or degree of excellence/perfection. And some kind of defect or lack of excellence counts as bad.
3. 3. Harmony and Creativity: If an action is creative or can aid human beings in becoming creative and, at the same time, helps to bring about harmonious integration of as many human beings as possible, then we can say it is a right action. If an action has the opposite effect, then we can say that it is wrong action.

Defining Ethics:

Ethics is the study of moral/ethical values and customs of a person or group. It covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, and responsibility.

Three Primary Areas of Ethics:

If we look closely at the above definition it suggests that there are three areas of ethics and it will help us to make a distinction among them.

1. 1. Normative Ethics: The study of how to determine ethical values.

(Prescribing how human beings should behave)

2. 2. Meta-Ethics: The study of the concepts of ethics.

(Analysis of ethical language and analysis of the rational foundations for ethical systems)

3. 3. Applied Ethics: The study of the use and application of ethical values.

(Dealing with moral problems, faced in a practical situation like business, environment, medicine, and communication etc.) Note: “Theory without application is useless, but action without theoretical perspective is blind.”

Value in Morality:

It is important to understand the meaning of value in morality. Ethics is concerned with how we should (ought to) live, how we should (ought to) act, and the kind of person we should (ought to) be. Defining the full scope of these Ought/Should is to give an account of all that has value or worth. There are two types of value:

1. 1. Intrinsic Value: When something is valuable in itself and not for the sake of another thing it has an intrinsic value.
2. 2. Instrumental Value: When something is valuable for the sake of another thing and not for itself it has an instrumental value.

Moral philosophy seeks to establish principles of right behavior that may serve as actionguides for individuals and groups. It investigates which value and virtues are paramount to worthwhile life or society. It builds and scrutinizes arguments in ethical theories and seeks to discover valid principles (e.g., “Never kill innocent human beings”) and the relationship between those principles (e.g., does saving a life in some situations constitute a valid reason for breaking promise?)

[Note: For further study see Thiroux, Jacques “Ethics: Theory and Practice” Prentice Hall. p. 1-38]

Lesson: 2

Morality as Compared with other Normative Subjects:

Moral precepts are concerned with norms. They are concerned not with what is, but with what ought to be. Morality has a distinct action-guiding or normative aspect, an aspect it shares with other practical institutions like:

1. Religion.
2. Law.
3. Etiquette.

Morality and Religion:

Moral behavior is essential to the practice of religion. This aspect of morality has a commonality with religion. However we should keep in mind the difference between these two disciplines and neither the practices nor the precepts of morality should be identified with religion. The practices of morality need not be motivated by religious consideration; morality has its own motivational strength. Moral precept need not be grounded in revelation or divine authority, as religious teachings invariably are. The salient feature of ethics or moral philosophy is that it is grounded in reason and human experience. We can explain it in a spatial metaphor; secular ethics [not being grounded in revelation and divine authority] is horizontal, omitting a vertical, or transcendental, dimension. On the other hand religious ethics has a vertical dimension, being grounded in revelation and divine authority, though generally using reason to supplement or complement revelation.

Morality and Law:

Due to close relation between morality and law, some people equate the two practices. The reason being that as law can promote well-being and social harmony and resolve the conflicts of interest, so is the case with morality, it does the same. However there are crucial difference between morality and law. For example ethics may judge some laws as immoral without denying that they are valid as laws. You may judge laws that permit slavery or irrelevant discrimination against people on the basis of race or sex to be legally valid but immoral. Some aspects of morality are also not covered by law; lying is immoral but no general law against it (except under special condition) While it is impractical to have laws against bad intentions, such intentions are still bad, morally wrong. Law differs from morality in that there are physical and financial sanctions (e.g., imprisonment, fines) enforcing the law but only the sanctions of conscience and reputation enforcing morality.

Morality and Etiquette:

Morality differs from etiquette and the social custom. Etiquette and social custom concern form and style [the formal aspect] rather than essence of social existence. Etiquette determines what polite behavior is rather than whether behavior is, in a deep sense is right. Etiquette or custom represent society’s decision as to how we are to dress, greet one another, eat, celebrate festivals, and carry out social transactions. None of these rituals has moral superiority.