What Would a
Satisfactory
Moral Theory
Look Like?
PHIL 2525
Lec 22
Derek Parfit
Some people believe
that there cannot be
progress in Ethics,
since everything has
already been said...
I believe the
opposite..
13.1 Morality
without Hubris

Timothy Vermeulen 2002

“Ah, but a man's
reach should exceed
his grasp, or what's a
heaven for?”
Carl Sagan 1934 - 1996
Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Time Charts
Pre December Dates (approximate, of course)
January 1
May 1
September 9
September 14
September 25
October 2
October 9
November 1
November 12
November 15
Big Bang
Origin of the Milky Way
Origin of the Solar System
Formation of the Earth
Origin of life on Earth
Formation of the oldest rocks known on Earth
Date of oldest fossils (bacteria and blue-green algae
Invention of sex (by micro-organisms)
Oldest fossil photosynthetic plants
Eukaryotes (first cells with nuclei) flourish
From The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
December

“The life of man is
of no greater
importance to the
universe than that
of an oyster.”
David Hume
(1711-1776)

Charles Darwin
We are rational beings...
We consider options
 We weigh consequences
 We choose to behave one way rather than
another
 We can articulate the reasons for our
choices

Ethical Egoism:
 Psychological Egoism:

prescriptive
descriptive

Rachels says that
psychological
egoism is not
true...we do not
always act only for
our own self
interest.
P 193: Pleasing theoretical fit...

A) What reason requires: impartiality

B) The requirements of social living: the golden
rule

C) Our natural inclination to care about others
13.2 Treating People as They Deserve...

Remember Kant’s ‘respect for persons’

If we don’t adjust our actions to reflect
our judgments of others’ actions we may
be denying their status as free agents...

But...
13.3 Multiple-Strategies Utilitarianism

Our lives will go better if...we love our
children, enjoy our friends, take pride in
our work,
keep our
promises.....
13.4 The Moral Community
13.5: Justice and fairness
The Trolley Problem...
Harvard’s Moral Sense Test
Bertrand
Russell
If when a man writes a
poem or commits a
murder, the bodily
movements involved in his
act result solely from
physical causes, it would
seem absurd to put up a
statue to him in the one
case and to hang him in the
other.
Decisions…
Decisions…
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
……….
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Carl Jung…

Without freedom
there can be no
morality.
Challenges to the existence
of free will

The challenge from Logic

The challenge from Theology

The challenge from Science
Daniel Dennett: Elbow Room:
The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting

Nature has
played a
devious
trick on us.

Dennett’s
book
suggests we
should grin
and bear it.
Barry Schwartz on Practical Wisdom

Jonathan Haidt o
Jonathan Haidt on
Marc Hauser on Moral Minds