Ethics
Basic Moral Concepts I
• Morally Permissible Actions: It is not
wrong to do these actions
• Morally Impermissible Actions: It is wrong
to do these actions
• Morally Obligatory Actions: It is wrong not
to do these actions
• Supererogatory Actions: It is over and
beyond the call of duty to do these actions.
Sample Questions
• Answer True or False:
– 1. All morally obligatory acts are permissible.
– 2. All morally permissible acts are obligatory.
– 3. Some morally permissible acts are
supererogatory.
– 4. Some supererogatory acts are morally
impermissible.
– 5. An act can be both morally permissible and
impermissible at the same time.
Basic Moral Concepts II
• Moralist: Someone who consistently
follows conventional moral rules
• Amoralist: Someone who consistently
follows prudential, that is, self-interested
rules
• Immoralist: Someone who rejects moral
rules for rules believed superior in terms of
the society’s interests
The Amoralist Asks:
• Why should I be moral?
– Why be moral if you can get away with it?
• Duty and self-interest
– Why must duty considerations consistently
override considerations from self-interest?
Sources of Our Moral Beliefs
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The Individual’s Conscience
The Society or Community
Religion: A Divine Command View
Enlightened Self-interest
Subjectivism/ Objectivism in Ethics
• Moral Subjectivism: Moral judgments and
beliefs are true (or false) only relative to a
culture or an individual
• Moral Objectivism: Moral judgments and
beliefs are objectively true (or false)
• Moral Nihilism: Moral judgments are
neither true nor false in ANY sense
Moral Subjectivism
• Moral conventionalism: Moral truths are
relative to a culture
• Moral relativism: Moral truths are relative
to an individual
Group Exercise I
• If Henry believes that abortion is morally
impermissible and Scott believes
differently, then according to moral
objectivism
– A) both of them are wrong
– B) both of them are correct
– C) neither one of them is correct
– D) at least one of them is wrong
Group Exercise II
• If Anna sincerely believes that
pornography is morally impermissible and
Fay believes differently, then according to
moral relativism
– A) they are both wrong
– B) they are both correct
– C) at least one of them is correct
– D) none of the above
Group Exercise III
• If Henry believes that abortion is morally
impermissible and Scott believes
differently, then according to moral nihilism
– A) both of them are wrong
– B) both of them are correct
– C) neither one of them is correct
– D) at least one of them is wrong
3 Major Ethical Theories
• Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill)
• Kantianism (I. Kant)
• Virtue Theory (Aristotle)