Chapter 13 Notes
Ethical Theories
1. Buddhism
 A school of thought that emphasizes individual harmony
 Eightfold path involves right understanding, thought, speech, action,
livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration
 Nirvana is a state of enlightenment: desires and ambitions are extinguished
 Enables people to live in harmony with themselves and nature
 Nirvana achieved by life of simplicity: abandoning possessions and pleasures
 All living creatures should be treated with compassion, kindness, and love
 Virtues are important for good life: eightfold path, and nonviolence and patience
 Ethic is inclusive and egalitarian
 All are equal and entitled to same rights
 Focus on the individual who is ultimately responsible for own actions.
 Also emphasizes the importance of relationship with others
 these relationships are often considered more important than individual
rights
2. Confucianism/Taoism
 Good life involves searching for peace and enlightenment by achieving
harmony
 Focuses on defining and cultivating the Tao, or way to a harmonious
society
 Harmonious society is achieved by following tradition rituals and roles
 Morality is a social or cultural product
 People are not individuals but part of the whole
 Relationships and roles within community are important
 Duty to family and community is more important that individual desires
 Is a virtue ethic: kindness, uprightness or righteousness,decorum or
propriety, wisdom or integrity, and faithfulness to self and others.
 Confucius golden rule: what you do not like when done to yourself, do
not do to others
 Taoism emphasizes harmony and holistic concept of life
 Emphasizes living in harmony with nature and the rhythms of the
universe
3. Hedonism
 Philosophy emphasizing that the good life is one devoted to pleasure
 Only pleasure has intrinsic value that can lead to happiness
 Differ over definition of pleasure: is it of the body or pleasure of the
mind ?(ataraxia or serenity)
4. Stoicism
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The good life involves happiness, achieved through wisdom
Universe is well-ordered, guided by underlying logos or reason
People should strive to make their lives just a well ordered
Living in harmony with the universe
Exercise control over things that can be controlled such, as emotions and intent
Remain indifferent to thing such as consequences that cannot be controlled
Live wisely, control or eliminate desires and accept things uncontrollable
(E.g., body size)
5. Virtue Ethics
 Emphasizes the role of character in guiding moral choices
 A virtuous person is someone whose moral choices are guided by good
character rather than by simply weighing the consequences
 Ancient Greeks: virtue meant excellence
 Being virtuous meant doing things in a way that reflected rational
thought, making the best of skills, talents, and opportunities
 Aristotle: virtue is a matter of developing the unique human ability to reason.
 Act in accordance with right reason
 Rational part of the soul must control the irrational parts by choosing the
middle path
 Middle path is mean between the extreme of excess and deficiency
 Moral virtue is the result of habit and training.
 People can be taught to be virtuous
 Aquinas: people can achieve perfection only by using reason to know God
 Thomists: doing the right thing in obedience to god
 Idea of virtue as right conduct overtook ancient Greek idea of virtue as
good character idea
 WD Ross: modern philosopher: prima facie duties: fidelity reparation,
gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, non-maleficence
 These duties are not the result of rational thought, but understood
intuitively as part of the fundamental nature of the universe
6. Existentialism
 Philosophical movement that focuses on individual autonomy and the
necessity of making reasoned decisions for oneself
 A good person is one who makes individual moral choices and takes
responsibility for those choices
 Absolute moral values do not exist
 Authenticity: the idea of being true to oneself when making moral
choices is the only virtue
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Kierkegaard
Each person has a direct relationship with and direct access to god
People must make and judge their own moral choices
Must move beyond judging their actions according to reason or societal
standards and be accountable only to the judgments of god
 Authentic choices are those that involve consistency of perception,
thought and action
 Inauthentic person runs away from the responsibility of creating self
 Nietzsche urged people to make their own moral choices rather than
unthinkingly accept the values of majority
 Faith in god was disappearing and with it the universal values provided
by that faith
 In absence of universal values, people must determine their own values
 Sartre: atheist who believed humans had no particular purpose in living
 No divine master plan, all events are random, nothing makes sense, and
life is absurd.
 Existence precedes essence: essence created by defining self, determining
identity, and choice of values
 Everything is a matter of choice
 Everything is a matter of choice: no moral milestones exist to help guide
choices
 Places great importance on authenticity
 A good person is one who recognizes own freedom and responsibility
and makes authentic choices
7. Divine command ethics
 Believe right/wrong are defined by Supreme Being
 Divine commands are recorded in sacred texts of religions
 Socrates: is something right because it is favoured by the gods. Or do the
gods favour it because it is right?
 Duns Scotus: god’s commands define what is right
 Aquinas: god commands people to do only good and right things, god
knows what is right and good through the natural law of reason
 God and humans share the ability to reason, so people can use this ability
to come to know god’s commands
8. Utilitarianism
 Utility: the ability of an action to bring about benefit, advantage,
pleasure, good or happiness and to prevent mischief, pain, evil, or
unhappiness
 What is morally good is generally that which promotes social welfare,
solidarity, and harmony in human relationships
 Act utilitarianism: moral choice results the greatest good for the greatest
number of people
 Rule utilitarianism: rule governing our actions produces the greatest good
for the greatest number of people
9. Kantian Ethics
 Moral choices must be judged not by consequences but by the good will
of the moral agent
 Only thing that is good for its own sake is a good will
 What is a good will: that which accords with duty
 What is duty: that which is rational
 To have a good will is to act on moral principles that are justified by reason.
 Only one moral principle justified by reason: the categorical imperative
 Categorical imperative: a rule that is absolute and must always be obeyed
 Act only according the that maxim [principle or general rule] whereby you
can at the same time will that it should become a universal law of nature
 People with a good will must choose the course of action that they would
want everyone to choose ALL the time
 No exceptions to the categorical imperative
 E.g. moral duty to always tell the truth, even if it leads to bad consequences
10.Egoism
 People should act in their own interest
 Focuses exclusively on the greatest good for the individual person
11.Intuitionism
 Denies the importance of reasoning in making moral choices
 Some truths are understood by intuition, an experience independent of
reasoning
 Moral rules are intuitive or self-evident and cannot be justified by
appealing reason
 Moral intuition is simple a gut feeling about right and wrong
 People should listen to their hearts and appeal to their compassion
12. Post-modernism
 Challenges the reliance on reason
 Judging moral choices according objective values, is a waste of time
 Moral values are entirely subjective; most people make their own
decisions about right/wrong without seeking guidance