Session 1
Philosophy, Morality and Ethics
Looking at ethics
Ethical issues
values and principles
fundamental to
ethical practice
Ethical concepts
ETHICS
moral dilemmas, legal
and policy issues –
allocation of resources;
PAS, etc
philosophical efforts to
identify relevant moral
criteria
Ethical theories
Introduction
 Philosophy
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concerned with the nature and validity of each
major aspect of human existence
 Morality
 concerned with standards of right or wrong
behaviour
 Morals
 what is considered right or wrong behaviour based on
social custom
 Ethics
 concerned with the moral dimension of human
life/evaluating human action
 what is right or wrong based on reason
 reflective and critical
Introduction
 Metaethics
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investigates where our ethical principles come from, and
what they mean
focuses on issues like universal truths,the role of reason in
ethical judgments, and the meaning of ical terms.
 Normative Ethics
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concerned with how do we arrive at moral standards that
regulate right or wrong conduct
normative theories provide moral guidelines
 Applied Ethics
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examines specific issues such as abortion, ethuanasia
attempt to resolve these issues based on foundations
provided by metaethics and normative ethics
Morality
Morality: carries the concepts of:
 moral standards, with regard to behaviour;
 moral responsibility, referring to our conscience;
and
 a moral identity, or one who is capable of right or
wrong action
Personal morality
values and duties adopted by an individual
Societal morality
Group morality
values and duties that apply to an organisation
or profession
Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivism
 Do morality and ethical rules exist independently of
humans or are they human conventions?
 Views on the validity of moral beliefs:
 moral relativism - the view that ethical standards,
morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based
and therefore subject to a person's individual choice; we can
all decide what is right for ourselves

moral objectivism – the view that moral beliefs are
capable of being objectively valid; capable of being true or
false/rational or irrational
 Moral pluralism
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the existence of many different moral viewpoints (does not
imply moral relativism) – e.g. abortion
 English legal doctrine and moral values
Ethics
 What does the word ethics mean to you?
 What is ethics about?
 What ethical issues do you think you might come
across in your practice?
 What are values?
 Where do values come from?
Reflective activity
 what is the source of moral values?
 when and how did you become aware of their
existence
 think of some situation when your values
were challenged – how did you feel?
 why is being aware of your value system
important in your work?
Values
 ideals, beliefs, customs, characteristics considered valuable and
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worthwhile by an individual, a particular group or society in
general
influence behaviour, help make choices and decisions
personal values - beliefs or attitudes about what is good, right,
desirable, worthwhile, etc
values may refer to how one should act (for example, to be
honest, self-disciplined, caring, etc). or to what one wants to
accomplish or obtain in life (for example, wealth, security, fame,
health, etc)
acquired in different ways, in a conscious (or subconscious) way
through:
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family, friends, teachers, those whom we admire, etc
work environment, colleagues, role-models (tutors) and
promoted through professional codes of ethics, etc. –
professional values
Values
 personal value system - the ways a person organises, ranks,
prioritises and make decisions based on his/her values - provide
the foundation from which a person makes personal and
professional judgments and choices
 values exist as a complex heirarchy of interweaving personal
policies or priorities that serve as a guide for decision-making
 a person’s particular set of values are likely to have developed
over a long period of time and will develop and change
throughout life
 value system will be influenced/shaped by many factors such
as:
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family life
religious upbringing
cultural and ethnic background
educational and environmental experiences
political views
Law and morality
law – what not to do; morals – what should do
 natural law theorists
 argue that the law should reflect morality
 ‘higher’ law that sets out the basic moral code
 utilitarian approach
 crimes without victims should not really be
crimes at all
 crimes that only do harm to the ‘criminal’
should be decriminalised
Law and morality
 Hart/Devlin debate
 whether the law should reflect morality discussed in the
1950s by two members of a commission set up to look
at the possible reform on the laws relating to
prostitution and homosexuality
 Wolfenden Report
 recommended that prostitution and homosexuality be
decriminalised with restrictions
 law should not intervene in private matters of
individuals
 ‘harm to others’ principle applied (JS Mill)

Hart/Devlin debate
 Lord Devlin (an eminent judge)
 opposed to the findings of the report
 favoured a less liberal approach and argued that there
should be some
 whether or not something was immoral and therefore
should be illegal was the test of the standard of the
right-minded person form of basic common morality
 Hart (an academic)
 in favour of them
 criminalising ‘immoral’ behaviour was unnecessary,
undesirable and in itself immoral
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Law and morality
 The Warnock Committee – conception,
embryology and pregnancy
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committee was established to report on the
new developments in medical technology
relating to reproduction following advances
such as in vitro fertilisation
issues considered include the use of embryos
for medical research, payments for surrogacy,
sperm and egg donation
 morals are not absolute
 there can be different views of morality
Law and morality
 In 1994, the House of Lords upheld conviction of
consenting adults engaging in sadomasochistic
activities in the case of R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212
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convicted even though no one had complained – the
police had happened upon the party by chance
European Court of Human Rights subsequently
approved the conviction
 that the fact that people consent and there is no harm
done is not enough – there is some basic standard of
morality in operation here
Ethics and Terminology
 Ethical rules – statements about ethical behaviour
 Ethical codes – compilation of ethical rules
 Ethical standards – similar to rules but suggests
model behaviour
 Ethical principles – broader than rules or codes;
foundation for rules and codes and offer guidance on
decision-making
 Ethical theory – general ways of determining what is
right or wrong; science of ethical decision-making
Ethical theories
 numerous theories proposed by philosophers and
ethical theorists – not necessarily mutually exclusive
 teleological and deontological are the predominant
approaches
 typically classified into categories based on criteria
used to decide whether the behaviour is right or
wrong:
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action-based - duty, consequences, rights, etc.
actor-based – virtues, intuition, etc.
situation-based – case-based, ethics of care, etc.
 theories may be used to derive helpful guidelines for
thinking about ethical behaviour
Common ethical (moral) theories
 Teleology - actions are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ according to
the balance of their good or bad consequences
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utilitarianism is a teleological theory that judges acts
based on their utility or usefulness
 Deontology - actions are performed out of duty or
moral obligation; every person is an end and not
solely a means to another person’s end.
 Virtue theory - places value on the moral character
of the actor rather than acts or outcomes of acts
Consequentialism and Utilitarianism
 Teleology (consequentialism)
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teleology comes from the Greek word telos, meaning
purpose or end
more commonly known as consequentialism
for consequentialists, whether an action is morally right
or wrong depends on the action's consequences
in any situation, the morally right thing to do is
whatever will have the best consequences
question arises as to what kind of consequences - i.e.
needs to be combined with a theory about what the
best consequences are
Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism – a consequentialist theory
 ‘utility’ is a term used to refer to the degree to which an
action produces good/avoids evil
 actions are right if they maximise happiness/pleasure
and minimise unhappiness/pain; or, that actions are
right if they have the greatest utility
 basis of utilitarianism is to ask what has intrinsic value
(value in itself) and then assess the consequences of
an action in terms of intrinsically valuable things
 utilitarianism has had considerable influence upon
legislation
 'Founders' of Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham (1748-
1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Utilitarianism
 The ‘Greatest Happiness Principle’
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"actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to
produce the reverse of happiness.“ (J S Mill)
an action is judged by the total amount of
happiness and unhappiness it creates with
regard to everyone affected by the action –
ethical hedonism
broader understanding of good/evil is that
which makes our lives worth living/that which
detracts from the overall values of our lives
when all the people who might be affected by
an action are considered, that action is right if
it promotes more happiness than unhappiness
Act and Rule Utilitarianism
 act utilitarian approach – emphasis on
outcomes or consequences of specific act
 rule utilitarian approach – follow a rule
consistently and not bend it to fit a particular
situation
Duty Theories
 Duty Theories (Deontological Theories)
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morality is based on specific foundational
principles of duty that are absolute, obligatory,
and irrespective of the consequences that
might follow our actions.
Deontology
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Deontology - from the Greek word deon
meaning duty
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according to deontologists:
 there are acts we have the duty to perform
because these acts are good in themselves
(i.e. intrinsically good)
 we have a duty to refrain from acts that are
intrinsically bad or wrong
 consequences are irrelevant to determining
what is moral or not
 rule deontology – rules we can know which
tell one what is right and what is wrong (e.g.
10 Commandments; the Golden Rule)
Kantanism – duty based
 Immanuel Kant (1724 –1804) - most influential
deontologist
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introduced a secular moral law (a method for deciding
moral duty/duties), known as his categorical imperative
– his ‘key rule’
based on the human capacity for reason or rational
thought – all humans are rational beings capable of
knowing the categorical imperative and of applying it to
various situations
moral duty could be determined by the use of reason
about the act in question
The categorical imperative
 Two versions:
 First version: "Act only on that maxim through which
you can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law."
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i.e. ‘ unless you are able to say that everyone must act
like this, then you should not act like it’
something is morally right (or wrong) only if it
commands or compels obedience and is binding on all
persons equally
it would be inconsistent and irrational to decide, for
example, that you could steal from others, but they
could not steal from you - thus, reason demands that
we do not steal unless everyone should steal
The categorical imperative
 Second version: "Act in such a way that you always
treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the
person of any other, never simply as a means, but
always at the same time as an end.“
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people must be treated as ends in themselves and not
as a means to an end
i.e. there are certain ways we must not treat people no
matter how much utility might be produced by treating
them in those ways e. g. don’t lie to a patient
influential in medical ethics as it can be translated as it
is necessary to treat people as autonomous agents
capable of making their own decision
Deontology and duties
 Kant’s perfect and imperfect duties:
 Perfect Duties are those for which there are no
exceptions, for example, the duty not to kill an innocent
person, duty not to lie, duty to keep promises. It is
intrinsically wrong to do the opposite of these, no
matter how beneficial the consequences
 Imperfect Duties are those for which exceptions are
allowed but actions due to these duties can never be at
the expense of perfect duties
 Kant also distinguishes between acting in accordance
with duty (but for the wrong reasons) and acting from
a proper sense of duty. It is important to chose an
action because it is one’s duty not simply to be
consistent with duty
Ross' Deontological Theory
 Pluralist deontologists affirm more than one basic
rule or principle
 W D Ross’s theory (greatly influenced the ‘fourprinciples’ approach to medical ethics) is based on
ethical conflict, or conflict of duty
 unlike many other duty-based theories, he gives
considerable weight to consequences
 distinguishes duties as ‘prima facie’ or ‘actual’ duties:
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prima facie duty - a duty that is always to be
performed unless it conflicts with an equal or stronger
duty
actual duty - the prima facie duty that has a stronger
weight in case of conflict
we know our duties in particular situations just on the
basis of our moral beliefs and conventions
Ross' Duties
 Ross' Duties:
 fidelity – duty to keep promises, honour contracts and
agreements, tell the truth
 gratitude – duty to repay previous acts of others who
benefited you
 beneficence - duty to make things better for other
persons
 non-maleficence - duty not to make other persons
worse off
 justice - duty to distribute pleasure or happiness (or the
means thereto) in accordance with the merit of persons
concerned
 self-improvement - duty to improve one’s own
condition
Rights-based ethical theory
 Natural Rights Theory proposed by John Locke
(1632-1704)
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everyone has rights that arise form our very existence as
human beings
rights (to life, health, liberty, possessions) are natural rights,
given to us from God
these rights are natural (not invented by humans), universal
(not dependent on culture), equal (for all people), and
inalienable (cannot be given them up)
rights are entitlements that prevent others from interfering in
one’s life
Locke’s theory was influential to the US Declaration of
Independence (1776*) and the French Revolution (1789)
and is the foundation of many modern democracies
theory can be seen as being opposite to utilitarianism in its
support of the individual rather in preference to the state
Virtue Theory
 Virtue ethics represents the oldest normative
theory and is based in ancient Greek
civilization
 focuses on the development of character
rather on specific acts:
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moral conduct requires more than an action
and an outcome; it requires an agent or actor
a virtue is a trait of character that is socially
valued and a moral virtue is a trait that is
morally valued
Virtue Theory
Plato – four cardinal virtues: wisdom; courage; temperance;
justice - other important virtues include: fortitude; generosity;
self-respect; good temper; sincerity.
 we should strive to acquire good habits of character and
avoid bad character traits
Aristotle - (384 – 322 B.C) Nichomachean Ethics - concerned
with the question of character
 moral character and moral achievement are functions of
education, self-cultivation, and habituation.
 whereas, obligations play a more central role in other
theories – Aristotelian theory turns on motive, effort,
commitment, action from virtue, and the development of
character
 a virtue is something practised and learned – becomes habit
– people can be taught to be virtuous
Theological virtues: faith; hope; charity supplement Greek
virtues
Virtues – what do we expect from a
pharmacist?
Virtues – some examples
wisdom
courage
integrity
truthfulness
etc, etc