HRE 4M1 – GRADE 12M RELIGION
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS
AND MORALITY
Ethics comes from the Greek word “ta
ethicka” – means having to do with good
character
 Ethics is more interested in the good that
humans strive for. Examples of “the good”
include happiness and freedom.
 Ethics is also interested in that search for
the good.
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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS
AND MORALITY
Morality comes from the Latin word
‘moralitas’ - means having to do with the
customs, manners, and habits shaping
human life
 Morality is interested more in the ways that
humans can attain the good. Some
examples of “ways” include: rules, laws or
commandments which we experience as a
duty or obligation to follow.
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LETS IMPROVE YOUR
UNDERSTANDING...
Ethics is like...

understanding musical
theory, reading music,
understanding technique
Morality is like...

playing music, hitting the
right notes, performing
People can still play music
without musical theory
but.....you may/may not
make good decisions in a
musical arrangement or
performance
LETS IMPROVE YOUR
UNDERSTANDING...
Ethics is like...

understanding the basic
principles of how our cars
work. (Ex. You get good
traction because of the
friction your tires have with
the road and that in a
snowstorm this friction is
reduced)
Morality is like...
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good driving – knowing and
applying the rules of the road
in bad weather such as
slowing down and allowing
greater distance to stop the
car.
You can operate a car without
understanding the laws of
physics however you would
have difficulty in making good
decisions should dramatic
changes arise
So do Ethics trump Morality?
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Ethics has a certain priority because our focus on “the
good” will steer us to choose the human thing to do in
any given situation.
Ethics guides morality – it gives us the vision of our action
(we can’t paint if we don’t know what to paint)
Ethics gives us an understanding of the essential
principles underlying our activity
Ethics point towards the application of morality
The purpose of ethics is to find the highest possible good
in various circumstances and under certain conditions
(i.e. self defence vs. Thou shall not kill)
Rules, norms, commandments and duties are not the
final word......the GOOD is!
If the rules or laws don’t contribute to that highest good the rules or laws need to be reconsidered.
4 Types of Ethical Experiences:
#1 The Scream – The Personal Response
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There is a spontaneous decision to help – it
is not a decision you make.
There is a drive to move and act – an
automatic response which urges you not to
think but to act.
The scream forces you to an awareness
of your responsibility for another
person.
4 Types of Ethical Experiences:
#2 The Beggar – The Experience of the Other
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All face to face encounters are ethical because
they remind us of our responsibility for others.
The other person takes you hostage as they
evoke a response from you (it can be guilt) and
makes you responsible
The face stays with you even
after you decide what to do
– he or she is inside you while
you are busy defending your
decision to give or not to give.
4 Types of Ethical Experiences:
#3 “I have to...” – The Obligation Experience
This experience of feeling obliged to obey a rule or
law has everything to do with your ethical side.
 You feel an intrinsic duty to oblige (i.e. To follow
parent’s rules).
 The order or wish from an authority figure can
invade our consciousness, change our
ethical framework and demand a
response.
 If you choose to ignore the ethical
response, the unrest stays with you.
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4 Types of Ethical Experiences:
#4 “This isn’t fair!” – The Experience of Contrast
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This experience occurs when you feel outraged by
something blatantly unjust or unfair happening to
yourself or to others.
When you feel overwhelmed by the unjust suffering
of others, the indignation you feel is an experience of
contrast with what the world should look like.
These experiences lead us to thoughts of “That is not
fair!” or “This must be stopped!” or “This is
intolerable!”
This is a response to a terrifying event that
contrasts greatly with how we think humans
should be acting.
Can cause a change that opposes this
destruction.
Determine which of the four ethical
experiences these video clips are
portraying:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echAo3hmz3E&feat
ure=related (Fisher King)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrbNSNpdnTY&featu
re=related (Grey’s Anatomy - give me my dad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLyz78t5IKI&feature
=related (Grey’s anatomy – the door is open)
Hotel Rawanda (scene 7)
Spider Man 2 (scene 33)
Crash (scene 13)
4 Types of Ethical Experiences Summary
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We all have an ethical core – we are called to react in one way or another
when confronted with a dilemma. Whether this desire to react is
- embedded in our genes (innate) or
- programmed in our psyche after years of listening to moral
authorities (learned)
- or is evidence of the divine within us
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What one person interprets as duty, guilt, intolerable contrast, etc. will be
different from another persons’ interpretation of the same experience. For
example one person may experience an encounter with a beggar on the
street and believe that it is their duty to help them.
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In every experience we are forced to an awareness of our responsibility for
another person. There is an obvious change in our thought processes, our
perception of the world and our resultant behaviour as a result of the
impact of the experience.
Actor
Action
Consequence
Other
You and your group of 3 will be assigned one eight moral
dilemmas. You are the actor in the assigned dilemma and you must
decide what course of action must be taken. In your group read
the assigned dilemma and answer the three questions below. Be
prepared to share with the class.
A. What course of action did you decide to take and WHY.
B. When choosing your course of action which of the above four
perspectives did you focus on? (You can focus on more than
one!)
C. Did you approach this dilemma from an ethical relativists’ point
of view or a ethical absolutists’ point of view? Explain.
ETHICAL THEORIES
Actor
Action
Consequence
Other
• Morality is about becoming a good person and cultivating morally desirable character
traits (virtues)such as honesty, courage, compassion, and generosity.
• Ethics should not emphasize doing but being.
• An action is morally right if it is in agreement with moral rules/norms that prescribe what actions are
required, permitted or forbidden.
• We are motivated to act because it is a moral duty/obligation, not because the act is in one’s selfinterest.
• Our ethical choices, like other types of decisions, should be based on their consequences.
• The best decisions attempt to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
• This perspective is not interested in proposing laws or moral rules instead it would rather explore the
meaning of relationships in light of three themes: transcendence, existence, and the human other.
• An encounter with another person impacts an individual unlike any worldly object or force. One can
see that another human being is “like me,” acts like me, and appears to be the master of her conscious
life.
Ethical Theories help us to.....
 identify and define problems,
 think systematically (organize thought
processes),
 view issues from many different
vantage points, and
 provide us with decision-making
guidelines.
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
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PHILOSOPHY IS:
1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by
intellectual means and moral selfdiscipline.
2. Investigation of the nature,
causes, or principles of reality,
knowledge, or values, based on
logical reasoning rather than
empirical methods.
3. A system of thought based on or
involving such inquiry.
ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)
Born in Stagira, Greece (near Macedonia)
 Aristotle’s father introduced him to
anatomy, medicine and philosophy – he was
the court physician
 Aristotle became friends with the King’s
son Philip.
 Parents died when he was 17
 Plato taught and mentored Aristotle
 Plato was a leading thinker in Greece
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Aristotle and Alexander
Due to political unrest, Aristotle fled
from Athens to Aegean where he
married and had a daughter
 Fled again to Macedonia and began to
tutor King Philip’s son – Alexander
(later known as the Great)
 Aristotle started a school (Lyceum)
 He wrote about logic, metaphysics,
theology, history, politics and ethics
and the basic foundations of many
science disciplines
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Leaving again...
After Alexander the great died, there was
more political unrest
 Aristotle was charged with not respecting
the gods of the state (he was friends with
the King)
 Fled again, but died in a year
 Much of his work was lost the destruction
of the great library of Alexandria
 Only 40 of 360 works survived to today
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Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas rediscovered Aristotle
in the 13th century through Arab scholars
 His teachings became associated with
Catholic ethical theory
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Catholic Approach to Ethics
There is a philosophical understanding of
the human person as ethical.
 Tradition as the “Book of Nature”.
 We have an innate (born with) search for
the good.
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Judeo-Christian Tradition – Search for Good
 Sacred scripture is the foundation in our
understanding of what is good and
understanding ourselves at ethical beings
(Remember Grade 10 – What does it mean to be human?)
How do these goods impact our lives?
 Revelation and Reason
 Good of freedom, of love, of justice, of love
of community, of forgiveness
The Pursuit of Happiness
Aristotle believed that the happiness of a
person (citizen) was found in community
 Happiness is an enduring and long-lasting
condition that results when one lives and
acts well
 Happiness is not the same as pleasure, as
pleasure is momentary
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The Pursuit of Happiness
Ethics aims to discover
what is good for us as
human beings
 It helps us learn what
permits us to reach out
potential
 Ethics gives us rationality
and our internal compass
(our conscience maybe)
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Teleology and Teleological Ethics
All things in this world aim for goodness
 This ethics discovers the finality (telos) or
purpose of something – what completes us?
 We are intended to be rational – our
greatest capacity is our intelligence
 Acting ethically, is to engage our capacity to
reason as we develop good character
(highest form of happiness)
 Good person – one whose actions are based
on excellent reasoning and spend a great
amount of time thinking
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Excellent!
When we have started to reach our
potential and what we intend to be – we
develop habits that make us the best
 In other words, when we do things well, we
become better humans (these excellent
things we do well are virtues)
 A good person used reason to control desire
 We must allow reason to guide our actions,
and only then will these moral virtues
become habit!
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Its all about balance!
We need to maintain balance (a mean) in
our actions
 We need to be moderate in all things – not
too much and not too little
 Make sure the moderation suits you
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The How-To Slide on Happiness
and Balance
To be courageous – avoid
some, not all dangers
 To be polite – be
courteous, not in all
situations though
 To be generous –
somewhere between
stinginess and
extravagance (but what
suits you!)
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IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)
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Born and raised in Prussia
(N.E. Germany)
Grew up in poverty-stricken,
but very religious Protestant
family
Family were Pietists –
believed in personal
devotion and Bible reading
Lived near home all his life
(never went beyond 100 km
of his birthplace)
His life was all about routine
– everything was nearly
scheduled
Mr. Kant: Teacher and Author
After university, Kant worked as a private
tutor and teacher
 He became a university professor of logic
and metaphysics
 Kant wrote books – difficult to understand
 Critique of Pure Reason took 12 years to
write and contains the longest sentences
ever written (like in your reflections!)
 He greatly influenced Western thought and
philosophy
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Theoretical Reason
Kant wanted to know how humans came to
know things
 He also wanted to know what role experience
played in out knowledge
 Asked other questions:
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 Can we know things that are beyond our immediate
experience?
 Can we know and predict the cause and effect?
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Theoretical reasoning asked the big questions
and help us understand the laws of nature and
cause and effect, govern human behaviour
Practical Reason
The moral dimension that guides human
behaviour
 Humans act out of impulse (our nature) and
conscious choice (on principle)
 Theoretical reasoning tells us what people
actually do, while practical reasoning tell us
what we should do
 Kant introduced us to the idea of MORAL DUTY
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Kant’s Ethics
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1.
2.
3.
Shared with Aristotle that good is the aim in life, but
in a different way
We need practical principles to pursue the supreme
good:
God – the existence of God allows us to attain
supreme good, as we are limited in our power as
humans
Freedom – to have the duty to achieve the
supreme good, we must have the freedom to do
something. Humans are free beings
Immortality – the supreme good is too large a task
for this life – it goes beyond to the next life, and so
on
The Good Will
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Kant (unlike Aristotle) sees goodness
in the individual (in their private life and inner
conscience)
Good Will – doing our duty, because it is our duty
Kant’s theory is deontological, as ‘deon’ refers to
duty
A human action is morally good if it is done for the
sake of duty
Real worth is measured by the motive behind them
According to Kant, you are the king of your castle –
your decision (and according to your will)
Kant’s Use of Moral Maxims
Duty is determined by maxims (principles)
 For something to be ethical, there must be an
objective principle (must also apply to all)
 Ethical maxim – how every rational person
would act if reason was used to decide actions
 Act in a way you would want others to act also
(Sound like anything familiar?)
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The Person as an Ends, not a
Means
We must always keep the dignity of the
person in mind – don’t use people!
(especially those marginalized in society)
 ``Kingdom of Ends`` - Everyone would
respect each other in the kingdom
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EMMANUEL LEVINAS (1905-1995)
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania
 Lived during the Holocaust with his Jewish family
 Began studies at University of Strassbourg in
philosophy
 Levinas saw a contrast between Western
philosophy and his strong Jewish faith
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The Sameness of Things
He understood that Western philosophy
attempted to overcome difference/diversity by
grouping everything in unity – called ‘Being’
 Everything carries sameness
 Difference is reduced to being accidental (not
essential)
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The Singularity of Things
This tradition focused on the singular
(having its own identity)
 The singularity of things gives them identity
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Levinas and World War II
WWII – Levinas was caught by the Germans
and was a prisoner of war for 5 years.
 His whole family died in the Holocaust. His
wife and daughter escaped but lost
communication with him
 His war experience made
Levinas more aware of his
Jewish roots
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Connecting with his Jewish Roots
Mordachi Chouchani (Jewish teacher) was
Levinas’ teacher at age of 40
 He instructed Levinas in the Jewish Talmud
 Soon, Levinas also instructed the Talmud to
young Jewish intellectuals in France
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Teaching and Last Years
Became chair in philosophy at Univ. of Poitiers
 1973 – Became professor of philosophy at
Sorbonne (most prestigious school in Paris)
 Became a popular writer and soon retired
 Even in lecturing, took his Jewish values very
seriously (No lecturing on the Sabbath)
 He wrote and lectured until illness and
death in 1995
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Levinas - The Good is Infinite
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The Good – the central question of all philosophy
The Good goes beyond Being
The Being names what things have in common
(when you remove all the differences)
The Being can be dangerous, because it takes away
from reality, the uniqueness of each individual or
thing
The unique things and persons are called traces of
the Good (a.k.a. God)
Everything we encounter is finite (that is why we
only see traces of God)
God has gone ahead (the infinite)
The Face as Witness of the Good
The face is the most naked part of the body
 We can see the traces of God in the face
(Levinas was against make-up)
 In someone’s eyes, we make immediate and
direct contact
 When you have an experience looking into
someone’s face, you see their uniqueness
 “You shall not murder” – taking away
another person’s uniqueness
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The Face as Ethical
Recognizing the Other’s
hardships in the face
allows good to prevail
by making us act to help
that person – makes you
responsible
 The face is a trace of
God who has already
passed by (the infinite
good). The divine
speaks to us through the
face (Ex. Think of the
face-to-face ethical
experience)
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Made Responsible by the Face
Our responsibility to the face is our calling
or duty – here the search for the Good ends
(by making a good moral decision)
 We should be looking out for our neighbour
- God’s touch
 Goodness (with God as the end) is about
responsibility for the other
 We will see more of this in the social justice
unit…
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Summary of Theories
Aristotle
Main Idea
What is good?
What motivates
humans?
Moral guidelines
Life orientation
Requirements
Strengths
Weakness
Kant
Levinas
Ethical Theorists: A Comparison of Main Ideas
Aristotle
Kant
Levinas
Main idea
Vision or purpose or ends
Duties and structures
Encounter with the other
What is good?
Human activity aims at
achieving the good
A human act is morally
good when it is done
for the sake of duty
The central question is:
where is the good?
What motivates
humans
Humans find happiness
within community
I must act in such a way
that the principles
according to which I
act should become
universal law
The face of the other calls
me to respond
Moral guidelines
Values
Rules
Needs
Life orientation
Goals
Duties
Others
Requirements
Imagination
Responsibility
Involvement
Strengths
Vision, direction
Structure, organization
Heart, grounding
Weaknesses
Irrelevancy; ends justify
the means
Bureaucracy; blindly
following orders
Sentimentality; people
wear masks
ETHICAL THEORISTS:
A COMPARISON OF MAIN IDEAS
Aristotle
Kant
Levinas
Humans
Ethics
The
find
happiness within
community
To be happy is to
live well and do well
Human activity
aims at achieving
the good—
happiness
The highest form of
happiness is based
on rational
behaviour—live an
ethical life
is a matter
of one’s inner
conviction and
autonomy
A human act is
morally good when
it is done for the
sake of duty
The use of reason
is central to moral
life—duty is
determined by
principles
central
question in
philosophy is: where
is the Good?
Each thing or
person is a unique
expression of the
Good
The face of another
calls me to respond
HOW???
Aristotle
Kant
Levinas
Be
I
Goodness
moderate in all
things
Absolute good can
be found only in God
Good is inscribed by
God into the nature of
all things (innate)
To find the good in
anything is to
discover its purpose
A person develops
good character by
acting virtuously—
virtues control
passions
must act in such a
way that the
principles according
to which I act should
become a universal
law
The only good is
good will
Good is only good if
it is done out of good
will and provides no
personal gain
Moral acts are
performed out of duty
and obligation
Reason dictates
what is good
translates
into responsibility for
the Other (turn away
from own desires and
interests)
The infinite Good
(God) is at the heart
of ethics
The good comes as
a vocation (not from
myself)