Introduction to Philosophy and
Ethics
Barbora Řebíková
2013
(rebbarbora@email.cz)
What is philosophy?
What is ethics?
etymology
• The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek
φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means "love of
wisdom".
• The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and
"philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker
Pythagoras.
• A "philosopher" was understood as a word which
contrasted with "sophist". Traveling sophists or "wise
men" were important in Classical Greece, often earning
money as teachers, whereas philosophers are "lovers
of wisdom" and not professionals
etylomogy
• Φιλο σοφία = "love of wisdom"
• Wisdom = σοφία and φρόνησις
• Sofia - translated as "theoretical wisdom"
• Phronesis - often translated as "practical wisdom"
Phronesis
• „Whereas young people become accomplished in
geometry and mathematics, and wise within
these limits, prudent young people do not seem
to be found. The reason is that prudence is
concerned with particulars as well as universals,
and particulars become known from experience,
but a young person lacks experience, since some
length of time is needed to produce it.“
• (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1142 a)
philosophy
• To love wisdom and not to have it. To desire,
want, struggle, try hard to achieve or
whatever but not to have.
• ...but what does it mean?
• This is a notoriously difficult question.
• It is already a philosophical question.
What is philosophy?
• „One of the easiest ways of answering it is to
say that philosophy is what philosophers do,
and then point to the writing of Plato,
Aristotle, Descarte, Hume, Kant, Russell,
Wittgenstein, Sartre, and other famous
philosophers.“
(Nigel Warburton, Philosophy, Routledge1995)
...what philosophers do?
• Philosophy is an activity: it is a way of thinking
about certain sorts of question and searching
for answers (similarly to science)
• ...but not all answers are philosophical
answers (or scientific ones)
• Its distinctive feature is its use of logos –
logical arguments.
• (Mythos x logos)
Logos x mythos
• What does it mean to use λόγος? What did we
use before?
• Discovery of logos is connected with the very
beginning of philosophy and science.
mythology
• Before philosophy
• Mythos = word
• Logos = word
• What is the difference between word mythos
and word logos?
• Different explanations of the same reality
fire
mythos
• Prometheus steal a fire for human use.
• The punishment of Prometheus as a
consequence of the theft is a major
theme of his mythology. Zeus, king of
the Olympian gods, sentenced the Titan
to eternal torment for his transgression.
The immortal Prometheus was bound
to a rock, where each day an eagle, the
emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his
liver, only to have it grow back to be
eaten again the next day.
logos
C2H5OH + 3 O2 --------------> 3 H2O + 2 CO2
love
mythos
• Eros. „It was he who lighted the flame
of love in the hearts of the gods and
men, armed either with a bow and
arrows or else a flaming torch. He was
also the object of cult.“
logos
• Love is a product of a sexual selection,
which is an important aspect of
evolution.
• Attraction is based on a characteristic
feature of each species.
war
Mythos
• Narration:
• War exists because of Ares, god of war.
logos
Before philosophy
• was mythology
• First myths about creation of the world
• „In the begining there was only chaos. Then out
of the void appeared Erebus, the unknowable
place where death dwells, and Night. All else was
empty, silent, endless, darkness. Then somehow
Love was born bringing a start of order. From
Love came Light and Day. Once there was Light
and Day, Gaea, the earth appeared.“
When does philosophy begin?
• When mythos was overcame by logos – logical
arguments.
• ...but is mythos really dead?
• Have you ever heard about „searching for the
other half“? That‘s one of the oldest myths
ever.
Why do we search for the other half?
• According to Greek mythology, humans were
originally created with 4 arms,
4 legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their
power, Zeus split them into two separate
parts, condemning them to spend their lives,
searching for the other half.
Why do we search for the other half?
• Then Zeus thought hard and says, 'In my own opinion,'
he said, 'I have a device whereby human beings would
continue to exist and at the same time, having become
weaker, would stop their immorality. I shall now cut
each of them in two,' he said; 'and they will be both
weaker and more useful to us through the increase in
their numbers. And they will walk up- fight on two legs.
But if they are thought to behave bad still, and are
unwilling to keep quiet, then I shall cut them in two,'
he said, 'so that they will go hopping on one leg.' As
soon as he said this he began to cut human beings in
two, just like those who cut sorb-apples in preparation
for pickling.
The end of mythology
• Mythology was at the heart of everyday life in
Ancient Greece. Greeks regarded mythology as a
part of their history. They used myth to explain
natural phenomena, cultural variations,
traditional enmities and friendships. It was a
source of pride.
• But after the rise of philosophy, history, prose and
rationalism in the late 5th century BC, the fate of
myth became uncertain, and mythological
genealogies gave place to a conception of history
which tried to exclude the supernatural.
philosophy
• Philosophy is an activity: it is a way of thinking
about certain sorts of question and searching
for answers (similarly to science)
• Examples of these questions might be:
...
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What is?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Why is the world the way it is?
Where does it all come from?
Where do we come from?
Who are we?
Where are we going to?
What is the purpose of it all?
Is there a God?
...
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What is good and what is evil?
What is knowledge?
What is truth?
What is consciousness?
Do we have a "free will"?
How should we act?
How can we be happy?
Why cannot we live forever?
What is the meaning of life?
Why is philosophy important?
• Nowadays we can see a victory of science. We
live in era of science.
...
• „Science has allowed us to send people to the moon,
to cure tubelculosis, to invent the atom bomb, the
motor car, the aeroplane, television, computers, and
numerous other devices which have changed the
nature o our everyday life. Scientific method is
generally recognised as the most effective way we have
of finding out about and predictin the behaviour of the
natural world. Not all scientific inventions have been
beneficial to human beings – obviously scientific
developments have been used to destroy as well as
improve human life.“
• (Nigel Warburton, Philosophy, p. 109.)
...
• Can science give us answers on all questions?
Science x philosophy
• science investigates what is
• Philosophy (ethics) investigates what ought to
be
Embryo science
tells us what the embryos are and when they begin
Embryo technologies
 represent the abilities of researchers to do things
to or with embryos
 they can make embryos in lab, by IVF or by cloning
 they can keep embryos alive in the lab whether in
culture, or indefinitely by freezing
 they can destroy these embryos
Philosophy – „Embryo ethics“
 are such manipulation morally right?
 it is not uncommon to hear embryo
researchers claim that only science should
have a say what science does, and that ethics,
religion and politics have no business in the
concerns of science
 it is true that moral philosophy cannot say
what embryo is nor has anything to say about
what can be done with an embryo
…
• but science has nothing to say about what we
ought to do, even in the domain of science
Questions
philosophical or scientific?
• Should stem-cell scientists destroy even earlystage human embryos in order to advance
medicine?
• When does human life begin? At conception?
At implantation? When the heart starts to
beat at 22 days? When the embryo takes on a
human form?
An Extremely Prominent Question
• One of the biggest changes in modern science
has been in our ability to alter the course of
human development.
• We can plan the sex of our children
• We can test for the presence or absence of
certain genes and abort embryos that are not
„good“
• We can isolate human stem cells that can
generate nearly any tissue in the body
...
• We are able to clone human cell nuclei to
produce stem cells that are genetically
identical to the patients who might need
them.
• We can do a lot of things nowadays
• The question is..
should we do such things?
To make informed jugments about such issues,
one must have some background in both
biology and philosophy (ethics).
Ethics – right and wrong
• What makes an action right or wrong? What do
we mean when we say that someone ought or
ought not to do something? How should we live?
How should we treat other people?
• If we cannot say why such things as torture,
murder, cruelty, slavery, rape, and theft are
wrong, what justification can we have for
preventing them?
• Is morality simply a matter of prejudice or can we
give good reasons for our moral beliefs?
Ethics - philosophical discipline
What is ethics?
• Etymology: the word ethos is connected with animals and means "place of
pasture or stable, and the way of life and behavior." When applied to the
human ethos means place for living. Mores, course of action, attitudes
and mentality of people. Habit.
•
Latin mos, from which is derived the word morality 'means originally, will'. mos
finally, as ethos, it is also a personal way of life, beliefs, character and moral
behavior. "Czech word comes from the word nrav, which was something that is
„generally like and what is appropriate."
Is ethics a set of standards (set of prepared sentences of what
should be and what ought not to be)?
• The ethics is often consider as a set of
standards, or statements about what should
be and what ought not be.
• ...but we don‘t know this set. Every situation is
different.
• We have to find a set of rules, which we could
follow
• Preliminary definition: ethics is a discussion
about what should be
Technical vs. ethical
• Both , technical ethical questions, are aimed to
"what to do".
• Technical - "what to do„ - how to stop bleeding, how
to bake bread, build a house, rob a bank, etc.
• Ethical - "what to do„ - when, if ever, is possible to
take a gift from a patient? Is it permissible to lie to a
patient if it is for his or her good? (what does it
mean good?)
What is the difference between them?
Both are aimed at achieving the goal.
• For technical considerations is target unproblematic. No
examining whether this goal is really what "should be„.
• It focuses primarily on the means and not the target.
• For ethical reasoning is the goal problematic and it is always
measured by a higher aim, which is "good in itself" (does not
need to be further justified)
• Ethics is: debate about what should be, motivated by concern
for the highest good and not clearly defined set of (technical)
instructions.
...
• Ethics is not set of standards, but worries and
aspirations on doing good.
• it is a debate about what should be, motivated
by concern for the highest good.
The question is, what is this "highest
good"?
• It is the same for a member of a terrorist organization, spiritual leader,
patient, prisoner, a member of the Ursuline order in Jiřetín pod Jedlovou,
a member of the anti-government rebels in Syria?
• The concept of goodness can be influenced by interests and ideologies. It
is therefore always necessary to purify our conception of good from the
interests, ideologies, cultural influences, the influence of family, religion,
school, friends, political parties, etc.
• Philosophical concept of goodness requires critical examination and great
mental effort.
• Ethics is a constant search for the correct answers, searching for what
"should be". The constant change of naive thinking on critical thinking.
Courage to ethics
• Changing our own positions (which are
sometimes considered as unshakable and well
justified) requires the courage to change your
mind, open to other ideas, willingness to
critical thinking, to look at things not for our
own sake, but for the sake of goodness.
History of Medical Ethics
origin in shock
...
Intelligence x wisdom
...
...
• The impulse for the establishment of medical ethics as a
discipline and the subject of education, was shocking
findings about the behavior of Nazi doctors during World
War II.
• Doctors performed experiments on prisoners of
concentration camps. "From the methodological point of
view this was a rational research projects, for example,
monitoring the reactions of the organism to
extraordinary physical and toxic effects. Some results of
these experiments have become even practical benefits
(eg hibernation in surgery)
Nuremberg Tribunal
• self-defense of physicians : the maximum benefit for the most
people. The experimental results will benefit generations yet!
• European culture (with its moral pluralism, in which pallets
are also moral utilitarianism among other-isms) was shaken.
The four principles of medical ethics
• This shock led to the establishment of the four
basic principles of medical ethics:
• 1. nonmaleficence, 2. beneficence,
3. autonomy 4. justice
…
Thank you for your attention
Barbora Řebíková
(rebbarbora@email.cz)