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Ethics (Kantian Ethics (There are three universal maxims: (Principle of…
Ethics
Kantian Ethics
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Kantian ethics is deontological and focus' on the duty to do good and avoid evil. Kant believed that there was objective and absolute moral law, not just law that has been invented by society.
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Kant believed that the only thing that can be called good without any qualification is good will, an action is good if it is done for the right reasons, the same action is not good however if it is done for another virtuous gain.
Morality should not be driven by emotion, we should do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
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HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVES - refer to the rules we must follow if we want to achieve particular results.
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES - refers to the rules that must be followed with no 'ifs'. They must be followed regardless of what you want to achieve in the end result and regardless of our personal preference.
Natural Moral Law
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Aquinas
Believed that every person has a 'telos' or end goal that we all move towards, the telos for all human beings is eudaimonia, happiness and flourishing.
He believed that moral actions could only come from free, rational human beings. We have to be genuinely free to make moral decisions and make them using our reason.
To Aquinas, being in the presence of God is the end goal for humans, the human 'telos'.
Aquinas believed that all humans were given the ability to reason by God, so he created the primary precepts to teach humans how they should apply there reason.
1.Worship God. 2.Live in and ordered society. 3.To reproduce. 4. Educate the young. 5. defend the innocent and preserve life.
Real and apparent goods, real goods in line with the primary precepts and God's wishes, apparent goods seem enjoyable and so tempt us but do nothing in promoting human flourishing..
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Possible Strengths
Natural law can be applied in so many different ways making widely transparent which is a strength as it allows for many different circumstances to be taken into account.
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It combines religious ideas with reason allowing people to use their own decision making in situations.
It is fairly easy to establish to establish what is right and wrong using natural law, making it a helpful system.
Weakness' of NML
The way natural law is applied can vary widely, this can be seen as a weakness as it is not always clear.
Our understanding of what is natural is not always accurate and and not always unchanging, for example the views towards homosexuality have widely changed over the past years.
Aquinas bases a lot of his teachings off a belief in God, which not everyone follows.
The world has changed a lot since Aquinas was writing his ideas, this has meant that some applications of natural law might seem inappropriate today. For example, the use of artificial contraception is used a lot today but might bring about controversy as it can be seen to limit the precept of reproduction.
Situation Ethics
Joseph Fletcher
Fletcher had three approaches to moral thinking, legalism (decisions based on laws), antinomian (having no laws at all) and situational (looking at the context and adopting an appropriate law to do the most loving thing.
Fletcher believed that the third path was the better out of the three, he was influenced by other theologians such as Bath and Bonhoeffer who believed that Christian ethics should rely on the teachings of the bible too heavily.
Six Propositions
- The only thing that is intrinsically good is agapeic love.
- Love is the ruling norm of Christian ethics.
- Justice is love distributed. Justice is when people act in a loving way towards other people.
- Love does not depend on emotional likes and dislikes but is an act of will, a deliberately chosen attitude.
- Love should be the goal of a moral action, and if it is, then the means of getting to that goal are not important.
- Love should be considered in the context of each situation as it arises. Rules should not be made without the context of the moral situation being a serious consideration.
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Consience
According to Fletcher, the conscience does not guide human action and is not a store of reliable rules to which people can refer. Does not form an inner voice that displays the divine truth, instead it describes what people are trying do when they make moral decisions and weigh things up.
Agape Love
Fletcher believed that Agape love should be at the centre of all ethics, it is unconditional and reflects the love given by God. It teaches people to love their neighbour and their enemies, it is also a self-sacrificing version of love. People should be guided by the 'law of love' to do the most loving thing.
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Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham
Principle of Utility
Bentham introduced Utilitarianism, he wanted to find a way of doing ethics that did not rely on rules or the Church.
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The principle of utility is otherwise known as the greatest happiness principle, it believes that the best course of action to take is the one which maximises happiness for the greatest number of people.
Hedonic Calculus
Bentham devised the calculus as a way of measuring whether an action would bring about maximum happiness and avoid pain.
The calculate this, there are seven factors to consider:
- Intensity - will it be intense pleasure or just mild.
- Duraiton - how long is the pleasure likely to last?
- Certainty - will it definitely bring pleasure, how likely is it?
- Propinquity - how far off is the pleasure or pain.
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- Purity - will it bring pure pleasure or will it there be some pain involved as well?
- Extent - how far-reaching will the pleasure be; will it affect a lot of people.
John Stuart Mill
In his book 'Utilitarianism', JSM added to the works of Bentham by making a distinction between higher and lower pleasure.
Mill stated that the quality of the pleasure should also be included in the calculus, intellectual, aesthetic, social and spiritual pleasures.
It is better to be a human dissatisfied that a pig satisfied, he would not be content with just seeking sensual pleasures.
He thought that Art and Culture should be considered more important than pleasures such as getting drunk..
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Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
The focus of rule utilitarianism is on the common good, rather than on each individual act.
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It considers what is best for society and what would happen if everyone behaved this way, as well as looking at the individual circumstances.
Rule utilitarians recognise general rules that exist for the benefit of everyone, such as promise-keeping and truth-telling.
Act Utilitarianism
In act utilitarianism, each action is considered on its own.
It looks at the balance of pleasure and pain that is likely to be produced by that particular action in those circumstances.
There is no duty to adopt a particular approach because a different situation might involve different people with different interests.
It avoids setting up rules, an act might bring about maximum pleasure in one set of circumstances, but the same act might bring about pain in another.
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Kantian Ethics
Strengths of Kant
Kant's way of thinking is widely appealing, everyone follows the same set of rules to make their decisions, making things absolutely right and wrong.
Kant emphasises human reasoning, giving autonomy to people to act thoughtfully rather than just simply following commands.
Quick and easy to use once people understand the categorical imperatives, as rules are rules, making them easy to apply.
Kant recognises the dignity and worth of other human beings, whatever their status in society.
Weakness' of Kant
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Kant does not tell us what to do if duties conflict, he does not give guidance about how to make a choice.
Religious believers might argue that Kant seems to give human reason a more important place in morality than he gives to God.