...philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) presents a criterion of moral obligation, which he calls the categorical imperative. Kant rejects these traditional theories of morality and argues instead that moral actions are based on a "supreme principle of morality" which is objective, rational, and freely chosen: the categorical imperative. Kant’s clearest account of the categorical imperative is in the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant argues against traditional criteria of morality, and explains why the categorical imperative can be the only possible standard of moral obligation. He begins with a general account of willful decisions. The function of the human will is to select one course of action from among several possible courses of action (for example, my choice to watch television right now instead of going jogging). Our specific willful decisions are influenced by several factors, such as laziness, immediate emotional gratification, or what is best in the end. Kant argues that in moral matters the will is ideally influenced only by rational considerations, and not by subjective considerations such as one’s emotions. This is because morality involves what is necessary for us to do (e.g., you must be benevolent), and only rational considerations can produce necessity. The rational consideration, which influences the will, must be a single principle of obligation, for only principles can be purely rational considerations. In addition...
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...Norms of Morality Prof. Fernandino J. Pancho Definition •Norms of morality ◦is the criteria of judgment about the sorts of person we ought to be and the sorts of action we ought to perform. ◦the quality of things manifesting their conformity or non-coformity with the norm or criteria. (that which conforms is good or moral, that which do not conform is evil or immoral) ◦The subjective norm of morality – Conscience ◦The objective norm of morality – Law (natural) •Both natural law and conscience are rooted on Eternal Law, the ultimate norm, thus, there is only one norm. Loading... Conscience •The subjective/proximate norm of morality. ◦It is proximate because it is what directly confronts an action as good or bad. •Function: to examine/investigate, to judge, to pass punishment on our moral actions. ◦It approves & commends; reproaches & condemns; forbids & commands; accuses & absolves. •Synderesis – it is the quality by which man naturally perceives the truth of the self-evident principles of the moral order. Conscience - definition •Derived from the Latin words “con” plus “scientia” which means “with knowledge” of what is right or wrong or “trial of oneslf” both in accusation and in defense. •It is the “inner or little voice of God in man” crying out man’s moral obligations and telling him what to do and what to avoid in the moral order. •It is an act of the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individual...
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...been spread by religion. Religion seems to be a good place to start thinking of morality, but we cannot rely on God to tell us what is right morally and what is wrong. We should recognize that morality is based on human needs and interests, and not on God’s commands because they cannot be regarded as imposing moral obligations unless we already possess a sense of right and wrong independent of his commands. The claim that we need God to provide morality does not withstand analysis because it is the circumstances under which we live that influence the content of our norms, not divine commands. Morality is a human institution serving human needs, and the norms of the common morality will persist as long as there are humans around. (Lindsay.) God’s moral nature is expressed to us in the form of divine commands which compose our moral duties or obligations and holds all persons morally accountable for their actions .But on the atheistic view there is no divine lawgiver. But...
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...Philosophy allows people to study the nature of people’s beliefs. Throughout history people’s beliefs have differed. At one time people may believe one idea and decades later people may completely disagree with that idea. Not even the ideas of the law are exempt from this occurrence. Since the spoken word, hundreds of philosophers have defined law in different ways. Seeing law in different ways people can come to different conclusions about specific cases. The Fugitive Slave Law was a controversial law in American history. The Fugitive Slave Law allowed slave-owners to capture their slaves who have fled North to free states. In United States v Morris, the emancipators challenged the Fugitive Slave Law in Boston. A group of emancipators helped...
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...On August 31, 1910, in Osawatomie, Kansas, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered the speech entitled Conservation as a National Duty. Furthermore, he conferred that conservation of our nature is necessary and is vital for our survival. He provided us with numerous reasons of why we need to conserve nature and why it is so essential. He also connected conservation with topics such as the progress, patriotism, and morality of the American people. Roosevelt connects conservation and progress by indicating that due to our progress, there has been a shortage of natural resources. We have made so much progress and with that progress, we have used up increasingly more of our national resources. In the early ages, man had a surplus of resources and...
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...A Summary of the Terms and Types of Ethical Theories Ethics is a branch of philosophy addressing questions about morality. Ethics is divided into two different ways of looking at the morality of humanity. They are Consequential and Non-Consequential. CONSEQUENTIAL ETHICS In Consequential Ethics, the outcomes determine the morality of the act. What make the act wrong are the consequences. It says, it will be legitimate to lie in order to get out of a serious problem, such as to save a persons life. In other words a white lie is fine. So the essence of morality is determined by the result or outcome of the act. NON – CONSEQUENTIAL ETHICS In non-Consequential Ethics, the source of morality comes from something else: law, God’s law, moral law, sense of duty, and your definition of what is the virtuous thing to do. All those considerations are built into the act itself before you could think of consequences, before it makes it right or wrong. One classic example is this system is lying. Lying could be wrong because in one system, it’s a violation of the nature of speech. It’s wrong to use a lie to achieve a good end. Simply put, a lie is a lie, is a lie. Egoism – Utilitarianism – Pragmatism Egoism - Means, act in your own self-interest. Utilitarianism - Do that which is moral only if the act produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. There are two brands of Utilitarianism: 1. Act Utilitarianism- Do the act. No consideration of before or after...
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...“Letter from the Birmingham City Jail,” Initially uses classical natural law theory to define his actions, but immediately thereafter contradicts a fundamental tenet of this theory and relies on a “weaker” version of natural law. In doing so, King must attempt to formulate a theory which justifies his illegal actions in view of his moral obligation to obey the law. King’s failure to distinguish between legal obligations and moral obligations yields a logical paradox in his final formation of natural law theory. However, Kings theory need not be completely rejected if his argument is slightly modified to reject the moral obligation to obey laws. King initially uses classical natural law theory as his rational basis to defend his actions. This theory has two main point of views, the first being,” Moral Validity; is a logically necessary condition for legal validity an unjust or immoral law being no law at all” followed by, “The moral order is part of the natural order moral duties being in some sense “read off ” from essences of purpose fixed (perhaps by God) in nature.” According to this theory, morality law, but law that equals morality by definition. Thus for King to use this theory, two requirements are implicit. He must assert that an unjust law is not really a law, and he must provide a moral theory to distinguish just and unjust laws. King first quotes St. Augustine, “an unjust law is no law at all,” to emphasize his agreement with the first claim. He then includes...
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...Western ethics is vastly influenced by Christian law-based ethics, which in turn gathered its legal ethical code from Judaism. As a result, as society's values have changed, the effectiveness of transcendent entities as rulers within law-based ethics to provide ethical agents with an obligation to obey the moral law has been brought into question. This essay will focus on Christian ethics, where 'transcendent entities' will refer to the Christian God, and 'law-based ethics' is the divine law set down by God within Christian scripture. To prove that God is necessary to provide ethical agents with a duty to follow the divine law, this essay will discuss God and humanity's nature, agents' need for a transcendent law-giver, the role that religion...
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...of an individual in relation to an ethical situation or issue. When I think of ethics I automatically am drawn to the conclusion of something being considered right or wrong based on cultural rules, while on the other hand when judging the morality of a situation I will almost always base my decision on personal values of what I consider to be just. This paper will compare the similarities and differences of ethical theories as it relates to ethics and morality. Consequential Theories “Consequential theories base morality on the results or outcomes of behaviors. Actions with good consequences are morally right; actions with bad consequences are morally wrong.” (Nicholas Manias, 2013, Ethics Applied, p.113) Utilitarianism An ethical theory that is almost self-explanatory, concluding that the best moral action results in optimal use or “utility” in an individual producing more good in a situation than bad for great numbers. As stated in the reading, happiness vs. unhappiness and the outcome of happiness proves to be morally ethical. Non-consequential Theories “Non-consequential theories base morality on factors other than the results or outcomes of actions. These other factors can include duties, obligations, rights, law of nature, or social contracts” (Nicholas Manias, 2013, Ethics Applied, p.151) Virtue Theory Virtue theory is a considered approach to ethics that emphasizes on an individual’s character, unlike deontological theory that emphasizes on the rules. This...
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...Encyclopedia of Philosophy Open access to the SEP is made possible by a world-wide funding initiative. Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia Free Author & Citation Info | Friends PDF Preview | InPho Search | PhilPapers Bibliography Kant and Hume on Morality First published Wed Mar 26, 2008; substantive revision Sun Aug 12, 2012 The ethics of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is often contrasted with that of David Hume (1711–1776). Hume's method of moral philosophy is experimental and empirical; Kant emphasizes the necessity of grounding morality in a priori principles. Hume says that reason is properly a “slave to the passions,” while Kant bases morality in his conception of a reason that is practical in itself. Hume identifies such feelings as benevolence and generosity as proper moral motivations; Kant sees the motive of duty—a motive that Hume usually views as a second best or fall back motive—as uniquely expressing an agent's commitment to morality and thus as conveying a special moral worth to actions. Although there are many points at which Kant's and Hume's ethics stand in opposition to each other, there are also important connections between the two. Kant shared some important assumptions about morality and motivation with Hume, and had, early in his career, been attracted to and influenced by the sentimentalism of Hume and other British moralists. The aim of this essay is not to compare Hume and Kant on all matters ethical. Instead, we examine...
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... that is used to govern a society and to control the behavior of its members. Law therefore is a formal mechanism of social control. Legal Positivism John Austin -"A rule laid down for the guidance of an intelligent being by an intelligent being having power over him. A body of rules fixed and enforced by a sovereign political authority." Professor Hart defined law as a system of rules, a union of primary and secondary rules. Positivism emphasizes the separation of law and morality. Thomas Hobbes can be credited to be the father of legal positivism. According to Hobbes , in the state of nature there is “a war of every man against every man, a state of constant strife in which the life of man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutal and short. Law and the government therefore became necessary to promote order and personal security.” According to legal positivists, law is man-made, or “posited,” by the legislature. Where natural law theorists may say that if a law is not moral there is no obligation to obey it, by appealing to moral or religious principles, but positivists hold that until a duly enacted law is changed, it remains law, and should be obeyed. Legal positivism regards law as a system of clearly defined rules, the law is defined by the social rules or practices that identify certain norms as laws. Jeremy Bentham philosopher and proposed the Utilitarian principle which means that the law should create “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. Bentham had...
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...Ethics Ethics The schools of thought; virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics, have their similarities and differences relating to how they deal with matters of morality and ethics within a society or even with the individual. As a consequence, the benefits, and consequences suffered by an individual will depend on the theory adopted and applied. In this paper I will attempt to distinguish the three schools of thought citing appropriate examples from my personal experiences. Virtue theory takes the view that human beings do have virtues that for the “greater good” up help despite the nature of the action. This theory states that the individual makes a decision on whether to take a certain action while looking at the consequences of the theory. The theory further states that the virtues in each of us drive our behavior as well as control how we interpret or feel about things. As a consequence, a person acts in accordance with his or her morals and virtues (Sterba, 2009). Turning to utilitarianism, we have to understand that it deals with what is of “the greatest good for the highest number of people.” The theory adopts the concept of analyzing benefits that are essentially for the good of the whole community or society as opposed to what may be good for an individual; the greatest benefit for the majority is always desired. The theory also holds that although the majority may be the objective of decision making...
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...'Widely' could mean anything from 'often in the life of one person' to 'universal, to every being'. 'Beneficial' could mean any of pleasant, healthy, productive, useful, life-enhancing/ enriching. Usage B depends entirely on the person's view of what is evil. Usage C will probably be different in detail for every single individual, and will be dependent .on the background of the person concerned. Usage D depends on the long-term and ultimate goals that a person has in life. A person aiming primarily for monetary wealth will regard training for increasing earning power as good. Someone else aiming to create a happier! more equitable society will regard training in social work as good. Usage E depends on the individual's ideas of the nature of God. Since there are as many understandings of God as there are believers, this use of the Word 'good' will have the greatest number of...
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...violated building codes and failed to respond appropriately to information that the building was not safe, the accident would not have happened. (Fortune, 2013) Furthermore, this businesses immorality not only affected those employees that died but the lives of their families, as well as all those whom witnessed the event. One will never know the extent of damage caused by immoral acts such as this one; the repercussions are too far reaching. In a business environment, a business should be more conscious of acting morally correct than any individual, because the number of live affected are incalculable. Deontological Ethics Deontological ethics is the position that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to the rules. (Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2014) This means that morality is what the law says it is; the law says that killing someone is not wrong as long as the individual is defending...
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...| Y | Reason and Logic | Part of natural duties, developed by Immanuel Kant to create an ethical system based off logic and reason not religious beliefs or good consequences | Y, USA is a democracy, deal so fair buyer/seller would be willing to trade places | Cicero | Moral actions are dictated by the laws of nature, nothing could be expedient or profitable if it was morally wrong | Y, all Greek philosophers believed in natural laws | Plato | Knowledge of goodness means penetrating social conventions into unchanging natural laws. (universalism?) | Y, all Greek philosophers believed in natural laws | Aristotle | Good Life= What is right and moral, and then living that way. | Y, all Greek philosophers believed in natural laws | Natural Laws | Morality is universal, general principles are consistent with human nature, and it advances a peaceful society. | Y | Deontology | Focus on the action itself (means). Whether an act is moral depends on whether it is consistent with what is our duty or obligation. | Y | Beneficence | Religious belief that society is interdependent, so everyone has a reciprocal obligation to help others. | Y | Relativism | Morality depends on the situation and can be normative or cultural relativism. (Ex. gangs) | N, but can relate to Beneficence in that “we have the duty to help others when there is a need, we are capable, or we are the last resort” | Universalism | Moral standards are objective and impartial. If it is right for me, it is...
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