Please see attached.
PRINTED BY:
[email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. Chapter 1 The Nature of Morality LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Define philosophy and explain its relationship with ethics. • Recognize the difference between ethics and morality based on the definitions of important key terms related to them. • Explain the various approaches to the study of morality. • Interpret the meaning of morality by differentiating it with the concepts of aesthetics, nonmoral behavior, and manners. • Describe how morality applies to human beings based on its four important aspects. • Scrutinize the various theories that attempt to account for the origination of morality. • Distinguish between morality and the law by examining some real life examples. • Distinguish between morality and religion. • Probe the arguments on why human beings should be moral. Morality claims our lives. It makes claims upon each of us that are stronger than the claims of law and take priority over self-interest. As human beings living in the world, we have basic duties and obligations. There are certain things we must do and certain things we must not do. In other words, there is an ethical dimension of human existence. As human beings, we experience life in a world of good and evil and understand certain kinds of actions in terms of right and wrong. The very structure of human existence dictates that we must make choices. Ethics helps us use our freedom responsibly and understand who we are. And, ethics gives direction in our struggle to answer the fundamental questions that ask how we should live our lives and how we can make right choices. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS’ RELATIONSHIP TO IT? Philosophy literally means love of wisdom, from the Greek words philia meaning love or friendship and sophia meaning wisdom. The following three areas of philosophy will be our major concern in this book: epistemology (the study of knowledge), metaphysics (the study of the nature of reality), and ethics (the study of morality). Aesthetics (the study of values in art or beauty) and logic (the study of argument and the principles of correct reasoning) are two additional areas of philosophy that constitute its five major branches. 1 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19304 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19304 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19660 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid18916 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19587 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19304 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid18916 Epistemology deals with the following questions: What is knowledge? What are truth and falsity, and to what do they apply? What is required for someone to actually know something? What is PRINTED BY:
[email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. the nature of perception, and how reliable is it? What’s the difference between knowledge and belief? Is there anything such as “certain knowledge”? Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, asking the following questions: What is the nature of reality and of the things that exist? Specifically, such questions as the following are asked: Is there really cause and effect and, if so, how does it work? What is the nature of the physical world, and is there anything other than the physical, such as the mental or spiritual? What is the nature of human beings? Is there freedom in reality, or is everything predetermined? Ethics, our main concern, deals with what is right or wrong in human behavior and conduct. It asks such questions as what constitutes any person or action being good, bad, right, or wrong and how do we know (epistemology)? What part does selfinterest or the interests of others play in the making of moral decisions and judgments? What theories of conduct are valid or invalid and why? Should we use principles or rules or laws as the basis for our choices, or should we let each situation decide our morality? Are killing, lying, cheating, stealing, and certain kinds of sexual acts right or wrong, and why or why not? As you can see, the above three areas of philosophy are related and at times overlap, but each one is worthy of concentrated study in itself. The major concern in this book, as its title suggests, is ethics, and before going any further, it is important to define some key terms used in any discussion of ethics or morality. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Ethical, Moral, Unethical, Immoral In ordinary language, we frequently use the words ethical and moral (and unethical and immoral) interchangeably; that is, we speak of the ethical or moral person or act. On the other hand, we speak of codes of ethics, but only infrequently do we mention codes of morality. Some reserve the terms moral and immoral only for the realm of sexuality and use the words ethical and unethical when discussing how the business and professional communities should behave toward their members or toward the public. More commonly, however, we use none of these words as often as we use the terms good, bad, right, and wrong. What do all of these words mean, and what are the relationships among them? Ethics comes from the Greek ethos, meaning character. Morality comes from the Latin moralis, meaning customs or manners. Ethics, then, seems to pertain to the individual character of a person or persons, whereas morality seems to point to the relationships between human 1 2 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19304 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19280 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19647 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid20158 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19482 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19426 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid20014 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19304 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19660 beings. Nevertheless, in ordinary language, whether we call a person ethical or moral, or an act unethical or immoral, doesn’t really make any significant difference. In philosophy, however, the term ethics is also used to refer to a specific area of study: the area of morality, which concentrates on human conduct and human values. When we speak of people as being moral or ethical, we usually mean that they are good people, and when we speak of them as being immoral or unethical, we mean that they are bad people. When we refer to certain human actions as being moral, ethical, immoral, and unethical, we mean that they are right or wrong. The simplicity of these definitions, however, ends here, for how do we define a right or wrong action or a good or bad person? What are the human standards by which such decisions can be made? These are the more difficult questions that make up the greater part of the study of morality, and they will be discussed in more detail in later chapters. The important thing to remember here is that moral, ethical, immoral, and unethical https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19647 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19280 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19482 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid20158 PRINTED BY:
[email protected]. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted. essentially mean good, right, bad, and wrong, often depending upon whether one is referring to people themselves or to their actions. CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD, BAD, RIGHT, WRONG, HAPPINESS, OR PLEASURE. It seems to be an empirical fact that whatever human beings consider to be good involves happiness and pleasure in some way, and whatever they consider to be bad involves unhappiness and pain in some way. This view of what is good has traditionally been called “hedonism.” As long as the widest range of interpretation is given to these words (from simple sensual pleasures to intellectual or spiritual pleasures and from sensual pain to deep emotional unhappiness), it is difficult to deny that whatever is good involves at least some pleasure or happiness, and whatever is bad involves some pain or unhappiness. One element involved in the achievement of happiness is the necessity of taking the long-range rather than the short-range view. People may undergo some pain or unhappiness in order to attain some pleasure or happiness in the long run. For example, we will put up with the pain of having our teeth drilled in order to keep our teeth and gums healthy so that we may enjoy eating and the general good health that results from having teeth that are well maintained. Similarly, people may do very difficult and even painful work for two days in order to earn money that will bring them pleasure and happiness for a week or two. Furthermore, the term good should be defined in the context of human experience and human relationships rather than in an abstract sense only. For example, knowledge and power in themselves are not good unless a human being derives some satisfaction from them or unless they contribute in some way to moral and meaningful human relationships. They are otherwise nonmoral. What about actions that will bring a person some good but will cause pain to another, such as those acts of a sadist who gains pleasure from violently mistreating another human being? Our original statement was that everything that is good will bring some person satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness of some kind, but this statement does not necessarily work in the reverse—that everything that brings someone satisfaction is necessarily good. There certainly are “malicious pleasures.” EXCELLENCE. William Frankena (1908–1994) states that whatever is good will also probably involve “some kind or degree of excellence.” He goes on to say that “what is bad in itself is so because of the 2 3 1 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19426 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19426 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_031.xhtml#eid19438 https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/books/9781323130162/epub/OPS/loc_004.xhtml#eid2604 presence of either pain or unhappiness or of some kind of defect or lack of excellence.” Excellence is an important addition to pleasure or satisfaction in that it makes “experiences or activities better or worse than they would otherwise be.” For example, the enjoyment or satisfaction gained from hearing a concert, seeing a fine movie, or reading a good book is due, to a great extent, to the excellence of the creators and presenters of these events (composers, performers, directors, actors, and writers). Another and perhaps more profound example of the importance of excellence is that if one gains satisfaction or pleasure from witnessing a well-conducted court case and from seeing and hearing the judge and the lawyers perform their duties well, that satisfaction will be deepened if the judge and the lawyers are also excellent people, that is, if they are kind, fair, and compassionate human beings in addition to being clever and able. Whatever is good, then, will probably contain some pleasure, happiness, and excellence, whereas whatever is bad will be characterized by their opposites: pain, unhappiness, and lack of excellence. The above claims