ethics dr robert shaw victoria university community continuing education 1
TRANSCRIPT
Ethics
Dr Robert Shaw
Victoria University
Community Continuing Education1
Descriptor
This course presents traditional and modern theories of ethics.
It invites you to consider their relevance to everyday living and issues such as climate change, criminal justice and business practice.
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Descriptor
Two-thousand-five-hundred years of Western philosophy in six hours.
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Today
Part 1 : Ethics as usual
Traditional
Modern
Part 2 : The death of God & the meaning of Life
Kant
Nietzsche
Part 3 : Western metaphysics
Heidegger
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Part 1 Ethics as usualEthics courses
Find dilemmasApproachesImportant people
The big three (normative ethics)Virtue ethicsUtilitarianismDeontology
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Part 1 Ethics as usualEthics courses
Find dilemmasApproachesImportant people
The big three (normative ethics)Virtue ethicsUtilitarianismDeontology
Big topicsChildrenMedical questionsRightsGovernment’s prioritiesThe just warCorporate social responsibility 6
Part 1 Ethics as usualNormative ethics
How one ought to act
The driversVirtue ethics – moral character Utilitarianism – outcomes (consequentialism)Deontology – rules
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Part 1 Ethics as usualNormative ethics
How one ought to act
The driversVirtue ethics – moral character Utilitarianism – outcomes (consequentialism)Deontology – rules
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Part 1 Ethics as usualEthics courses
Find dilemmasApproachesImportant people
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Immanuel Kant was a real pissant Who was very rarely stable
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar Who could think you under the table
David Hume could out consume Schopenhauer and Hegel
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'Bout the raising of the wrist Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato they say, could stick it away Half a crate of whiskey every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle Hobbes was fond of his dram And René Descartes was a drunken fart "I drink, therefore I am"
Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed A lovely little thinker But a bugger when he's pissed
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Part 1 Ethics as usualClassical theories
What is the good life for us?How should people act?The path well trod
Modern theoriesPhilosophical analysis Commitment / preparationClassificationBasic enquiries
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Part 1 Classical theories
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What is the right thing to do?
Part 1 Classical theories
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What is the right thing to do?
Part 1 Classical theorists
Plato – IdealistsAristotle - HappinessEpicurus - HedonistsScepticsCynicsStoicsChristian ethicsSpinozaBentham Mill - UtilitarianismKant - Deontology
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School of Athens Raphael, Sistine Chapel, 1511
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School of Athens Raphael, Sistine Chapel, 1511
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1-Plato, 2-Aristotle, 3-Socrates, 4-Xenophon, 5-Æschines, 6-Alcibiades, 7-Zeno, 8-Epicurus, 9-Federico Gonzaga, 10-Averroes, 11-Pyhthagoras, 12-Francesco, 13-Heraclietus, 14-Diogenes, 15-Archimedes, 16 -Zoroaster, 17-Ptolemy, 18 Raphael.
Plato & Aristotle
Classical theoriesWhat is the good life for us?How should people act?
What are they?Plato – idealist, mathematics, innateAristotle – moderation, virtues
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Aristotle
Ethics is practicalNo set way, use reason, good habits
Doctrine of the mean – nature & desirable
Virtue ethics
Happiness: activity of a soul in accord with perfect virtue 18
Virtue ethics
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Epicurus
Hedonism342-270 BCSchool of philosophy, Athens, 306 BCEverything we know comes from the sensesGoal of life: body free from pain
mind free from worry & fear
Free willDemocritus is right about atoms
Philosophical hedonismPsychological hedonism
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Skeptics
Consolation theorists
Questioning attitude
Impossible to know
Peace comes when you admit ignorance
Positive aspects
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Cynics
“Dog like”
Indifference to their way of lifeShamelessOn guardFriend & foe
Asceticism“I’m no one’s mug”Self-reliance 22
23Diogenes (the dog) Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)
Stoics
Zeno of Elea, 333 – 264 BCReplaced CynicsStoa = porch
Paradoxes (the arrow)Power of rationality
“ Man conquers the world by conquering himself.
Influenced: Romans & Christians
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Zeno
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Christian ethics
DecalogueSource of authorityAn example of virtue ethicsConsolation
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Spinoza
1632-1677Portuguese Dutch Jew, SpainLens grinder, dust killed himMoral character - injusticeAge 23 excommunicated
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Spinoza
The Lords of the ma’amad, having long known of the evil opinions and acts of Baruch de Spinoza, have endeavord by various means and promises, to turn him from his evil ways. But having failed to make him mend his wicked ways, and, on the contrary, daily receiving more and more serious information about the abominable heresies which he practiced and taught and about his monstrous deeds, and having for this numerous trustworthy witnesses who have deposed and born witness to this effect in the presence of the said Espinoza, they became convinced of the truth of the matter; and after all of this has been investigated in the presence of the honorable chachamin, they have decided, with their consent, that the said Espinoza should be excommunicated and expelled from the people of Israel. By the decree of the angels, and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and with the consent of all the Holy Congregation, in front of these holy Scrolls with the six-hundred-and thirteen precepts which are written therein, with the excommunication with which Joshua banned Jericho, with the curse with which Elisha cursed the boys, and with all the curses which are written in the Book of the Law. Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down, and cursed be he when he rises up; cursed be he when he goes out, and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him; the anger and wrath of the Lord will rage against this man, and bring upon him all the curses which are written in this book, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven, and the Lord will separate him to his injury from all the tribes of Israel with all the curses of the covenant, which are written in the Book of the Law. But you who cleave unto the Lord God are all alive this day. We order that no one should communicate with him orally or in writing, or show him any favor, or stay with him under the same roof, or within four ells of him, or read anything composed or written by him.
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Deontology
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Duty ethicsLike virtue ethicsRights theoryKant
Deontology
deon = obligation, dutyLike virtue ethics – rules
C D BroadDeontological c/f teleological (consequence)
Kant – the transition person
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Utilitarianism: Bentham
Aristotle – happinessBentham
1748-1832Auto-IconEnglish social reformerAnimal rightsEconomic freedomSeparation of church & stateUniversity College London
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Utilitarianism: Bentham
Principle of utility (from Hume)Only consequences countGreatest good for the greatest numberObjective measuresPublic discussion
Pain & pleasureNatural rightsAnimal rightsConcern for the poor
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Utilitarianism: Mill
James MillJohn Stuart Mill 1806-1873Consequences Cost-benefit analysisThe morality of Government“Evidence based”
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Part 1 Ethics as usualClassical theories
What is the good life for us?How should people act?
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Part 1 Ethics as usualClassical theories
What is the good life for us?How should people act?
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Ethics as usual
Classical theories (now complete)What is the good life for us?How should people act?
Modern theoriesPhilosophical analysis Commitment Preparation for real-world ethicsBasic enquiries .........
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Part 1 Ethics as usualBasic enquiries of modern ethics
LanguageObjectivity & subjectivityFree will & determinismNaturalism, non-naturalismEmotivism
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Language
FregeRussellWittgensteinAyre, age 26
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Part 2 The death of God & the
meaning of Life
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Continental traditionKantNietzscheHeidegger (Part 3)
Part 2 The death of God & the
meaning of Life
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Part I Before the death of God 7
1 PLATO 92 KANT AND CHRISTIANITY 213 SCHOPENHAUER 294 EARLY NIETZSCHE 445 HEGEL 576 HEGEL 71
Part II After the death of God 81
7 LATER NIETZSCHE 838 POSTHUMOUS NIETZSCHE 979 EARLY HEIDEGGER 10710 SARTRE 12511 SARTRE 14212 CAMUS 16013 FOUCAULT 7314 DERRIDA 8815 LATER HEIDEGGER 197
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Kant
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Kant himselfIntegration of
MetaphysicsEthicsAesthetics
Education
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Kant
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Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and perseveringly my thinking engages itself with them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
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Kant
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Youtube version (attack ad)
MetaphysicsEthicsAesthetics
(judgement)
Kant metaphysics
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Kant metaphysics
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Kant metaphysics
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Kant metaphysics
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Philosophy of mind
Consciousness
The chair
Youtube Kant’s song
Kant’s deontology
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1. Find the rational principle that would stand as a categorical imperative grounding all other ethical judgments. (c/f hypothetical or conditional)
2. Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become a universal law.
3. Act so that you treat humanity, both in your own person and in that of another, always as an end and never merely as a means.
4. Deontological = duty based
5. Human rights are inviolable.
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Kant’s deontology
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Kant: Ethics (education)
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Nation – Culture – Student
Depth
Today’s teachers & students
Nietzsche
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Nietzsche
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The person
Metaphysics
EthicsGodWomenEternal return
Nietzsche’s ethics
62Eternal return / recurrence
Nietzsche’s ethics
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You are going to women?Then don’t forget the whip.
Part 3 Western metaphysicsThe essence of humankind
Modernity
Heidegger
Truth
Technology
Epoch64
Model of human-ness
Ontological “structure”UnderstandingDispositionNomination
Ontological kineticFor-the-sake-of-which cascadesWay of being-in-the-world: past-present-future
equiprimordial (care structure)
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What is truth?
Heidegger : Two notions
Correspondence
Disclosure
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Truth mediates metaphysics
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Appendix: Kant Song
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Kant song 1
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Let us first divide cognition into rational analysisand sensory perception (which Descartes considered valueless). Now reason gives us concepts which are true but tautological;sensation gives us images whose content is phenomenal.
Whatever greets our senses must exist in space and timefor else it would be nowhere and nowhen and therefore slime; the space and time we presuppose before we sense realitymust have innate subjective transcendental ideality.
Thus space and timeare forms of our perceptionwhereby sensation’s synthesized in orderly array; the same must holdfor rational conception: in everything we think, the laws of logic must hold sway.
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Kant song 2
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But a problem here arises with respect to natural science: while empirical in method, on pure thought it lays reliance. Although for Newton’s findings we to Newton give the gloryNewton never could have found them if they weren’t known a priori.
We know that nature governed is by principles immutablebut how we come to know this is inherently inscrutable; that thought requires logic is a standpoint unassailablebut for objects of our senses explanations aren’t available.
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Kant song 3
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So let's attemptto vivisect cognitionby critical analysis in hope that we may findthe link betweenpure thought and intuition: a deduction transcendental will shed light upon the mind.
You may recall that space and time are forms of apprehensionand therefore what we sense has spatiotemporal extension; whatever is extended is composed of a pluralitybut through an act of synthesis we form a commonality.
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Kant song 4
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If we are to be conscious of a single concrete entityeach part of its extension must be given independentlycombining in a transcendental apperceptive unityto which I may ascribe the term “self-conscious” with impunity.
The order ofour various sensationsarises from connections not beheld in sense alone; our self createsthe rules of their relationsand of this combination it is conscious as its own.
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Kant song 5
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While these rules correspond to scientific causal lawsthe question of their constancy remains to give us pause;but once we recollect the source of our self-conscious mind,to this perverse dilemma a solution we may find.
The self is nothing but its act of synthesis sublime; this act must be the same to be self-conscious over time. The rules for combination of its selfhood form the groundso what we perceive tomorrow by today’s laws must be bound.
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Kant song 6
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These constant lawswhereby we shape experienceare simply those which regulate our reason: that is plain. So don’t ask whythe stars display invariance --the Cosmos is produced by your disoriented brain!
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