Ethics, Morality and Three Philosophers

Is it really this easy?

Question:

• Based on this short clip, in groups of two or three discuss whether you perceive the treatment of natives in Canada to be ethical.

• Ask yourself: If Canada is such a morally upright, democratic and free nation, how does this kind of treatment continue to exist?

Or perhaps a little more like this?

Ethics

• Ethics is interested in “the good” that is sought out by human beings

• These “goods” include such concepts as: happiness, freedom, and self-fulfillment

Morality

• Morality is about how we can achieve “the good”

• Morality is the application of laws, customs, commandments and rules that we follow in pursuit of “the good”

Ethics Versus Morality: What is the Difference Again??!?

• Ethics concerns “the good”: abstract concepts such as freedom and peace

• Morality concerns the real-life application of attaining “the good” through laws and customs

Ethics provides purpose!

• Without a sense of Ethics (purpose), the laws and customs that govern us (morality) would be meaningless and absurd!!!

Question

• In groups of two or three, discuss one ethical value that each of you share. (i.e. Freedom, happiness, good health, concern for the poor, environmentalism, women’s rights issues, vegetarianism, family values, conservatism etc.

• What are some different moral methods (laws,

habits, traditions etc.) you abide by in the pursuit of this ethical value?

Aristotle

• Born in 384 BCE in a Greek colony• Was the student of Plato, who was the student

of Socrates• Was the teacher of Alexander the Great• “Wrote extensively on logic, metaphysics,

theology, history, politics, ethics, psychology, anatomy, biology, zoology, astronomy …”

“The School of Athens”

The Pursuit of Happiness

• According to Aristotle, pleasure is not happiness. Pleasure is momentary and suitable for animals.

• Aristotle was not concerned for the individual but for the happiness of the overall state

• Happiness means learning to be a responsible and active citizen in your community

Question

How does the speaker of this clip invoke a sense of the importance of community?

TELEOLOGY

• “Every art and every scientific inquiry, and similarly every expressed action and purpose, may be said to aim at some good.”

• We must base our actions and develop good character through reason, as we are rational creatures.

Human Excellence!• Human beings should strive for

excellence by developing good habits• We need to act virtuously in a

continuous way to develop good habits

“The Mean”• We should avoid excess in our quest for the

good• We should live a life of moderation

Aristotle: Review

• 1) Community: valued a good citizen• 2) Teleology: reason develops character• 3)Human Excellence: achieved by good habits• 4) “The Mean”: live moderately

Immanuel Kant

• Born in east Prussia (today: Germany) in 1724

• Never left 100km from his birthplace• Raised in an impoverished home,

lived puritanically

Moral Duty• Theoretical reason is what people actually do• Practical reason is what people ought to do

God, Freedom, Immortality

• The Good is achieved by three principles, none of them empirical

• 1) God: Human beings cannot achieve the supreme good by themselves

• 2) Freedom: We choose “the good,” it is our achievement

• 3) Immortality: Supreme good not achievable in this life

The Good Will• Unlike Aristotle’s emphasis on the collective,

Kant’s ethics value the AUTONOMY of the individual

• A “good will” is one that acts out of duty• One who does what ought to be done

Kant’s Moral Maxim• Moral action must be objective (universal),

not subjective (personal)• Thus, he proposes: “I ought never to act

except in such a way that I would want everyone in the world to act”

Kant’s 2nd Moral Imperative• Treat people as ends, not solely as a means• Treat people with the respect of

human dignity, beyond occupation or class

• For example, a worker is a person too, not merely a means of production and profit

Reflection

• By yourself, reflect upon a time in which you treated someone as an means and not as a end.

• Feel free to share.

Review: Kant1) Moral duty is how we ought to act

• 2) God, Freedom and Immortality are essential to achieve the “supreme good”

• 3)The “good will” is able to deflect impulses and desires

• 4)Moral Maxim: Act in a universally good way• 5)Treat people as ends and not means

Emmanuel Levinas• Born in Germany in 1905 to Jewish parents• Was a friend of Pope John Paul II• Contrasted Western philosophy with Jewish

faith

Singularity and Difference• The Western tradition emphasizes an all-

encompassing unity (totality)• The Hebrew tradition, conversely, emphasizes

the infinitude of differences and singularities

Traces of God• “The Good” is interested, not in what is

common about us, but rather what is unique• Our uniqueness leaves a trace (presence) of

God• A trace of God says that he was present

“The Other”

• In the face of “the Other” we encounter the uniqueness of the individual

• Though “the Other” is unfamiliar to us, we have an obligation to embrace, not shy away from, his or her presence

• Goodness sets no limits and we are called to act with boundless generosity toward our neighbour