Morality The rights and wrongs about morals Morality

Morality The rights and wrongs about morals

Morality Idea of what is Right and Wrong – Good and Bad Morality determines: • Moral standards – Good and bad behavior for individuals • Moral responsibility – Conscience • Moral identity – Good and bad people

Categories of Morality Absolute Morality • Definite standards for right and wrong • Standards are the same regardless of context, beliefs and goals of the individual, society or culture • Rules are universal Moral Relativity • Morals depend upon context, social setting and culture • No objectively true moral principles

Pros and Cons for Each Absolute Morality Moral Relativism • Where does moral authority come • Difficult to hold actions morally from? • Does not account for the diversity of moral opinions through societies and cultures • Potentially rigid • Killing is wrong even if killing one person saves dozens more accountable – if all views of morality are valid, there is no moral standard • How is one group’s morality determined to be moral vs. another? • Slippery slope to moral subjectivism –each individual does what they believe is right

Moral Judgements Determines what makes an action right or wrong Morally justifies an action Morality uses two ingredients: 1. Intention 2. Action Should we focus on the action or consequence when determining “rightness”? Is intent more important than the outcome of the action? Do they hold equal weight?

Moral Theories • Different moral theories explain how to make moral judgments • All set out to determine what is right and wrong

Virtue Ethics • • Greek philosophy of determining morality Attributed to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Emphasized personal awareness and growth If a person knows what good is, they will naturally be inclined to do it • Suggests that “good” can be taught and that “bad” arises from ignorance • Ex. Teaching a child that lying is wrong will make them an honest (good) person

Plato’s Virtue Ethics morally good was determined by whether or not a person fulfilled their societal function - You were good if you did your duty and did what was best for the state - Wanted to tell the “noble lie: ” people had differently ranked souls to determine an individual’s societal duty - Gold = Rulers - Silver = Soldiers - Iron and Bronze = Builders and farmers

Stoicism • • • Greek school of thought “Good” is what is rational “Bad” is what is emotional Focuses on self mastery of one’s own emotions A good person suppresses emotional responses and only does what is logical

Religious Teachings 1. Religious teaching One way to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of an action is by using religious or cultural wisdom e. g. ’s: the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule

Utilitarianism • “Good” is what produces the best outcome for all people affected by the action • The “harm principle, ” developed by John Stuart Mill (1806 -1873) states that people should be allowed to do anything they want as long as the benefits outweigh the harm.

Categorical Imperative • Developed by Immanuel Kant (1724 -1804) • Morality is absolute and universal • Wanted a system to determine what “ought to be” compared to what is – moral obligation was everyone’s duty • Devised a test to determine what is moral • Take the action in question and imagine all the possible situations in which it was moral • If any of them have negative outcomes, the action is not truly moral

Moral Statements • Torture is wrong even if torturing someone leads to saving many more people • Lying is always wrong • Stealing is always wrong