WHAT WOULD A SATISFACTORY MORAL THEORY BE LIKE

WHAT WOULD A SATISFACTORY MORAL THEORY BE LIKE ?

MORALITY WITHOUT HUBRIS 12 -1 Hume- The life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.

“It [i. e. racism] is an offense against morality because it is first an offense against reason. ” a. b. c. What reason requires, i. e. impartiality, The requirements of social living (a good set of rules) Our natural inclination to care about others.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MWH AND UTILITARIANISM FIRST- A person who is denied the right to choose his or her own action is thereby denied the possibility of achieving any kind of personal moral worth. SECOND- one who treats others well deserves to be treated well in return, while one who treats others badly deserves to be treated badly in return.

1. Act so as to promote the interests of everyone alike. 2. Treat people as they deserve to be treated, considering how they themselves choose to behave.

We ought to act so as to promote impartially the interests of everyone alike, expect when individuals deserve particular response as a result of their own past behavior.

The Moral Community

12 -2 A moral community is a group of people drawn together by a common interest in living according to a particular moral philosophy. Many moral communities are often associated with a religion and advocate that religion's conception of a good life. The congregation of a church, synagogue, or mosque is a typical moral community. However, some moral communities, such as the American Humanist Association, are secular and advocate particular interpretations of secular ethics. In itself, 'moral community' is a value-free descriptive term, and thus, so are the range of potential practises that are condoned within disparate moral communities.

During the Aztec ascendancy in Mexico and Central America, human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism were core aspects of ceremonial religious endeavour, designed to satisfy divine interests. Until the nineteenth century, chattel slavery was condoned within Western European societies, and for one half-century, apartheid was condoned within the moral community of white Afrikaner inhabitants of South Africa.

12 -3 JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS Utilitarianism has been severely criticized for failing to account for values of justice and fairness. MWH can do it better. The basic utilitarian ''justification'' of punishment is in terms of treating individuals as mere ''means''. However, MWH provides a different view of the matter; the punishment on someone is based on ones past deeds/own doing.

Questions of justice arise whenever one person is treated differently than another. In general everyone should get equal treatment. But this begs the question, “What justifies unequal treatment? ” For example, why promote the hard working employee? Utilitarianism: Because everybody benefits from this decision. MWH: Because this person earned it by working harder. “MHW holds that a person’s voluntary actions can justify departures from the basic policy of ‘equal treatment’, but nothing else can. ” And this poses a problem. How about rewarding talent? What if the hard-worker is passed over, because the other has special talent? (John Rawls called it “the natural lottery”. ) Is it just to reward that person for being “born lucky”?

REVERSE DISCRIMINATION & AFFIRMATIVE ACTION The concept of reverse discrimination has two different views. In a broad sense, it refers to discrimination against Whites or males in employment, education, and any other areas of life. In a narrow sense, reverse discrimination refers to the negative impact Whites or males may experience because of affirmative action policies. The effect of the policy is only to neutralize the advantage(gifted teacher, up-to-date facilities, been born into a more advantaged social position, and simply do not have to contend with the obstacles that have been placed in the way of black).