Ethics
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................2
ARISTOTLE..............................................................................................................................................3
ETHICS FOR ARISTOTLE........................................................................................................................................................................3
THE HIGHEST GOOD............................................................................................................................................................................3
LEGOS AS HUMAN TELOS...................................................................................................................................................................3
Arete and the Eudaimon Life..........................................................................................................4
Practicing Virtue............................................................................................................................4
Virtuous Life in the Polis.................................................................................................................4
The Golden Mean...........................................................................................................................5
Ethics and Decision-Making...........................................................................................................5
JUSTICE..................................................................................................................................................................................................5
IMMANUEL KANT..................................................................................................................................6
A PRIORI...............................................................................................................................................................................................6
RATIONALITY AND FREEDOM..............................................................................................................................................................6
What is Freedom............................................................................................................................7
THE AIMS OF ETHICS...........................................................................................................................................................................7
THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE..........................................................................................................................................................7
IN SHORT...............................................................................................................................................................................................9
CRITICISM..............................................................................................................................................................................................9
UTILITARIANISM..................................................................................................................................11
JEREMY BENTHAM.............................................................................................................................................................................11
Natural Law vs. Positive Law.......................................................................................................11
Consequentialism.........................................................................................................................12
Intention and Motive...................................................................................................................12
JOHN STUART MILL..........................................................................................................................................................................12
CRITICISM...........................................................................................................................................................................................13
LIBERTARIANISM.................................................................................................................................14
FREE MARKET....................................................................................................................................................................................14
CRITICISM...........................................................................................................................................................................................15
JOHN RAWLS........................................................................................................................................16
SOCIAL CONTRACT.............................................................................................................................................................................16
Thomas Hobbes...........................................................................................................................16
John Locke....................................................................................................................................16
Jean Jacques Rousseau................................................................................................................17
JOHN RAWLS......................................................................................................................................................................................18
Veil of Ignorance..........................................................................................................................18
Justice as Fairness........................................................................................................................18
Moral Arbitrariness......................................................................................................................19
Criticism.......................................................................................................................................20
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.......................................................................................................................................................................21
1
COMMUNITARIANISM.........................................................................................................................23
RAWLS................................................................................................................................................................................................23
, NORMATIVE VS DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS............................................................................................................................................24
CRITIQUES OF COMMUNITARIANISM..............................................................................................................................................24
WHAT DO WE OWE ONE ANOTHER? DILEMMAS OF LOYALTY...........................................................26
MORAL INDIVIDUALISM....................................................................................................................................................................26
SHOULD GOVERNMENT BE MORALLY NEUTRAL?......................................................................................26
OBLIGATIONS BEYOND CONSENT............................................................................................................................................ 27
CAN LOYALTY OVERRIDE UNIVERSAL MORAL PRINCIPLES?...........................................................................27
JUSTICE AND THE COMMON GOOD........................................................................................................................................ 28
Introduction
Ethics: ethos (Greek) meaning character custom or habit; today: a set of moral principles, discipline
dealing with what is good and bad
Theories of morality and justice:
• The good life (Aristotle)
• Greatest good for the greatest number (Utilitarianism)
• Inherent individual rights (Libertarianism)
• Duty, reason and categorical Imperatives (Kant)
• Social Contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rosseau)
• Justice as Fairness (Rawls)
2
,Aristotle
‘quality is not an act, it is a habit.’
Ethics for Aristotle:
Ethics is not a theoretical discipline
• by knowing we will be more capable to reach the good life
• answer practical questions:
o How should men best live?
▪ Goal
▪ More person-centred view of ethics, personal character
o What is the highest good?
▪ What is the highest goal of a person in life
• Political science employs the other sciences, also lays down laws about what they should do
and refrain from; for while the food of an individual is a desirable thing, what is good for
people or for cities is a nobler a more godlike thing; our enquire, is a kind of political
science, since these are the ends it is aiming at. > the goal of political science is the human
good
The Highest Good
Eudaimonia = what everyone wants = the highest good > happiness, flourishing, well-being,
welfare
• People give different answers to what eudaimonia is for them
o Example (Aristotle opinion)
▪ Pleasure (not enough)
▪ Wealth (we only have wealth to buy something else, not for the
wealth’s sake)
▪ Honour (also for other’s sake)
• According to Aristotle, the highest good is
o Self – sufficient (something that is enough for a good life)
o Desirable for itself (not to get something else, ex. wealth)
o Not desirable for the sake of some other good
o All other goods are desirable for its sake (you cannot add to the high good,
you cannot make it better)
➔ The highest good is the ultimate purpose, or end!
• Telos: goal, end purpose, function
o Teleological: relative to the purpose
o Goodness resided in the fulfilment of one’s telos
• Telos to humans
o Active live that contains an element of reason
o Humans can reason, think
o Activity is done according to reason
Legos as Human Telos
Legos: Speech, structured thought, reason, ratio (speech and reason are connected)
Addendum: Man as political animal (ethics and politics are connected)
• Find out what is different in humans compared to everything else > what is our purpose
3
, • A man alone of the animals possesses speech; speech is designed to indicate the right
and the wrong; he alone has perception of good and bad and right and wrong
• Only in political association we exercise our distinctly human capacity for language, for only
in a polis do we deliberate others about justice and injustice and the nature of the good life
>
we are not self-sufficient when we are isolated, because we cannot yet develop capacity for
language and moral deliberation > we deliberate with others about right and wrong
Arete and the Eudaimon Life
Arete: Excellence, Virtue
• Excellence/virtue displayed in the fulfilment of purpose or function (telos)
o It is about activity, something you do
• If any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the
appropriate excellence: if this I the case, the activity is in accordance with virtue
o Ex. Arete of eye is to see well; everything in the world has an Arete & is different
to everything & everyone
What is the Arete (excellence, virtue) of humans? > excellent reasoning in accordance with virtues
not all of our activities involve reasoning, ex. instincts
In short:
The good of human being is specific to being human
reason is what distinguishes humanity
If we use reason well, we live well as human beings > using reason well throughout life is what
happiness consists in
The eudaimon life is one of ‘virtuous activity in accordance with reason’
the eudaimon life consists in those lifelong activities that realise the virtues (Arete) of the reason
Practicing Virtue
Ethical virtue is induced by habits, it’s the kind of thing we learn by doing
practice the skill to make it a habit & develop the corresponding character
• To develop ethical virtue, one needs to be exposed to situation that call for
appropriate actions and emotions
• As we practice, we rely less on others and becomes capable of doing more of our
own thinking > gain autonomy
• The virtuous person takes pleasure in exercising their intellectual skills
o Happiness is not a state of mind but a way of being, and activity of the soul
in accordance with virtue
• Once one has decided what to do, one does not have to content with internal pressures to
act otherwise > having virtuous behaviour is coming naturally, no struggle with internal
pressures
o Virtuous behaviour cannot be commanded/forced
o Comes form within & for ones own sake
Virtuous Life in the Polis
Polis = city-state; self-sufficient political community
• The telos of a polis is eudaimonia, the good life
o The polis comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good life
o Purpose of community
4
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................2
ARISTOTLE..............................................................................................................................................3
ETHICS FOR ARISTOTLE........................................................................................................................................................................3
THE HIGHEST GOOD............................................................................................................................................................................3
LEGOS AS HUMAN TELOS...................................................................................................................................................................3
Arete and the Eudaimon Life..........................................................................................................4
Practicing Virtue............................................................................................................................4
Virtuous Life in the Polis.................................................................................................................4
The Golden Mean...........................................................................................................................5
Ethics and Decision-Making...........................................................................................................5
JUSTICE..................................................................................................................................................................................................5
IMMANUEL KANT..................................................................................................................................6
A PRIORI...............................................................................................................................................................................................6
RATIONALITY AND FREEDOM..............................................................................................................................................................6
What is Freedom............................................................................................................................7
THE AIMS OF ETHICS...........................................................................................................................................................................7
THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE..........................................................................................................................................................7
IN SHORT...............................................................................................................................................................................................9
CRITICISM..............................................................................................................................................................................................9
UTILITARIANISM..................................................................................................................................11
JEREMY BENTHAM.............................................................................................................................................................................11
Natural Law vs. Positive Law.......................................................................................................11
Consequentialism.........................................................................................................................12
Intention and Motive...................................................................................................................12
JOHN STUART MILL..........................................................................................................................................................................12
CRITICISM...........................................................................................................................................................................................13
LIBERTARIANISM.................................................................................................................................14
FREE MARKET....................................................................................................................................................................................14
CRITICISM...........................................................................................................................................................................................15
JOHN RAWLS........................................................................................................................................16
SOCIAL CONTRACT.............................................................................................................................................................................16
Thomas Hobbes...........................................................................................................................16
John Locke....................................................................................................................................16
Jean Jacques Rousseau................................................................................................................17
JOHN RAWLS......................................................................................................................................................................................18
Veil of Ignorance..........................................................................................................................18
Justice as Fairness........................................................................................................................18
Moral Arbitrariness......................................................................................................................19
Criticism.......................................................................................................................................20
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.......................................................................................................................................................................21
1
COMMUNITARIANISM.........................................................................................................................23
RAWLS................................................................................................................................................................................................23
, NORMATIVE VS DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS............................................................................................................................................24
CRITIQUES OF COMMUNITARIANISM..............................................................................................................................................24
WHAT DO WE OWE ONE ANOTHER? DILEMMAS OF LOYALTY...........................................................26
MORAL INDIVIDUALISM....................................................................................................................................................................26
SHOULD GOVERNMENT BE MORALLY NEUTRAL?......................................................................................26
OBLIGATIONS BEYOND CONSENT............................................................................................................................................ 27
CAN LOYALTY OVERRIDE UNIVERSAL MORAL PRINCIPLES?...........................................................................27
JUSTICE AND THE COMMON GOOD........................................................................................................................................ 28
Introduction
Ethics: ethos (Greek) meaning character custom or habit; today: a set of moral principles, discipline
dealing with what is good and bad
Theories of morality and justice:
• The good life (Aristotle)
• Greatest good for the greatest number (Utilitarianism)
• Inherent individual rights (Libertarianism)
• Duty, reason and categorical Imperatives (Kant)
• Social Contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rosseau)
• Justice as Fairness (Rawls)
2
,Aristotle
‘quality is not an act, it is a habit.’
Ethics for Aristotle:
Ethics is not a theoretical discipline
• by knowing we will be more capable to reach the good life
• answer practical questions:
o How should men best live?
▪ Goal
▪ More person-centred view of ethics, personal character
o What is the highest good?
▪ What is the highest goal of a person in life
• Political science employs the other sciences, also lays down laws about what they should do
and refrain from; for while the food of an individual is a desirable thing, what is good for
people or for cities is a nobler a more godlike thing; our enquire, is a kind of political
science, since these are the ends it is aiming at. > the goal of political science is the human
good
The Highest Good
Eudaimonia = what everyone wants = the highest good > happiness, flourishing, well-being,
welfare
• People give different answers to what eudaimonia is for them
o Example (Aristotle opinion)
▪ Pleasure (not enough)
▪ Wealth (we only have wealth to buy something else, not for the
wealth’s sake)
▪ Honour (also for other’s sake)
• According to Aristotle, the highest good is
o Self – sufficient (something that is enough for a good life)
o Desirable for itself (not to get something else, ex. wealth)
o Not desirable for the sake of some other good
o All other goods are desirable for its sake (you cannot add to the high good,
you cannot make it better)
➔ The highest good is the ultimate purpose, or end!
• Telos: goal, end purpose, function
o Teleological: relative to the purpose
o Goodness resided in the fulfilment of one’s telos
• Telos to humans
o Active live that contains an element of reason
o Humans can reason, think
o Activity is done according to reason
Legos as Human Telos
Legos: Speech, structured thought, reason, ratio (speech and reason are connected)
Addendum: Man as political animal (ethics and politics are connected)
• Find out what is different in humans compared to everything else > what is our purpose
3
, • A man alone of the animals possesses speech; speech is designed to indicate the right
and the wrong; he alone has perception of good and bad and right and wrong
• Only in political association we exercise our distinctly human capacity for language, for only
in a polis do we deliberate others about justice and injustice and the nature of the good life
>
we are not self-sufficient when we are isolated, because we cannot yet develop capacity for
language and moral deliberation > we deliberate with others about right and wrong
Arete and the Eudaimon Life
Arete: Excellence, Virtue
• Excellence/virtue displayed in the fulfilment of purpose or function (telos)
o It is about activity, something you do
• If any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the
appropriate excellence: if this I the case, the activity is in accordance with virtue
o Ex. Arete of eye is to see well; everything in the world has an Arete & is different
to everything & everyone
What is the Arete (excellence, virtue) of humans? > excellent reasoning in accordance with virtues
not all of our activities involve reasoning, ex. instincts
In short:
The good of human being is specific to being human
reason is what distinguishes humanity
If we use reason well, we live well as human beings > using reason well throughout life is what
happiness consists in
The eudaimon life is one of ‘virtuous activity in accordance with reason’
the eudaimon life consists in those lifelong activities that realise the virtues (Arete) of the reason
Practicing Virtue
Ethical virtue is induced by habits, it’s the kind of thing we learn by doing
practice the skill to make it a habit & develop the corresponding character
• To develop ethical virtue, one needs to be exposed to situation that call for
appropriate actions and emotions
• As we practice, we rely less on others and becomes capable of doing more of our
own thinking > gain autonomy
• The virtuous person takes pleasure in exercising their intellectual skills
o Happiness is not a state of mind but a way of being, and activity of the soul
in accordance with virtue
• Once one has decided what to do, one does not have to content with internal pressures to
act otherwise > having virtuous behaviour is coming naturally, no struggle with internal
pressures
o Virtuous behaviour cannot be commanded/forced
o Comes form within & for ones own sake
Virtuous Life in the Polis
Polis = city-state; self-sufficient political community
• The telos of a polis is eudaimonia, the good life
o The polis comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good life
o Purpose of community
4
