CRJU 330 Ethics Mid-term

Conduct is Right Because God Commands It

-The only issue is the simple matter of God requiring a particular kind of conduct. If God commands it, that is sufficient and the conduct is right regardless of what reason tells us.

Respect for All Persons

-The ultimate moral principle can also be expressed as follows: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, always as an end and never as a means only -It is a command requiring us to respect other people because they are rational human beings just like us -This respect should not be based on social rank, individual talents, or even moral goodness, but is grounded in the dignity of humanity, a value possessed by everyone who has the capacity to be a moral agent -If we do not treat others as ends in themselves but only as a means of achieving what we want, we disregard their humanity and treat them as things

Ethical Absolutism

-There exists an eternal and unchanging moral law, the same for all people, at all time and places -Certain moral principles apply to all people everywhere, and that people can recognize or discover these principles and be guided by them in deciding the nature of their own conduct and in judging the conduct of others.

Principle of utility

-Utilitarian's attempted to develop an objective principle determining whether a particular action was ethically right or wrong

Aristotle

-384-322 BC -Greek Philosopher (Nicomachean Ethics) -By abstaining from pleasures we become self-controlled, and once we are self-controlled we are best able to abstain from pleasures. So also with courage: by becoming habituated to despise and endure terrors we become courageous, and once we have become courageous we will be able to endure terror

Hedonism

-Also connected with the idea of pleasure, which contends that the only ultimate intrinsic good is pleasure. -Things are good or bad because of the way they make us feel. -An action is right if it produces the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number affected -If it does not achieve this goal, the action is considered morally wrong

Consequentialism

-An important and widely discussed theory of ethical actionpositing the idea that whatever makes an act morally right or wrong is its consequences and nothing more -The motives for the act or the nature of the act itself are not important considerations of consequentialism

Principle of Utility

-"Act only according to the "maxim" by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." -This version of the categorical imperative can determine what one's duty will be in a particular set of circumstances -Because human beings are rational creatures, they ought to behave rationally, which means that one ought always to behave as if one's course of conduct were to become universal law -Maxim: A personal or subjective plan of action, incorporating the agent's reasons for acting as well as a sufficient indication -Includes both principle and motive: [A subjective rule]

Kingdom of Ends

-"Act only so that the will through its maxims could regard itself at the same time as universally law giving." -When we act morally, we fully chose our own moral decisions as autonomous moral agents. -When we act on rules or maxims that can be universally accepted by all rational beings, it is as if we are legislating for all rational beings as though we were each of us universal lawgivers -We should not, therefore, allow our choices to be made for us by anyone else, because we would be compromising our autonomy

Immanuel Kant

-1724-1804 -Parents were Pietist and he attended a Pietist school -Kant reacted strongly against the forced soul-searching to which he was subjected at the Collegium Fridericianum, in response to which he sought refuge in the Latin classics

Jeremy Bentham

-1748-1832 -In the late 1770s and early 1780s Bentham spent much of his time developing his notion of the science of legislation, founded upon the principle of utility -he argued that the right and proper end of government was the happiness of the community.

John Stuart Mill

-1806-1873 -Profoundly influenced the shape of nineteenth century British thought and political discourse

Three Branches of Ethics

-Meta-ethics -Normative ethics -Applied ethics

Contemporary virtue theory

-Aristotle does not seek to uncover a fundamental principle telling us what to do and how to act in an ethical way -Concerned about the sort of people we must become if we are to live the good life, i.e. ethical life -Utilitarian/Consequentialist= the consequences of helping will maximum a person's well-being. -Deontologist= in helping that person, I will follow a moral rule. -Virtue Ethicist= by offering help, I am demonstrating my charitable or benevolent character -Instead of asking the question, "What ought I to do?" Ethics should be concerned with answering the question, "What kind of person should I be?" "What character traits should I acquire?" -Aristotle is mainly interested in virtues and vices, i.e., the strengths and weaknesses of character that operate to promote or hinder the flourishing of the human personality

Pleasure Pain Principle

-Bentham and Mill associated happiness with pleasure, Bentham however believed that mankind in general was governed by pain and pleasure -Bentham: some things give us pleasure, whereas others cause us pain, and this basic fact explains why we behave as we do -We look for pleasure and attempt to avoid pain.

Categorical Imperative

-Commands and lays down the law. Such acts are unconditional -EX: "You should be helpful to people regardless of your particular wants and desires."

Meta-ethics

-Concerned with methods, language, logical structure, and the reasoning used in the interpretation of ethical terms, e.g., what the term "good" means.

Applied ethics

-Concerned with solving practical moral problems as they arise, and articulate in the professions, such as medicine and law

Normative ethics

-Concerned with ways of behaving and standards of conduct -Fundamental to ethical decision making in the criminal justice system -One's conduct must take into account moral issues; that is, one should act morally, using reason to decide the proper way of conducting oneself -Gives us a way of making choices in situations wherever we are unsure of how to act

Hypothetical Imperative

-Courses of conduct governed by the word "ought" that establish a pattern that we have a certain wish and recognize that a particular course of action will help us to achieve that wish, and as a consequence, we decide that we should follow that course of action. -EX: "If you want to achieve good grades, you will have to study hard."

Ethical Dilemmas

-Ethical questions and issues arise for all people, not just for professionals in the criminal justice system, or professors who teach ethics, or members of the clergy. -We all have to make decisions involving ethical issues in our daily lives, mainly because ethical issues are concerned with questions of right and wrong and how we ought to act

Cultural Relativism

-Every society has a different moral code explaining what acts are permitted or not permitted -We cannot judge on moral code as being superior to another, because there is no objective standard to apply to make such a judgment

Idealism

-If we need to make a decision about a dilemma that confronts us, we can do so without any knowledge of ethics -From this point of view, ethics is too abstract and theoretical and not related to the practical world

Ethical Pluralism

-In most situations, there are many truths rather than on single truth -Allows us to adopt four principles to resolve conflicts between differing ethical standards

Duty and Principle

-Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty (deon) -The idea, to act in the morally right way, one must act from duty, begins with an argument that the highest good must be both good in itself, and good without qualification -Those things that are usually thought to be good, such as intelligence, perseverance and pleasure, fail to be either intrinsically good or good without qualification

Kant's Intellectual Context

-Kant's philosophical research culminated in three grand books. *. Critique of Pure Reason *. Critique of Practical Reason *. Critique of Judgment -This research corresponds roughly to those areas designated by Aristotle as the theoretical, practical (moral and political), and productive (aesthetic).

Ethics and Law

-Laws do not, and are not intended to, incorporate ethical principles or values, but sometimes ethical standards are reflected in laws -Ethical standards are not necessarily written down in the form of laws or other rules, but represent the collective experience of a society as it regulates the behavior of those who make up that society

Utilitarianism

-Mill: referred to the doctrine as the "Greatest Happiness Principle." -An action is right insofar as it tends to produce the greatest happiness for everyone affected. If we have a choice about which action or social policy to follow, we ought to choose the one that will give the best overall consequences for all concerned. -Utilitarian's reject the idea that actions are right because God says they are or because they are inherently moral in their own right -They also reject appeals to intuitive commonsense judgments that justified established practices that were philosophically suspect -Subjecting women to men's domination and control could not be justified in the argument that such social practices seemed natural and appropriate.

Morality (Kant)

-Morality must be based solely on reason and reason alone -The central concept here is the concept of duty, and so morality is a matter of deontology (from the Greek word dein, or "duty" EX. the military

Four Principles of Ethical Pluralism

-Principle of understanding -Principle of tolerance -Principle of standing up against evil -Principle of fallibility

Ethics and Natural Law

-Underneath the diversity of human cultures and beliefs about what is right and wrong, we can identify some factors that are common to our human nature. -Consistent with the philosophies of Plato (427 BC 347 BC) and Aristotle (384 BC 322 BC), who sought to identify universal traits of human nature, with the aim of finding common goals or ends that would bring human fulfillment or happiness

Virtues

-Virtues are personal qualities or traits of character, shown through habitual action, that make us persons of excellent character. -Natural qualities: intelligence or strength. -Learned or acquired qualities. -Qualities related to temperament. -Religious qualities. -Qualities of character -The repetition of virtuous actions causes a person to develop a virtuous character -Once that character is formed, it becomes the source of that person's virtuous actions.

Ethical Relativism

-What is morally right or wrong may vary in a fundamental way from person to person or from culture to culture -We cannot simply say that a moral judgment is true for all purposes, persons, and cultures - we can assert only that it is true for a particular person or social group

Deontology

-an approach to ethics that determines goodness or rightness from examining acts, or the rules and duties that the person doing the act strove to fulfill. -This is in contrast to consequentialism, in which rightness is based on the consequences of an act, and not the act by itself. -an act may be considered right even if the act produces a bad consequence, if it follows the rule that "one should do unto others as they would have done unto them", and even if the person who does the act lacks virtue and had a bad intention in doing the act. -we have a duty to act in a way that does those things that are inherently good as acts ("truth-telling" for example), or follow an objectively obligatory rule (utilitarianism). -the ends or consequences of our actions are not important in and of themselves, and our intentions are not important in and of themselves

God Commands Right Conduct Because It Is Right

God's commands are not arbitrary but emanate from the application of His wisdom in knowing what is best for us

Religion and Ethical Standards

The Divine Command Theory

Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice

Use of Authority Relationship Between Personal and Professional Interests Personal and Professional Commitments to Clients Criminal Justice and Public Policy Policing Policies Information Sharing Human Rights Issues Media Reporting of Crime

Pragmatism

We need a system of rules and principles to help guide us in making difficult decisions when moral issues arise