Ethics AO1

Conscience: developped atheistically in the psyche

Freud: 1900 'the interpretation of dreams', 1930 'civilisation and its discontents.' 'outline of Psychoanalysis': -Superego: created conscience. Desire to follow rules. External reality principle (awareness you cannot always get what you want in society). Helps us feel better about pleasure-reality conflict. - Ego: acts to achieve balance. Self-regulating. - Id: instinct. Guided by the pleasure principle (inclines us towards physical and emotional rewards -> recklessness). -psychosexual development: psyche developed because of our drives. - eros: sex drive = the life drive (food etc.) - thanatos: death drive (towards danger, destructive tendancy) - Libido = psychic energy from desires. - Conservation of energy => defence mechanisms: Sublimation (allows primitive desires to be put to good use, harmful drives give rise to their positive opposites) and repression - Oedipus complex: we are unconsciously predisposed to loving one parent (immediately available sexual object) and dispising the other (love rival) -> religion = sublimation & guilt. - Oral phase, Anal phase, Phallic phase - Little Hans. Case study 1909. Fear of horses biting = fear father would castrate him for his desire towards his mother. - The Primal Horde. 1913 'Totem and Taboo' Males of the Primal Horde killed and ate the dominant male with exclusive sexual rights to the women. Guilt => forbade themselves from having sex with the women & set up a totem animal which they worshipped then killed and ate in commemoration annually, to displace their feelings to the alpha. -> unconscious prohibitions against killing one's father and having sex with one's mother preserved. Phylogeny: characteristics are inherited by individuals from the history of humanity. Jean-Baptiste Lamark. Ontogeny: experiences in our lives shape how we think. - The Wolfman. Maintains no traumatic experience happened to him and was never cured. Freud's success rate = that of no treatment. - Popper's Falsification - Malinowski: 'Sex and Repression in Savage Society' (1927) Trobriand. -'Three Essays on Infantile Sexuality' (1902). Lindner's study of 'pleasure-sucking' 1879-1880 & Macmillan's translation from Hungarian to English. only 69 of the 500 children engaged in 'pleasure-sucking', never described sexually. -Dora: 'Analysis of a Case of Hysteria' 1905. Cured herself by confronting her father for his affair and attempting to trade her with his mistress' husband in return. Jean Piaget (1896-1980): 'The Psychology of the Child' / 'The Moral Judgement of the Child': - begin life without a conscience and develop from a heteronomous immature and external conscience to an autonomous conscience, based on rationalising experiences of relationships with friends and others, which becomes a personal moral code. Mature, individual and subjective. Environmental. This constitutes a healthy, free-thinking individual. Analogy of the train. -Developmental stages: concrete operational stage: physical learning. No notion of object permanence. 3 mountains experiment. Formal operational stage: ability to deal in abstract concepts. - schema (+ta plr.) = a framework for understanding the world, continually formed through life to house moral convictions. In a healthy environment (cooperative), rights and wrongs are explained to you. Outside of this (in an asymmetric environment: enforced not nurturing), positives and negatives are learnt in a stunted way. -> perverted personal schema. Erich Fromm (1900-1980) German Jew who moved to the USA: 'Escape to Freedom': - 'most people are not even aware of their need to conform.' - Everyone is born with a good Humanistic Conscience but this can be replaced by and Authoritarian Conscience when authority figures are accepted and we project perfection onto them (maybe because they remind us of an idealised parent figure). We let them into our head and do not ask what the humanistic conscience would say but what they would say. We feel good to please them and bad to disobey. This becomes our new moral scheme. 'the laws and sanctions of the externalised authority become part of yourself.' Reversible: everyone's humanistic conscience remains, quietly pleading to be put back in charge. 'the voice which calls us back to ourselves, to our humanity.' - Inspired by WWII: concentration camp guards following orders found it hard to see that they had done wrong, given that they were 'right' in obeying Hitler. -> Adolf Eichmann (orchestrated the emigration and deportation fo Jews. Nuremberg defence = command responsibility. 'I had to portray orders; I had to do it.' 'I have never killed anyone.' No regret or emotion.) - There Is No Alternative: once you let the authority in you must obey it. 'turning against oneself'= a bad conscience. Goebbels: 'Hitler is my conscience.'

meta-ethics: prescriptivism

R.M. Hare (1919-2002) 'Moral Thinking': - trying to create a better description of the ethical term than Ayer, Stevenson & others. Ethical statements are expressions about what ought to be done. - 'moral statements are a hybrid, sharing some characteristics of both pure descriptions and of pure prescriptions' (Ontology in Ethics Essay -1985). Nozick: desciptive v. prescriptive ethics; 'Anarchy, State and Utopia' -> Hare: No dichotomy. 'Murder is bad' describes society & imposes a certain order upon it, where the very notion of a society depends on people conforming to some sort of common order (Hobbes & Locke). - rational discussion about how to acheieve best outcomes: 'thought processes which have as their end-products prescriptions can be rational' - 'I have been maintaining that the meaning of the word 'ought' and other moral words is such that a person who uses them commits himself thereby to a universal rule. This is the thesis of universalizability.' (Kant: rejection of consequentialism as it subordinates human dignity to some other end, second formulation, contradiction in nature, rational, contraditcion in will, rational & prefferential: what people in possession of the facts would rationall want ex. charity -> cumminskey: makes it consequentialist. Implied hypothetical, Mackie) 'It is , most fundamentally, because moral judgements are universalizable that we can speak of moral thought as rational (to universalise is to give the reason); and their prescriptivity is very innately connected with our freedom to form our own moral opinions (only those free to think and act need a prescriptive language).' Ethics is like driving a car ('The Language of Morals'): rules with exceptions, rational because they apply to everybody. Some agreement with Fletcher. - The irrational rule: If I live in a country where everyone drives on the left, it would universalizably be okay to drive on the right. But if I alone did this, it would not be okay. Hare reduces reason to universalisability. This is incorrect. You have to take account for the ethical framework you're in. Pragmatising. - Foot: ''Kill all Jews' is rationally universalizable.' 'Natural Goodness' -> Hare: prescriptions should be based on Preference Utilitarisnism (confirmation bias?) - Singer, 'Pracitcal Ethics': objectivity in ethics = maximum satisfaction of preferences. Principle of equal consideration & point of view of the universe. Impartial observer -> "It's harder when it's your mother". How can subjectivity + subjectivity = objectivity? Apparent ontological change in the logical progression. Individualistic grounding issue. - Hare's non-cognitivism: ethics are rational & meaningful, and it is important to arrive at ethical answers. We would all agree if we had full possession of the facts and were thinking logically, but good is not an objectively knowable truth. '[the reason why] I somewhat dislike being called a non-cognitivist is that this term would seem to imply that I recognise no rational proceedure for deciding moral questions... my own position is that we can certainly speak of knowing that an act is wrong... why? Because most societies have a firm descriptive agreement about moral acts. We 'know' in this sense.' N.B. Kant is the same as outcome in Hare but meta-ethically different. Does this make meta-ethics meanignless?

meta-ethics: naturalism

The grounding problem of ethics = foundation search. The epistemology of ethics: how can ethics be known and what does ethical language mean? The ontology of ethics: what should be the basis for ethics? The Naturalistic argument: cognitive objective moral facts, a posteriori, natural law, utilitarianism (vs. non-naturalist: known without reference to the natural world ex. Kant, intuitionists, but it could be said the fact we have logic/intuition is a fact of the natural world). Non-cognitivism: moral facts can't be known or don't exist. No objective right and wrong; justification, judgement, law -> William Barclay 'ethics in a permissive society.' Moral realism: moral absolutism, moral relativism -> cultural relativism: descriptive = people's beliefs differ between cultures / normative = moral facts themselves differ. Difference between the two is impossible to demonstrate. Moral progress? Moral anti-realism: moral subjectivism = moral statements can be true and false but refer to attitudes rather than actions. The Naturalistic Fallacy: - Hume's Fork: statements are either analytic or synthetic, morals are neither => 'commit it then to the flames: for it contains nothing but sophistry and illusion.' Enquiries. - Is/Ought problem: 'you cannot derive an is from an ought.' = Hume's Law = Hume's guillotine. 'Treatise on Human Nature.' 1739. 'The change is imperceptible; but is, however, of the last consequence.' - Rachels: 'it may be that sex does produce babies, but it does not follow that sex ought or ought not to be engaged in only for that purpose. Facts are one things, values are another.' - Anscombe's plant pot: 'If you see a plant needing water, you water it! The way it is is not necessarily the way it ought to be.' G.E Moore's 'Principia Ethica': - terms Is/Ought naturalistic fallacy - II and III: Utilitarianism commits nat. fal. - IV: to say ethics depend on heaven or God ('super-sensible reality') still commits nat. fal. Rejection of metaphysical ethics. - V: the open question: as you can always ask 'is X good?' nothing in nature is self-evidently good. Like yellow. can't point to anything in the natural world and call it goodness, and yet we perceive it exists, objectively. => must exist but be non-natural, a prior: a 'simple notion', known only by intuition. Searle: certain things have an ought built into them. Promises & contracts. Entering into a contract puts you under an obligation => the fact there is a contract imposes an ought. Arguably though, it makes sense to build our ethics around that which is. N.F. is not actually a fallacy: 'nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters: pain and pleasure.' Bentham: 'On Morals and Legislation'

Euthenasia case examples

- 2002, Miss B, British High Court ruled to have the 'necessary mental capacity to give consent or refuse consent to life-sustaining treatment.' Permitted to have ventilator turned off and for 'her life to end peacefully and with dignity.' - 1997, Annie Lindsell, petitioned the High Courts for permission for her life to be ended by a lethal dose of diamorphine should she begin suffocating during the final stages of her motor neurone disease. Case withdrawn when Lindsell was informed her doctor could legally administer the drug to relieve her distress. -Diane Pretty, 2002, diagnosed with motor neurone disease and argued under the Human Rights Act (1998) that she had a right to assisted suicide. Rejected by the British High Courts. Right to life is non-derogable and its corollary is not the right to die. - Tony Bland, 1993. Hillsborough football stadium disaster. Placed on life support, able to feed and breathe but in a deep coma. Life support turned off after a lengthy legal debate. - Baby Charlotte Wyatt, (B. 2003, case 2005). Born prematurely with severe brain damage. Against the wishes of her parents, the High Court ordered the doctors not to resuscitate the baby if she fell into a coma. Remains alive. Parents later gave her up for adoption, unable to cope. - Dr David Moor: 85-year-old George Lide had a heart attack and stroke (1977). Moore prescribed morphine to relieve the pain, which accelerated the time frame of impending death. Charged with murder but cleared. 'In caring for a terminally ill patient, a doctor is entitled to give pain-relieving medication which may have the incidental effect of hastening death.' Causation and liability.

-Globalisation: Rana Plaza (24,4,2013)

- Bangladesh factory, supplying Primark, Wal-Mart and Benetton with low-cost clothing, collapses.Over 1100 died, over 2500 injured. Forced back to work in an unsafe building, built without permits, with threats of being docked a month's pay or being sacked. - William Gomez: 'The Rana Plaza tragedy was an outcome of a corrupt system that is rotten to the core.' 'The state has a duty to protect its citizens against human rights abuses... through regulation, policymaking, investigating action, and enforcement.' where the business' primary responsibility is proft.. - 27 April: protests outside Oxford Street Primark: Murrary Worthy, from campaign group 'War on Want': 'we're here to send a clear message to Primark that 300 deaths in the Bangladeshi building collapse were not an accident - they were entirely preventable deaths. If Primark had taken its responsibility to those workers seriously, no one need have died this week.' _ Bangladeshi auhtorities press murder charges against factory owners: 'It was a mass-killing. All 41 of those charged have a collective responsibility for the tragedy.' Sohel Rana attempted to flee the country. 'They discussed and decided to keep the factory open. They set the workers to their deaths with cool heads.' (Kar, lead Bangladeshi police Investigator.) - Hira (National Garment Worker Federation, Dhaka): TNCs should pay compensation/ 'They got money and profit from the factories and these workers. They give order to Bangladeshi people to make these clothes and give very little salary in return so they can profit more.' - Raina: 'Brands were fully aware of the conditions at factories like Rana Plaza but continued business as usual, increasing orders and demanding lower prices.' 'The real power behind the throne is held by the brands. Brands exercise a huge amount of control on production in factories, so they have the power to positively influence working conditions and wages as well. If brands do not give compensation and partake in good faith industrial relations then the call for binding international legislation will be stronger.'

Utilitariansim: relativist, consequentialist, teleological. (Bentham: 1748-1832: quantitative)

- Bentham: 'on the principles of morals and legislation' & 'a fragment on government.' happiness = pleasure. hedonism. Good= maximisation of pleasure and minimisation of pain. welfare state. 'non-theist'. 'nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.' (M&L). The Greatest Happiness Principle: 'It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.' (gov.) Principle of Utility: 'right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number.' 'prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry.' (The Rationale of Rewards). Hedonic calculus (Intensity, Duration, Certainly, Remoteness (propinquity), Fecundity, Purity, Extent). Human rights are 'nonsense on stilts.' (Anarchical Fallacies) (Smith: panopticon, Brown's utopia: workhouse interned.) Act utilitarianism. Instrumentalism. Predictive value. Epicurean sensuality: pleasure not always good.

Situation Ethics (Joseph Fletcher 1905-1991, 'Situation Ethics' 1966 - became an atheist after the publication of his book. 'the strategy of love.')

- C.S Lewis: 'The Four Loves' (1960) Storge, Philia, Eros, Agape = (an action) charity, unconditional love, the greatest of all the loves. self-sacrificing Christian love of the NT, which exists regardless of the circumstances. Not within humanity's natural abilities to practice agape, but with God's help it is possible. Altrusitic, God's love, Attitudinal, Philanthropic (non-preferential), Egoism rejected. 'God is Love; (1 John 48) - William Temple (1881-1944): 'There is only one ultimate and inevitable duty and its formula is 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' ('Mens Creatix') -> The Greatest Commandment, Mark 12:30-31. How to do this is another question. - Fletcher: 'Christian situation ethics has only one... principle... That is 'love''. Agape = highest end and ultimate duty. - 'Love is all you need but law and order save you from anarchy.' 3 ethical approaches (situationism = ideal middle way): legalism = unalterable law, Pharisees had 613 specific laws to uphold by the time of Jesus. Over-pious. Natural law can be guilty of excessive legalism, as can protestants who take the Bible literally. antinomianism = freedom to act as one sees fit in any circumstances. ex. 'as the spirit leads.' => lawless, unprincipled anarchy. Situationism: using principles of your community to 'illuminate your situation' and knowing when to recognise exceptions. 'There are times when a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing.' (St. Louis cabbie as the hero of 'S.E') - six propositions to aid moral decision making: 1) The only thing which is intrinsically good is agape. 'love alone is always good and right in every situation.' 2)Love is the ruling norm of Christian ethics. 3) Justice is love distributed: love in a rational manner 4) Love is attitudinal: deliberately chosen act of will. 5) Love is the end and the means are irrelevant. 6) Love considered 'situationally, not prescriptively.' - four working principles (presuppositions) 1) pragmatism, Lord of the Sabbath, Mark 3:1-6 2) relativism: 'agape is the only absolute - all other obligations should be treated relatively to benefit this end.' The Greatest Commandment, Mark 12:30-31 3) personalism: the law must serve the people and should be broken unless it produces 'the most compassion for the object individual. Put this first.' 4) Positivism (conscience): Do not reason that love is the most important thing (inconclusive), but accept agape with faith then apply reason to proliferate it. Love, Corinthains 13:4-8 & 'Faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead' (James 2:17) - Defintions of conscience: John Henry Newman: voice of God, Aquinas: conscientia - practical reasoning, Erich Fromm: voice of our true selves, John Maquarrie: built in monitor of moral action. -> 'The traditional error lies in thinking about conscience as a noun instead of a verb.' it is an active process, making decisions = using the function of conscience => only in the act of 'consciencing' (deciding) can we truly consider ourselves to have conscience; it's not something we carry with us. - W.D. Ross (1877-1971) rejects 'single-factor' moral theories. Argues prima-facie duties (the most important) are often personal and relational & Bernard Williams says 'personal relationships are a dimension of personal morality.' - A.C.Euing 'The Defintion of Good.' 'it is hard to believe it could ever be a duty deliberately to produce less good when we could produce more.' (1947- WWII context) - McQuarrie: individualistic subjectivity. Naturalistic fallacy & G.E Moore's intuitionism. Good? Love? - Coplestin on Aquinas' internal & external causes: 'activity is not obviously external to the human agent in the sense that a picture is external to the artist.' => is men's rea > actus reus? - Vardy & Grosh: Faith in agape is based upon a fundamental value judgement which cannot rationally be proved. 'Why should I love?' then has no answer - Pope Pius XII (1952): S.E = 'an individualistic and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions to justify decisions in opposition to the natural law or God's revealed will.' - Bishop John Robinson, 'Honest to God': 'There is no one ethical system that can claim to be Christian' ('Christian Morals Today.') Bultam: Jesus has no ethic - put forward no moral theory. - Paul Tillich, 'Systematic Theology' 1951: 'the law of love is ultimate because it is the negation of law; it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete... The absolutism of love is its power to go into concrete situations.' - William Barclay: chaos theory: 'there is a place for law as the encourager of morality' 'Ethics in a Permissive Society.' - Proportionalism (Hoose: 'Proportionalism, the American Debate and its European Roots.' 1987 'it is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it.': some catholic theologian's response to S.E = middle way of the middle way. The situation would have to generate a reason which is sufficiently strong to overturn an otherwise firm rule.

Natural Law (a deontological theory based on behaviour that accords with set rules and exists independently of human societal systems) The dumb ox -> St. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274, canonised 1323. Italian Catholic of the Dominican order. 'Summa Theologica' 1485: 'Good is to be done and pursued and evil is to be avoided.'

- Cicero: 'true law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting... and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God.' ('De Republica') Synderesis (innate sense of right and wrong). - Paul: 'what the law commands is written in their hearts. Their consciences also show that this is true.' (Romans 2:14-15) - telos: efficient cause of the universe = God: 'therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name God.' (5 ways). achieving purpose = doing what God intended. for humans, made imageo dei (Gen. 1:26) this means seeking union with God. Beatific virion = perfection (can only be achieved after death) - 4 tiers of law: human lex -> natural ius -> divine (Jesus, Bible N.B. = word of God, uncorrupt)-> eternal ( Mind of God, humans cannot fully know but can glimpse, ex. IVF) - 'to disparage the dictate of reason is equivalent to condemning the command of God.' Conscientia/phronesis/prudence (moral reasoning) -> practical reason = tool which makes moral decisions. God-given reason raises us above animals and enables us to achieve our ultimate purpose. - real and apparent goods: 'no evil can be desirable, either by natural appetite or conscious will. It is sought indirectly because it is the consequence of some good' 'human evil is being outside of reasonableness.' 'a fornicator seeks a pleasure which involves him in moral guilt.' Sin = falling short of God's intentions for humans. mistakes in conscientia. -exterior and interior acts (actus reus & mens rea): 'we say to give alms for the sake of vain glory is bad.' Copleston ('Thomas Aquinas'): 'activity is not external to the human agent in the sense that a picture is external to the artist': means and ends are inseparable. Bernard Williams: 'In the story of one's life there is an authority exercised by what ones has done, and not merely by what one has intentionally done.' ('Shame and Necessity') - Remote principles ex. just war & doctrine of double effect: 'nothing hinders one act from having two effects, one of which is intended, while the other is beside the intention.' ex. self-defence. - Proportionalism 'though proceeding from a good intention, an act may be rendered unlawful if it be out of proportion to the end.' Hoose: 'it is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it.' (1987, 'Proportionalism, the American debate and its Europea roots.') - natural/cardinal virtues = prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. Revealed by reason. Developed via practice till they become habitual. Aristotle. Eudaemonia = flourishing. Hinges to a box in which goodness is housed. - theological virtues = faith, hope and charity. Revealed by scripture. 1 Corinthians 13 (love) - Primary precepts: Worshipping God, Ordered society, Reproduction, Learning; nurturing & education, Defend innocent; preserve life. Absolute. Synderesis. - Secondary precepts: relative, examples taken directly from 10 commandments of Exodus. Infinite. Conscientia. ('sex is a necessary evil'). -G.E. Moore: Open Question (=> good = non-natural, simply (binary). and a prior (unable to be proven by observation alone) => intuitionism. Naturalistic Fallacy: it is wrong to define moral terms with reference to non-moral or natural terms. Hume's 'Is-Ought' problem: 'you cannot derive an ought (value) from an is (fact).' James Rachels: 'It may be that sex does produce babies, but it does not follow that sex ought or ought not to be engaged in only for that purpose. Facts are one thing, values are another.'

Business ethics case studies

- Is it ethical to boycott? butterfly-effect. Nestle milk controversy -> formula dependency and deaths resulting from the confidence trick - Whistleblowing: Edward Snowden, classified government information on mass surveillance, impacted national and international security. Mark Whitacre, accused the company of price-fixing but was himself accused of embezzlement. -> interior (motives) and exterior (method) act. Samuel Provance: army intelligence soldier, Abu Ghraib, Iraq, March 2003. Provance was demoted and alleged a campaign of humiliation and retaliation against him. Honourably discharged in 2006. - GEIGB: sometimes an action that is beneficial for one group of stakeholders (low price milk) can have an opposite effect on others (farmers and cows). Charity: Ben and Jerry's donates 7.5% of profits to charity and dairy-related causes - 250 million children work in sweatshops worldwide. Trade unions banned. Nike: no minimum wages, sexual harassment, poor health and safety, overtime law violations (Vietnam Labour Watch), child labour allegations (1990s)

Utilitarianism (Mill: 1806-173: qualitative)

- Mill: 'utilitarianism' ('in the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we find the whole ethic of utility.'), 'on liberty', 'on virtue and happiness.' wanted to improve society. Harriet Taylor's mind = 'a perfect instrument.' 'actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness' ('Utilitarianism', 1863). Aquinas & Aristotle (self-improvement): reason separates humans from animals (driven only by pleasure). Hedonism = 'a doctrine worthy of swine.': 'it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.' (V&H). Higher (intellectual) and lower (bodily) pleasures = a system of higher-order. Roger Crisp: Hadyn and the Oyster ('Mill on Utilitarianism' 1997). The logic of practice = general principles grounded in experience, important to preserve human dignity and liberty -> rules of society / social contract. common good (on liberty). The Harm Principle: 'the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community against his will is to prevent harm to others.' when some are oppressed society's happiness is at risk, being the aggregated happiness of the whole group. experiments of living should be allowed -> genius. (strong - arbitrary /weak - antinomianism, Barclay, chaos theory) Rule utilitarianism: signposts & nautical almanac ('Utilitarianism' ch.2).

meta-ethics: intuitionsim

- Moore felt an intuitionist was someone who thought you could know right and wrong deeds by intuition so claimed he was not one. V: rejects intuition of action due to predictive value, where he defines 'right' as that which produces the best results. Euging, Bonhoeffer, Vardy. Virtues and duties are not in themselves ethical things but are useful to pursue the best outcome, rationally derived. We can however recognise outcomes (VI: the Ideal) to be good or otherwise. Flourishing situation -> work out the best path of action to get there rationally. - Prichard: obligations/oughts known intuitively ex. property ownership = good. Still some rationality in working out how to go about the action, but much minimised. Room for intellectual development? (Freud, Piaget) - Ross 'The Right and the Good': duties/actions (1877-1971) Prima Facie = at first appearance. 'conditional duties' apply so long as there are no stronger obligations present. The strongest obligation is the prima facie duty that should be followed, often personal & relational. moral perception can be corrupted or distorted by upbringing & the formation of vices. When pf. duties conflict, we have an actual duty. Pf. duties: fidelity (promsie keeping, may be implicit ex. in entering into a conversation there is a duty not to lie implicitly imposed and a promise too), reparation = duty 'resting on a previous wrongful act', actionned gratitued, non-injury, harm prevention, benificence ('rests upon the fact that there are other beings in the world whose condition we can make betwer in respect of virtue, or of intellegence, or of pleasure'), self-improvement, justice ('rests on the fact or possibility of a distribution of pleasure or happiness (or means thereto) that is not in accord with the merit of the persons concerned; in such cases there arises a duty to upset or prevent such a distribution.') -> can be inconclusive, Grier, euthanasia. - The trolley problem & framing effects: Foot -> Thompson: no moral relevance to variations -> intuition skewed by frameworks => emotion over reason. Systems for execution US. - Does intuition demonstrably refer to something objective? MacIntyre: 'After Virtue' -> counter-examples & non-consensus

Utilitarianism (Singer: 1946-: preference)

- Singer: 'Practical Ethics.' (1993), 'Animal Liberation.' (1975) Reason (not self-interest or social conditioning). Impartial spectator: 'our own preferences cannot count any more than the preferences of others.' does it fit with what people would prefer? 'an action contrary to the preference of any being is, unless the preference is outweighed by contrary preferences, wrong.' You could try to maximise pleasure, but it's easiest to agree on what causes pain => minimise suffering. True and manifest (should not be considered) preferences. principle of equal consideration & extension of moral consideration (Bentham and Mill suggest extending consideration to further creation, but not equally): 'humans are not the only beings capable of feeling pain or suffering.' speciesism 'to give preference to the life of a being simply because that being is a member of our species would put us in the same position as racists, who give preference to those who are members of their race.' Personhood: level 1 = sense of biography, rational & able to communicate. Adult chimp. level 2 = no sense of biography, but a capacity for pleasure and pain. Baby. 'the notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life is medieval.' 'when we consider how serious it is to take a life, we should not look at the race, sex, species to which that thing belongs but the characteristics of the individual being killed.' Approval of selective infanticide to eliminate certain traits (Nazi Germany, China) 'perhaps it's more difficult than I thought before because it is different when it is your mother.' (on euthanasia). - Williams: 'personal relationships are a dimension of personal morality.'

meta-ethics: emotivism

- Singer: True and manifest preferences = possibility to be guided by emotion. - J.L. Mackie: 'Inventing Right and Wrong' 1977: 'There are no objective values': metaphysical and epistemological queerness. Approach to ethics cannot be a posteriori. Absence of an ability to prove ethics' existence = ethics' non-existence. (Is the burden of proof necessary? Other things do exist a-priori & simply: maths => not so queer / unique? Russell: Brute fact & unnecessary meaning? - A.J. Ayer (1910-1989): Vienna Circle, VP of logical positivism (self-defeating => Ayer built upon a false premise): ethical statements can't be proven analytically or synthetically => unverifiable => objectively meaningless. (starts with Hume's fork). Boo/hurrah theory: in saying "murder is wrong", we are really just saying "boo to murder": expressing a feeling. 'It's as if I said, "you stole that money" in a particular tone of horror. The tone adds nothing to the literal meaning of the sentence. Ethical terms are purely 'emotive', used to express feelings... but not make any assertions about them.' -> 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' Van Orman Quine (1951/1961): Circularity of Analyticity: Establishing synonymy depends on an a posteriori observation of fact, else all analytic statements must be dismissed as circular. No distinction between analytic & synthetic statements. => metaphysics as a prior and synthetic are possible. LTL 1936 Edition: 'The presence of an ethical term <'good', 'wrong' etc.> in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content,' simply evidences personal moral disapproval. Moral statements 'express no proposition which can be either true or false.' 'the function of the relevant ethical word is purely 'emotive.' It is used to express feeling about certain objects, but not make any assertion about them.' can also arouse feeling & stimulate actions as commands/suggestions. Calculated to stir responses. (Hare). 2nd edition LTL 1952: after WWII, 1939: maybe there is something factual after all; you're saying 'you know in your experience that this is wrong.' (Barth). Hick: experiencing-as = we all experience/interpret the same material events differently. - ethical debates assume rational content in ethics as they are built on logical premises => 'Ethics and Language' C.L. Stevenson: ethical statements are related to our emotional responses to how we want the world to be. outcomes, not actions. Swimming analogy: one decides to learn to swim for the outcome & could then have a rational discussion of how to do it. Modes of meaningful ethical debate: 1) Pointing out inconsistencies and non-sequiturs in another person's view. Parallels & analogy. 2) pointing to facts to support emotional judgements. 3) emotive debate. - Reuss rejects the notion of the absolute good, independent of the attitude of the disputants, advocated for by Boghossain as autocratic: rigidity, no room for ethical debate, development or questioning. Boghossain rebutts this is an inconsistent approach to truth; scientific objective truths are unproblematically 'rammed down the throat of those who disagree' + the objection makes a conflation between the objectivity of morality and what is done with that moral fact. - Singer: do feelings of mortal caring have a Darwinian origin (Dawkins LTBNG, 'The God Delusion')? Only to a point, limited to those close to you (i.e. offspring & parents), developed capacity to reason: we can't stop it from seeing the non-Darwinian point that other beings suffer and their suffering should be no different from our own. - E. Hemingway: 'So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.' 'Death in the Afternoon.'

Conscience case studies:

- The Ik tribe (Turnbull, 1972-1995) - Inca child sacrifice - the Stanford Prison Experiment, 1971, Zimbardo - Milgram experiment - Abu Ghraib (Joseph Derby = whistleblower. Dick Chainey justified the torture for interrogation purposes) - Gay Imaams: % of Muslims answering 'yes' when asked if homosexuality should be allowed by society: Jodan = 3, UK&USA = 52. Death penalty in 12 countries (but only applied in Saudi Arabia and Iran). - Environmental morality: In England in 1952, there were 670 prosecutions for sodomy, 3,087 for attempted sodomy or indecent assault and 1,686 for gross indecency. Alan Turing chemically castrated. -> Alisdair MacIntyre: 'After Virtue' 1981, trying to rescue ethics from a series of dead ends, common-sense approach: certain ethical values are constant through time, space and culture, ex. human rights. (Hobbes: 'the state of man is a state of war against everyone')

Kantian Ethics (deontology, universalisation, disinterested. Immanuel Kant, Prussia 1724-1804 - forbidden to write or teach on religious matters in 1792 till 1797 when the king dies. 'Critique of Pure Reason' 1781, 'Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moral' 1785)

- analytic = necessarily true. synthetic = requires the support of empricial data. may be true or false. Facts are either a priori analytic or a posteriori synthetic but morals are a priori synthetic (not necessarily true, but gained without sensory experience) => special. - inclination = capricious, consequentialism = unpredictable - 'religion within the bounds of reason alone.' = ethics - 'Groundwork' aims to establish 'a completely isolated metaphysic of morals which is not mixed with any theology or physics or metaphysics.' - Moral law: absolute, based on reason (universal, Aquinas & Aristotle) not emotion. intention and interior act. Everyone can reason how they ought to behave in a given situation due to 'moral law within' and is free to act accordingly or flout it (free will). 'Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.' ('Critique') - Good will: only innately good thing. All else is extrinsically good. The only truly moral motive. the highest good: 'Good will shines like a precious jewel' ('Critique'). = the desire to do 'duty for duty's sake' 'it is impossible to conceive of anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except good will.' Happiness comes as a reward for action through good will. can be developed by acting wholly rationally & according to maxims. - Duty: Good will + duty = a moral action (business man analogy) 'duty involves freely choosing the action' unforced, coldly rationally and unclouded by emotion. Duty is what we rationally work out to do, where emotions, instinct, desires, and possible consequences are irrelevant. The rules of moral duty result from being rational beings. ex. compassion. - The imperative (an expression of a command): Hypothetical imperative = an action which achieves a goal or result. 'If I do x... y will happen' For a given end. Categorical imperative = an absolute, universal sense of moral duty which directs humans to right actions. Must always be obeyed. -> maxims derived from it. - Formulations of the Categorial Imperative: (H.J Randall 'The Moral Law' Hutchinson -> best known 3, included in the summary of 'Groundwork'): 1) The formula of the Law of Nature / of universal law: 'Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.' 2) (the practical Imperative - the humanity forumaltion) The formula of the End in Itself: 'Rational nature exists as an end in itself... act is such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.' Humans = 'holy' 'ends in themselves', cannot be abused to the detriment of human flourishing (eudaemonia) 3) The formula of the Kingdom of Ends = Kant's Eutopia, everything treated how it ought to be: 'In the kingdom of ends everything has either a price or a dignity[value]... Accordingly every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxims always a law-making member in the universal kingdom of ends.' - The Three Postulates: 1) Autonomy - moral choices are not possible without free will. Freedom is 'the highest degree of life' and the inner worth of the world' (Lectures on Ethics, 1784-5). 'the proper and inestimable worth of an absolutely good will consists precisely in the freedom of the principle of action from all influences.' ('Groundwork') not antinomianism. Free to pursue the Summum Bonum (Highest Good, in which virtue and happiness are combined). 2) Immortality - for justice to be done. perfect future in the KoE. Summum Bonum: duty united with the things that give happiness, which isn't the case here => must postulate immortality of the soul for correct happiness to be ensured from correct act beyond this life. Sacrificial acts of duty & ever-lasting improvement are possible. 3) God exists - 'therefore it is necessary to assume the existence of God.' Elements of Kantian ethics imply God: summum bonum achievable only in the afterlife heavenly situation of justice -> judgement to distribute happiness appropriately, in accordance with the moral acts one has undertaken, eternal law, humans created as rational creatures. - Korsgaard, 'The Right to Lie'. Kant: never okay to lie. lying = the worst king of human objectification. Langton, 'Duty and Desolation': 'a serious violation of a duty to oneself; it subverts the dignity of humanity in our own person, and attacks the roots of our thinking.' (reply to Marie Von Herbert's letter, August 1791). Wrong to lie to the murderer. ('on a supposed right to tell lies from benevolent motives.') Lying disguises our true ends => forces the other person to breach 2nd formulation, thus breaking it ourselves. The lier is responsible for everything that follows the lie. - Constante and the Enquiring Murderer, irresolvable conflict of perfect duties. - J.L. Mackie: implied hypothetical. Kantian ethics is based on the irrational value judgement that all people are equal. This makes it hypothetical: if you believe all people are equal then... ('Inventing Right and Wrong') - Cumminskey: Makes it hypothetical: If you want the SB... - Vardy: divinity required for ethical unbinding

Euthanasia general approaches

- sanctity of life ≈ pro-life ≈ vitalism (imageio dei, Gen 1:26, 'the word became flesh' John 1:14, 'God giveth and God taketh away' Job 1:21, Exodus and Deuteronomy: 'choose life', suicide ≈ blasphemy. King Saul & Judas) -quality of life ('live life in all its fullness John 10:10) - autonomy and the Right to Life (Human Rights Act 1998) More emphasised by Church of England - Roman Catholic Church: Declaration on Euthanasia' (1980): 'an act or omission which of itself or by intention causes death in order that suffering may be eliminated' where 'suffering has a special place in God's plan for salvation.' Pope st. John Paul II 'Evangelism Vitae' (1995) euthanasia = a 'conspiracy against life' that marginalises the vulnerable. - consequentialism: rejects the distinction made by some deontologists between acts and omissions. James Rachels saw no difference between active and passive. - Deontology: the doctrine of double effect (natural law). Proportionalism, Hoose (≈ consequentialist => deontology becomes relativist.) - The doctrine of ordinary and extraordinary means: what exactly constitutes 'extraordinary' means needed to preserve life? -QALYs = supposedly empirical means to measure life. - the slippery slope problem. -> Helga Kuhse: the wedge argument is misused by scaremongerers to support their complete ban on euthanasia. They cite the example of the Nazi 'euthanasia' programme but would do better to reference the Netherlands, where 'there is no evidence that [Dutch society has gone] down a slippery slope.' ('Companion to Ethics' ed. Singer -1993). - Law: Illegal in Britain, legalised in the Netherlands in 2001 with strict criteria. Switzerland permits assisted suicide. Abortion legalised 1967 and in 1961, suicide was decriminalised. However, the suicide act contains 2 major clauses which have implications for euthanasia: 1) a person who aids the suicide of another shall be liable. 2) If on trial for murder or manslaughter, being proved to have aided the suicide of the person in question may lead to a guilty verdict. (A.Meader Case, US) - Mary Anne Warren's 6 characteristics of Personhood: sentience, emotionality, reason, communication, self-awareness, moral agency. (-> Singer, level 1 and level 2: 'the notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life is medieval.') - Sidgwick: only conscious beings can appreciate values and meanings, suicide, therefore, is a statement by an intelligent being about the meaninglessness of life, but it is a statement that society rejects. Looked at motive to get away from consequentialism. - Kant: those who wish to die are not acting rationally & those overcome by pain/emotion have lost their capacity to reason. But autonomy -> ends in themselves. - Double moral standard: self-sacrifice in the form of martyrdom is admired as part of a journey to life with God. - German Grisez: does not accept that a patient in a PVS has lost what makes them human. Euthanasia attempts to achieve one good (ex. freedom or dignity) by putting it in direct conflict with another (ex. health or life), but the basic goods (including recreation, knowledge, appreciation of beauty, health and life) cannot be compared or balanced off each other. Death is defined only as the cessation of the heart and brain (dead donor rule). - Mill: Harm Principle ('On Liberty'). The strain on recourses & the impact on social attitudes -> utilitarian perspectives -> Bentham: Hedonistic calculus -> Singer: preference. - Hippocratic Oath: 'I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgement; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man by it. I will not give a fatal draught to anyone if I am asked, nor will I suggest any such thing.' - Living will (Advanced Directive), has no legal status. - The Hospice Movement: Dame Cicely Saunders - Fletcher 'Humanhood: Essays in Biomedical Ethics' 1979: 'it is whether we can morally justify taking it into our own hands, as human beings, to hasten death for ourselves (suicide) or for others (mercy killing) out of reasons of compassion. The answer in my view is clearly yes, on both sides of it. Indeed, to justify one, suicide or mercy killing, is to justify the other.' 'it is harder to justify letting somebody die a slow and ugly death, dehumanised than it is to justify helping him escape from such misery.'

Business ethics general approaches

- stewardship & dominion - scope of moral consideration - capitalism: an economic system based on the private ownership of how things are made in sold, in which businesses compete freely with each other to make profits. No state ownership. 'Nobody would agree with completely unadulterated captialism' - Bill Gates -> state implement some socialist ideals. Interventionism. - shareholder: a person who has invested money in a business in return for a share of the profits. - corporate social responsibility: a sense that businesses have wider responsibilities than simply their shareholders, including the communities they live and work in and the environment. Wheel of corporate social responsibility. Most responsibility = nearest to the centre - whistle-blowing: when an employee discloses wrongdoing to the employer or the public. - globalisation: the integration of economies, industries, markets, cultures, and policy-making around the world. -stakeholder: a person who is affected by or involved in some form of relationship with a business. - consumerism: a set of social beliefs that put a high value on acquiring material things and the theory that spending money and consuming goods is good for the economy. - Legal requirements: businesses are required to ensure that their projects are safe and contain appropriate guidance for their use. If a product is not labelled properly and causes harm, the business is responsible. Advertising laws stipulate promotions can only make true claims and a consumer must be able to trust a product is safe, labelled correctly (not misleadingly), and is usable. The trust that a business places in the consumer must also be maintained, as goodwill is required when dealing with returns and dissatisfaction. - Milton Friedman: 1912-2006, an advocate of free-market economics, capitalism as being the best system for the common people, and monetarist policy, because the world runs on individualistic interests and greed. "do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their shareholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no they don't.' (1974) 'The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits' -> Ballano: 'the primary aim of a business is not to earn profit but to serve the people' - Adam Smith: 'The Wealth of Nations' 1776. the invisible hand of the market. Pursuing profit maximises the welfare of society. Free-market encourages innovation and production to meet consumer wants. - Development of business ethics in Britain: 19th century = industrial revolution, workers without rights. Next 200 years = trade unionising, Earl of Shaftsbury sought to improve general working conditions, especially regarding child labour, Anglican and Catholic churches collaborate to cause change. 1840 = the Christian Socialist movement called for appropriate moral treatment of workers. 1889: The Great Dock Strike, Port of London. Trade union, Fredrich Temple (Anglican Bishop of London), Manning (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster) & government make a deal. 1891: Pope Ledo XI in 'Rerum Novarum' (The Worker' Charter) condemned both capitalism and communism. set out conditions for all workers, the just wage & responsibilities. Between the wars = commercial discrimination. 1942 = William Temple becomes a major figure in social reform and coins term 'welfare state.' 'Christianity and Social Order' -> post-war reconstruction of industry and welfare. 1970 = Equal Pay Act, 1971 = no protection against unfair dismissal. People begin to demand protections. 1975 = Sexual Discrimination Act, 2010 = Equality Act - Aristotle on the community: the good of an individual is 'splendid' but the good of a community as a whole is even greater (eudaemonia, telos & virtues). polis = bound together by the notions of civic friendship, mutual dependency, and service. -> can human beings flourish in a capitalist, consumerist society? What alternative is there? Capitalism re-design: money from needs, not desires (Abraham's pyramid of higher needs), a balance between seduction and goodness, the creation of meaningful labour => employees motivated by morality. the best capitalists realise they aren't in it for the money, merely the respect, honour and love that comes with wealth. These should be more readily available. Just pricing. -> wants can never be satisfied, needs have an upper bound => growth is capped. Capitalism is a necessity. The basic economic problem. - "Good Ethics is Good for Business": Baggini: 'no one could credibly argue that good ethics is sufficient for a good business.' Moor example. Beard: ethical products are more expensive so force lower-income individuals to but unethically => ethical consumerism is unethical. Solomon: Good ethics 'are neither mere means or an afterthought of business but rather its very essence... profits will come as a consequence.' 'Ethics and Excellence: Co-operation and Integrity in Business.' (1993) Greenwashing. Cancellation of entire industries ex. porn. Window dressing does not ensure real ethical practice. - Cardinal Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Westminster): 'A Blueprint for Better Business', 2012 1) human dignity: ' each person can never be merely an instrument valued just for their usefulness.' 2) common good = a state of affairs in which everyone can flourish most effectively. Temple: profits as an end ≠ the actual good of persons as an end 3) Solidarity = inter-dependency and responsibility, especially for the less privileged. Pope St, John Paul II. Donne's idea that 'no man is an island.' 4) Subsidiary: decisions should be made on the lowest level compatible with efficiency. J.S. Mill 'On Liberty' 1859, Pope Pius XI in his encyclical 'Quadragesimo Anno' 1931. 5) Fraternity. Temple: 'fellowship' as the social glue; we should treat everyone as brothers and sisters. 6) Reciprocity: giving everyone what is due and being willing to do more than strict justice requires (fraternity/gratuity duty -> charity). To levels of reciprocity. (appropriate for businesses?) 7) Sustainability: we are responsible for maintaining Earth and its resources for ourselves and future generations. -Norman Bowie suggests what universal Kantian principles should be applied for globalisation: autonomy, sufficient salary, justice. - Taleb: 'My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal.' - Locke: property rights - Tied aid: the interest charged / first world-countries provide aid to countries if they buy certain products from us. Pope St. John XXIII: economically developed nations must resist the temptation 'of giving technical and financial aid with a view to gaining control.' - Crane and Matten in 'Business Ethics: A European Perspective' 2004, argue that there are close links between utilitarianism and economic approaches as both are based on which outcome is most likely to produce the most beneficial results.

Conscience: Voice of God

Aquinas: 'Summa Theologica': Natural Law, Synderesis & Conscientia: - ''good; is the first thing that falls under the apprehesnsion of practical reason.' - The Synderesis Rule: 'good is to be done and pursued and evil is to be avoided.' - Synderesis = 'a natural disposition of the human mind by which we instinctivly understand the first principles of morality.' - Conscientia = 'application of knowledge to activity' ≃ Aristotle's phronesis or prudence - 'conscience is reason making right decisions and not a voice giving us commands.' - Invincible ignorance (adultery in 'good faith': a factural mistake, no guilt) & Vincible ignorance (your responsibility to know, perhaps the result of underdeveloped virtues: conscientia, justice, fortitude, teperence) - 'man's reasoning is a kind of movement which begins in the understanding of certain things that are naturally known as immutable principles without investigation. It ends in the intellectual activity by which we make judgements on the basis of those principles.' 'The mind of man making moral judgements,' - 13th article: 'conscience is an act, not a power.' - we see what we have/ have not done (bears witness), what we should/ should not have done (incites to action), and whether we acted/ did not act worthily (excuses and accuses). = 'the actual connection of knowledge to what we do... conscience designates an act.' Survivors' guilt? Cardinal Newman: agenda: defend Catholics, coming under attack for being unpatriotic for following the European Pope. (1801-1890). 'Letter to the Duke of Norfolk' Gladstone 1875. Chapter 5: ('the grammar of assent'): - Lifts synderesis as 'a sovereign, irreversible, absolute authority in the presence of men' from Aquinas. 'It may suffer refraction in passing into the intellectual medium.' = conscientia. - 'conscience is the voice of God in the nature of man as distinct from the voice of revelation.' - 'conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ' - 'did the Pope speak against conscience... he would commit a suicidal act.' - True & counterfeit conscience Joseph Butler (1692-1752): Chaplin of the rolls. Book = 'the Rolls Sermon' (justice theme, criminals as victims themselves) 1792: '[The] principle of reflection in men... is conscience.' - The conscience 'magisterially exerts itself' spontaneously 'without being consulted.' - 'Had its strength as it has right;... it would absolutely govern the world.' - Hierarchy in human nature: conscience > self-love & benevolence > passions and instincts. Wrongdoing arises when we subordinate conscience with some other element of our nature. - Conscience = 'our natural guide, the guide assigned to us by the Author of our nature.' - Through development of good habits 'we are capable of improvement.' Augustine: 'On the Trinity': - Concupiscence vs. reason (physical = bad, Plato) -Agape love unites all the virtues and awareness of this = conscience. - sin = a falling short of goodness => guilt = what you feel when you recognise that you fall short. Example of the athlete. - fallen until renewed by grace: total depravity