Meta Ethics - Right and Wrong

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What is Meta Ethics?

This is a branch of ethics that examines what moral language is about and how it can be justified. Meta Ethics goes beyond our normative theories (Utilitarianism, Situation Ethics, Kantain Ethics)

Meta Ethics - consider second order questions about the nature and purpose of morality.

First Order Questions - raised by normative ethics - about how we should behave and act.

Second Order Questions - about the nature and purpose of morality - the answer to first order questions

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Christian Divine Command Theory

Moral commands come from God - whatever God commands must be good as God is a source of all goodness and what he forbids is evil.

  • Cognative theory - there is an objective right and wrong that can be shown to be true or false. 
  • It is Non-Naturalist - as it does not base its ethics on facts of empirical or natural experience.
  • It is based on the belief that God is the eternal, omnipotent, transcendent Creator.
  • Humans are created in God's image - we reflect the moral character of God - we should therefore follow God's commands.
  • The Bible has absolute authority and its commands must be obeyed without question e.g. the Ten Commandments .

CalvinGod cannot be caused to do anything, for that would imply that there is a force external to God - this can't be the case if God is omnipotent.

Barth - Humanity is obedience to God - answers all ethical questions - the commands of God set Christian ethics

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Strengths of Divine Command Theory

Its basis is an objective existence of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and entirely just God - makes sense for believers.

The rules are universal and are right for all times and places - solves the problem of trying to sort out moral ideas.

The system is clear and straightforward.

God's moral commands, with the promise of life after death for those who keep them, gives people a purpose for morality.

God does not have any of the human weaknesses of judgement - God is a fair judge

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Weaknesses of Divine Command Theory

  • Even if moral commands in the Bible come from God, we can't tell whether they are as God gave them. Texts we use today are attempts to reconstruct what might have been the original meaning.
  • The Bible contains the Immoral Commands - Slavery and Homosexual behaviour
  • The problem of autonomy - does not offer free choice - the promise of heaven and hell means that people choose to follow God's commands out of self interest - Morality should be based on reason not out of belief.

The Euthyphro Dilemma - 'Is conduct right because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is right?'

God loses moral goodness - whatever God commands must be good by definition - e.g. in the Old Testament God commands for the slaughter of innocent children - these go against the fundamental values expressed in secular ethics - Are we then justifed in calling any recorded action by God right because it appears in scripture.

God loses omnipotence - How does God know that the action is good itself? - God recognises that there is a moral law, external to himself, that he obeys - God is subject to moral law and loses his omnipotence 

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Solutions to Euthyphro Dilemma

William of Ockham - God is God - omnipotent and omniscient - if God commands it, his commands must be obeyed - he takes the 'bite the bullet' approach

God's nature and God's character are the same - God and goodness are identical so God's moral commands must be good.

The texts of bits of the Bible are corrupt - but if some texts are corrupt, then other parts can be corrupt and if scripture is corrupt then  we have no idea what God's commands might be.

There is no solution to the Euthyphro Dilemma that is universally accepted.

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What is Naturalism?

Naturalism is the view that moral values can be described in terms of natural properties e.g Love.

Naturalism is grounded in the facts of nature or human nature.

This is the opposite of Divine Command Theory - because according to naturalists morality is grounded in the commands of a transcendent God.

Ethical Naturalists - look at the world and people's behaviour and can deduce right from wrong.

Naturalists talk about intrinsic goods - the value that something has something in itself.

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Strengths and Weaknesses of ethical naturalism

Strengths 

  • Ethical propositions are true because they are factual
  • Right and wrong are objective - they exist in the world outside ourselves
  • Ethical positions give us solid guidelines and rules to follow
  • We are judged by our compliance with rules.

Weaknesses

  • The Naturalistic fallacy - we can't derive moral values from facts
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Bentham's Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a Consequentialist approach - the moral value of an action is determined by the anticipated results that it seeks to achieve.

  • Act Utilitarianism - focus on actions not moral rules
  • Nature has placed us under 2 things: Pleasure and Pain
  • Pain and pleasure rule us - Morality is linked to observation and experience.
  • According to Bentham - Pleasure is the one intrinsic good and Pain is the one intrinsic evil
  • Our moral obligation is to seek to maximise pleasure and minimise pain - because pain and pleasure rule humankind. 
  • We should only act in ways which 'seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people'.

The Utility Principle 

The rightness and wrongness of an action is determined by its usefulness (the amount of pleasure or happiness.)

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism

Strengths 

  • Gives a factual basis for morality
  • Utilitarians have guidelines and rules
  • It gives people a way of measuring the moral worth of people
  • It is practical
  • Most people want to achieve happiness

Weaknesses

  • Happiness varies between people - it makes it impossible to define
  • It requires you to second guess the future - we can never be sure of the consequences of our actions.
  • 'the greatest good for the greatest number of people' - is assumed to be right, but it is often minorities who are right.
  • They commit the naturalistic fallacy (people reason from facts to moral claims)
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John Stuart Mill - the importance of moral rules

Rule Utilitarian and Ethical Naturalist -

Moral rules should be followed except where they conflict - at which point people should follow the 'Primary principle of Utility'

Rejected Betham's view - insisting that there are 'higher cultural and intellectual pleasures and lower physical pleasures'

Mill described happiness in terms of quality of life rather than quality of pleasure  

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What is Non-naturalism?

Moore

  • Ethical non-naturalist 
  • In order to avoid the 'naturalist fallacy' - good is a term that cannot be defined or explained in terms of anything more basic.
  • For a naturalist and Ethical naturalist - good is complex and analysable
  • For a non naturalist - good is simple and unanalysable - it can't be broken down in terms of its natural properties. Good is a quality that can be possessed 

Ross

  • Prima facie duties - duties that should always be fulfilled if there are no conflicting circumstances - then the person must use intuition to provide a reliable guide.
  • When conflict is found - careful thinking and intuition needs to be used to solve the dilema 
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Moore - Intuitionism

Our knowledge of right and wrong does not come as a result of evaluating results but our fundamental moral intuitions.

It is a quality which can't be broken down or analysed 

The Trolley Problem

A train is hurtling down the tracks towards 5 people - who are unable to get out of the way - the driver has a choice to divert the train and hit one person or leave the train and they hit the 5 people. Does the driver move the train and kill the 1 person or allow the 5 to die?

Problem - if you move the train you would be responsible for the death of the 1 person - by leaving the train and killing the 5 people - it would be an accident that was not your fault.

Intuitionism is how people choose between conflicting duties

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Intuitionism

Strengths 

  • Everyone has moral intuitions
  • Helps form moral realist statements which can be true or false
  • The objective nature of right and wrong enables us to assess our actions and gives us guidelines.

Weaknesses

  • Does not give a satisfactory answer to the question of how it is that we come to have intuitions about right and wrong
  • Makes ethical discussions very difficult - there is no fundamental, reasonable basis upon which to argue.
  • It is easy to be unconsciously influenced by social norms
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