OCR Ethics AS

Teleology

• end justifies the means
• focuses on end result rather than something being intrinsically right or wrong by the action alone
• an action that results with a good consequence is morally better than one that results in a bad one
• person is only morally 'good' in relation to the results they bring
• e.g. thief steals for a starving family -> 'good' act

Deontology

• the end never justifies the means
• focuses on an act being intrinsically right or wrong
• e.g. 'you should never kill, because the act of killing is wrong'

Absolutism

• action in itself is right or wrong, regardless of consequences
• often rule based ethics
• attempt to remain objective -> not influenced by personal feelings, but true in itself regardless of the consequences
• to remain objective a rule is needed
• e.g. 'you shall not kill' -> absolutist command and remains objectively true 
• sometimes absolutists such as Immanuel Kant feel the intention is just as important as the act

Main Weaknesses with Absolutism or an Attempt at an Objective Ethical Theory

• do not consider the circumstances involved in deciding what is right and wrong

Relativism

• concerned with the outcomes
• something is either right or wrong in certain situations
• subjective ethics -> concerned with taking into account what has happened to discern whether something is right or wrong 

-> personal feelings may be involved

Main Weaknesses with Relativism

• sometimes doesn't question whether something is wrong in itself
• e.g. even though the relativist may consider lying as wrong, the circumstances may dictate that this course of action may do the greater good

Types of Relativism

• Moral Relativism -> no moral absolutes -> personal and subjective opinions 

-> does not rely on any belief system

• Cultural Relativism -> right or wrongs determined by the culture that we have been brought up in 

-> refers to practices that may seem wrong to certain cultures, but absolutely moral to the cultures to which the practices belong

• Naive Relativism -> everything is either right or wrong by personal opinion
• Liberalism -> everyone respects each other's moral opinion

Origins of St. Thomas Aquinas' Natural Law

• started in Aristotle's idea that everything has a purpose and that supreme good is to be found by fulfilling that purpose
• based on nature as observed by human reason
• Christian morality is based on the Bible and Natural Law/God's Law
• St. Thomas Aquinas believed that morality is created in humans and divinely ordained by God
• deontological -> everything is either right or wrong in itself

Aquinas' 5 Precepts

• Preserve Life
• Educate Children
• Reproduce
• Live as Part of a Society
• Worship God

Strengths of Natural Law

• gives clear guidelines on how to behave on living to please God
• many cultures in the world would agree with Aquinas' 5 precepts

Weaknesses of Natural Law

• idea that humans have a fixed nature seems simplistic and goes against thinking on the nature of personal identity and practices
• what is considered to be 'perfectly natural' for some people today may