Philosophy Quiz In class
A Brief History of Ethics
I. Ethics in the West
A. Judaism: Hebrew Bible (“Old Testament”) – 5th to 4th c. BCE, Ancient Near
East
1. Decalogue (Ten Commandments)
a. First three commandments have to do with behavior
toward God
b. Seven remaining commandments deal with relations
with others
2. Prophets: did not predict the future
a. God’s continued favor dependent upon how community
treats most vulnerable in society
b. Micah 6:8:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
c. Amos 5:24:
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
B. Ancient Greece: humanistic philosophy
1. Socrates (469-399 BCE)
a. Seek the good life.
b. The good life is attained by doing what is right.
c. Knowledge (self-knowledge) is the key to knowing what is
right. Virtue can be learned and taught.
d. The unexamined life is not worth living.
e. Human nature aims toward the good.
f. Yes, people act immorally, but they do not do so
deliberately. They do so out of ignorance.
g. Socrates made ethics an area of human intellectual inquiry:
Ethics tells us “how we ought to live.”
2. Plato (427-347 BCE)
a. Each human is a combination of a physical body and non-
physical soul.
b. Since the material (physical world) is not real, Plato focused
on the well-being of the soul.
c. The soul has three parts:
i. reason: pursues truth and knowledge
ii. spirit: concerned with status
iii. appetite: most powerful, pursues pleasure and avoids
pain. Usually controls most people’s lives.
d. The role of the soul is to govern the body.
e. The way the soul does this is to seek justice: a proper balance
between the three parts of the soul.
f. Reason should rule the soul, with spirit helping reason to control
appetite.
3. Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
a. Like Socrates and Plato, Aristotle regards virtue as the path to
the good life (happiness)
b. Virtue ethics: do what a practically wise, virtuous person
would do.
c. Seek the Golden Mean: moderation of extremes
C. Christianity (New Testament): ca. 33 CE in Levant
1. NT cannot be separated from Hebrew Bible
2. No uniform interpretation
3. Can focus on the behavior of Jesus
4. Christians to embody Christ’s virtues
5. For many, moral behavior in present life determines status in afterlife
6. Golden Rule (Mt 7:12)
7. Sexual morality
D. Islam (Submission to Allah): 610 CE, Arabian Peninsula
1. A Muslim is one who is submissive to Allah: moral responsibility.
2. Humans can discern Allah’s will and obey it.
3. Muhammed was sent by Allah to remind human beings of their moral
responsibility.
2. What is beneficial to self and community is morally good;
what is harmful is immoral.
3. The Holy Qu’ran specifies
a. dealing with your parents in the best manner
b. being nice to your relatives and neighbors
c. taking care of orphans and the poor,
d. telling the truth and being honest,
e. being sincere in all of your intentions,
f. fulfilling your promises, treating all people fairly
g. being patient with obedience; with troubles; with temptation
E. Modern Western Ethics
1. Deontological Ethics: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804 CE)
a. Natural, logical
b. Duty, not consequences
2. Teleological Ethics: Empiricists (England) 17th-19th c.
a. Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Mill, Bentham
b. The ends do/do not justify the means
i. utilitariansism: maximize benefit for the greatest number
3. Absolutism: from religious fundamentalism
4. Relativism: from increased knowledge of non-Western world
5. Analytic/Metaethics: ethical language and reasoning process
6. Humanism:
i. Secular: “Man is the measure of all things”
ii. Religious: Free will, individualism, compatible with belief in
God
II. Ethical traditions in the East
A. Hinduism (roots go back perhaps as far as 1750 BCE)
1. Dharma (righteousness, ethics): regulatory principle of the universe:
Verily, that which is Dharma is truth, Therefore they say of a man who speaks truth, "He speaks the Dharma," or of a man who speaks the Dharma, "He speaks the Truth.", Verily, both these things are the same.
—(Brh. Upanishad, 1.4.14)
2. Samsara: reincarnation, cycle
a. Reciprocity
b. Intention
c. Empathy
d. Karma: consequences of behavior follow in this life or future
lives.
3. Ahimsa: non-violence
4. Varna: caste system as ideal social order
5. Purushartha: life has different goals at different stages and castes
B. Buddhism: 5th c. BCE, northern India
1. Buddha=Enlightened One but not a god
2. Four Noble Truths
a. Dukkha=suffering: the whole world is permeated with suffering
b. The cause of human suffering is desire/attachment
c. Suffering can only be ended by renouncing desire/attachment
d. Desire can only be renounced by following the Eightfold Path
3. The Eightfold Path
a. Right view: view life, nature, and world as they really are
b. Right intention: harmlessness; right resolve
c. Right speech: no lying; no abusive or divisive speech; no
idle speech
d. Right action: abstaining from taking life, stealing, illicit sex
e. Right livelihood: find a job which allows one to deepen spiritual
practice, not hinder it. Five forbidden occupations: anything
involving weapons; slaving; prostitution; butchering or
slaughtering; making/selling/serving intoxicants; making,
selling, or using poisons.
f. Right effort: use energy to abandon all unworthy thoughts,
words, and deeds
g. Right mindfulness: where is the mind focused?
h. Right concentration: the mind equipped with the seven factors
C. Confucianism: 6th c. BCE, China
1. Focus on behavior needed to create a harmonious society
2. Two human qualities
a. Ren: highest Confucian principle. Human-heartedness, loving
kindness. What is necessary to express ideal behavior to
another person
b. Li: propriety, ritual and conventional mores. Dominance/
submission as aspects of social roles. Through Li, all life
becomes sacred; ethics takes on aura of religion
3. Cultivation of moral character necessary to rule, administer, follow
4. Five cardinal relationships critical to maintenance of social harmony
a. Father – Son
b. Husband – Wife
c. Older Brother – Younger Brother
d. Older Friend – Younger Friend
e. Ruler – Subject
Remember that your presentation MUST refer to/include these elements:
Basic Moral Principles
The Value of life (both preserving life and the quality of life)
Goodness/Rightness
Justice/Fairness
Honest/Truth-telling
Individual freedom/Autonomy
Ethical Theories
Consequentialism
Ethical Egoism (including Ayn Rand’s Objectivism/Rational Ethical Egoism)
Utilitarianism
Non-consequentialism
Divine command
Intuitionism
Kant’s Duty Ethics
Virtue Ethics (Aristotle)
