Chapter Five: Universal Ethics
Three approaches to universal ethics.
Right Actions
- Divine Command. Actions are required, good, bad, or evil simply because God decrees them so. There will be a judgment after death.The dilemma is “Does God command this particular action because it is right, or is it right because God commands it?”
- Natural Law.
a. Classical accounts. Greek and Romans had this concept.
b. Medieval accounts. Aquinas’ principle of natural is ,”good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.”
c. Early modern accounts. Thomas Hobbes among others was influential in this time.
d. More recent accounts. Darwin’s theory put man into the same category as animals and made the idea of natural law complicated. - Immanuel Kant and the Categorical Imperative. Kant sought a categorial imperative: a rule that is binding whatever the subject desires of whatever outcome the subject wants.Three formulations of his categorical imperative:
a. “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
b. “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.”
c. “All rational beings must so act as if they were through their maxims always legislating members in the universal kingdom of ends.”
Kant has had huge influence on Christian ethics .
Right Outcomes
Commonly known as “consequential ethics”.
- Utilitarianism.
a. Jeremy Bentham. Maximize pleasure amount the maximum number of people.
b. John Stuart Mill. “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”
c. Henry Sidgwick. He advocated ethical hedonism—every individual should seek the common good and happiness of all. - Realism and Non-realism. Realists regard morality as an objective matter. There is only one moral truth. Some are naturalists; some are intuitionists. Non-realists regard morality as a subjective matter. Truth comes from language, culture, and societies. Non-cognitivism
- Some developments in Consequentialism. The principle of the double effect. Actions can cause good and harm and one has to choose actions that maximize the good. Often applied in medicine. Proportionalism.
- Situation Ethics. The only thing that is intrinsically good is love.
Right Relationships
A new strand in ethics developed that ethics was more than an individual issue, but had to include a concern for society as whole. Hegel and Marx were two influential thinkers in this area.
- Responsibility. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
a. Papal encyclicals. Starting 1891, Popes issued encyclicals about societal issues. Themes include sanctity of life, coolness towards both socialism and capitalism, democracy, justice, and the global nature of issues.
b. The Social Gospel. Stressed communal responsibility.
c. Anglican Social Ethics. Has same themes as the the Social Gospel - Rights. Became an issue with the treatment of native Americans. Rights also was an issue for Thomas Jefferson. Human rights has become normative for most (but not all) groups.
- Justice. Focus on distributive justice.
a. Just desert—rendering to each their due.
b. Equality.
c. Fairness.
d. Entitlement.
Good summary figure on page 155 in book.