The Moral Point of View Sandra Foy Bioethics Fall Semester, 2004

Why Study Ethics? Moral concerns are unavoidable in life. Analogy: morality is a lot like nutrition.  Principal concern: health  The role of experts  Disagreement

Ethics as an Ongoing Conversation Professional discussions of ethical issues in journals. We come back to ideas again and again, finding new meaning in them.

Ethics and Morality Morality: first-order set of beliefs and practices about how to live a good life Ethics: a second-order, conscious reflection on the adequacy of our moral beliefs.

Moral Health The goal of ethical reflection is moral health. Thus we seek to determine what will nourish our moral life and what will poison it.

The Moral Point of View What makes something a moral issue?  Content: duties, rights, human welfare, suffering, character, etc.  Perspective: impartial, compassionate, etc.

Example: Cheating Imagine a situation in which you see a classmate cheating. There are several elements from a moral point of view:  Some people are hurt by the cheating  There is deception in the situation  Cheating seems to be unfair to those who don’t cheat  There are conflicting values—honesty, loyalty, etc.  There are questions of character.

The Language of Moral Concerns Some philosophers have argued that moral issues are characterized by a particular kind of language—terms such as duty, obligation, right, and good.

Impartiality Many philosophers have argued that the moral point of view is characterized by impartiality, that is, I don’t give my own interest any special weight.  Immanuel Kant  John Stuart Mill

Compassion Other philosophers have seen the origin of the moral life to be in compassion, feeling for the suffering of other sentient beings. Josiah Royce: “Such as that is for me, so is it for him, nothing less.”

Universally Binding Moral obligations, some philosophers maintain, are universally binding and that is what gives them their distinctive character. Kant: morality is a matter of categorical imperatives.  Distinguish between hypothetical and categorical imperatives.

Concern for Character Philosophers from Aristotle onward have seen the primary focus of morality to be character. Two questions:  What ought I to do? (Kant and Mill)  What kind of person ought I to be? (Aristotle)

The Focus of Ethics Ethics as the Evaluation of Other People’s Behavior  We are often eager to pass judgment on others Ethics as the Search for Meaning and Value in Our Own Lives

Ethics as the Evaluation of Other People’s Behavior Ethics often used as a weapon Hypocrisy Possibility of knowing other people The right to judge other people The right to intervene Judging and caring

Ethics as the Search for Meaning and Value in Our Own Lives Positive focus Aims at discerning what is good Emphasizes personal responsibility for one’s own life

What to Expect from a Moral Theory Functions of theory: Describe Explain Give strength (Stockdale) Prescribe  Open new possibilities  Wonder

What to Expect from a Moral Theory, 2 What is ethics like? Physics  Clear-cut, definitive answers Engineering  Several possible ways of doing things, many ways that are wrong

The Point of Ethical Reflection Ethics as the evaluation of other people’s behavior  Sources of mistrust about moral judgments Hypocrisy Knowing other people The right to judge Judging and intervention Judging and caring Ethics as the search for the meaning of our own lives

Conclusion: Ethics & Good Health Ethics is like nutrition  One studies bodily health, the other moral health  Significant disagreement in both fields  Still there is a significant common ground.