Jewish Ethics

Fundamental Questions Why be ethical? What does it mean to be ethical? How do you decide what is ethical? Are there Jewish and non-Jewish ethics?

Imagine all the people… Thought experiment: What if there were no ethics? What would happen to society?

Prisoner B Stays Silent Prisoner A Stays Silent Prisoner’s Dilemma Prisoner B Stays Silent Prisoner B Betrays Prisoner A Stays Silent Each serves 6 months Prisoner A: 10 years Prisoner B: goes free Prisoner A Betrays Prisoner A: goes free Prisoner B: 10 years Each serves 5 years

Texts and Time Periods 1000BCE King David 586 BCE Destruction of Temple I 539 BCE Cyrus the Great – Persian rule 516 BCE Second Temple Built 332 BCE Alexander the Great – Greek rule 164 BCE Maccabean Revolt 150BCE-70CE Pharisees 70 CE Second Temple Destroyed 132 CE Bar Kokhba Revolt 50-200 CE Tannaitic Period 220 CE Mishnah & Tannaitic Midrash Compiled 200-500 CE Amoraic Period 400 CE Yerushalmi & Amoraic Midrash Compiled 500-700 CE Savoraim in Babylonia 600 CE Bavli Completed

Student’s Dilemma Whoever cooperates gets 1 point. Whoever defects gets 20 points. If 5 students defect then nobody gets any more points and the game is over. Student with the most points off is exempt from the quiz.

Jeremy Bentham - Utilitarianism “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.” - An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, p. 1. England 1748 – 1832

John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism cont. Utilitarianism is “the creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, [and] wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” - “Utilitarianism” England 1806 – 1873

Problems with Utilitarianism Not intuitively satisfying – no absolute good Happiness is an elusive term Not possible to calculate future outcomes Can justify euthanasia, genocide

Babylonian Talmud Baba Metzia 62a Ben Patura vs. R. Akiva Babylonian Talmud Baba Metzia 62a שנים שהיו מהלכין בדרך, וביד אחד מהן קיתון של מים, אם שותין שניהם - מתים, ואם שותה אחד מהן - מגיע לישוב. דרש בן פטורא: מוטב שישתו שניהם וימותו, ואל יראה אחד מהם במיתתו של חבירו. עד שבא רבי עקיבא ולימד: וחי אחיך עמך - חייך קודמים לחיי חבירך. If two men are traveling on a journey and one has a pitcher of water, if both drink they will both die, but if one only drinks, he can reach civilization. Ben Patura taught: “It is better that both should drink and die rather than that one should behold his companion’s death.” But Rabbi Akiba taught: “That your brother may live with you (Lev 25:36). Your life takes precedence over his life.”

Systems of Normative Ethics Consequentialism - A morally right action is one that produces a good outcome. “The ends justify the means.” Utilitarianism – producing the most pleasure for the most people is one type. Duty-based ethics (deontology) – Judges actions based on rules and duties. “Do unto others…” Virtue ethics – Judges actions based on how it develops good character traits.

Immanuel Kant Kant's three significant formulations of the categorical imperative are: Act only according to that maxim by which you can also will that it would become a universal law. Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end. Act as though you were, through your maxims, a law-making member of a kingdom of ends. - The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals Germany 1724 – 1804