1. Ethics: Theory and Practice
Jacques P. Thiroux
Keith W. Krasemann

2. Setting Up a Moral System: Basic Assumptions and Basic Principles
Chapter Eight
Setting Up a Moral System: Basic Assumptions and Basic Principles

3. Conflicting General Moral Sense
Consequentialism v. Nonconsequentialism
We must consider the consequences of our decisions, acts, and rules, but at the same time be aware of and avoid the end-justifies-the-means problem

4. Conflicting General Moral Sense
Self v. Other-interestedness
There are problems associated with a totally self-interested basis for morality; therefore, I agree with the utilitarian approach of doing what is in the best interest of everyone

5. Conflicting General Moral Sense
Act v. Rule
In a moral system, we require freedom (act) and yet also stability and order (rule)
Emotion v. Reason
In a moral system, we require reason without excluding emotion

6. Basic Assumptions
What constitutes a workable and livable moral system:
Rationally based and yet not devoid of emotion
Logically consistent but not rigid and inflexible
Universality or general application to all humanity and yet be applicable in practical ways to individuals and situations
Able to be taught and promulgated
Ability to resolve conflicts

7. Including Rational and Emotional Aspects
Moral issues have an emotional dimension
But we cannot make moral decisions solely based on emotion alone
Feelings are too unreliable and individualistic
Another basis that is fairer and more objective is needed

8. Including Rational and Emotional Aspects
Reasoning implies several things:
Logical argument, which includes supplying empirical evidence in support of one’s position
Logical consistency, which involves avoiding fallacies and making sure that one’s argument follows smoothly from one point to the next until it arrives at a logical conclusion

9. Including Rational and Emotional Aspects
Reason (cont’d)
A certain detachment from feelings; this springs from reasoning’s formality, which forces one to consider the truth and validity of what the individual and others are thinking and saying
A common means by which differences in feelings, opinions, and thoughts can be arbitrated

10. Logical Consistency
Logical consistency creates stability within a moral system
But a moral system that says something can never in any situation be done morally is too rigid
Therefore, we must strive for logical consistency but allow for enough flexibility so that the system remains applicable

11. Universality and Particularity
Morality that attempts to help all human beings relate meaningfully must strive to possess universal applicability
Particularity
But one’s moral system should not become so generalized and abstract that it cannot be applied to particular situations and individuals

12. Ability to Be Taught and Promulgated
If any moral system is to be applied to more than one person, it must be able to be promulgated, that is, laid out for people to see and understand
It should also be teachable so that others can learn about is regardless of whether they wish to accept or reject it

13. Ability to Resolve Conflicts
A workable moral system must be able to resolve conflicts among duties and obligations, and even among its participants
If any moral theory or system proposes a series of duties and obligations that human beings ought to perform or be responsible for, yet fails to tell people what they should do when these conflicts arise, then the entire theory is thrown into doubt

14. Basic Principles, Individual Freedom, and Their Justification
The problems of morality center essentially upon two areas:
How to attain unity and order by working with basic principles so as to avoid the chaos of situationism and intuitionism
How to allow individual and group freedom to work with such principles meaningfully

15. Basic Principles, Individual Freedom, and Their Justification
The Value of Life principle states that human begins should revere life and accept death
The Principle of Goodness or Rightness is ultimate to any moral system, and it requires that human beings attempt to do three things:
Promote goodness over badness and do good
Cause no harm or badness
Prevent badness or harm

16. Basic Principles, Individual Freedom, and Their Justification
The Principle of Justice or Fairness
This is distributive justice, meaning that human beings should treat other human beings justly and fairly when attempting to distribute goodness and badness among them
Theories about, and ways of distributing, good and bad have been fully described in Chapter 6

17. Priority of the Basic Principles
There are two ways of establishing the priority of the five moral principles
In the first, or general, way, the principles are classified into two major categories based upon logical and empirical priority

18. Priority of the Basic Principles
First Category:
Value of Life principle
Because without life there can be no morality whatever
Principle of Goodness
Because it is the ultimate principle of any moral system
Both are logically and empirically prior to the other three principles

19. Priority of the Basic Principles
Second category:
Principle of Justice of Fairness
Because in most human actions more than just one person is involved, and some form of distribution of goodness and badness must be established
Principle of Truth Telling or Honesty
Because it follows from the need to be fair and just in one’s dealings with others

20. Priority of the Basic Principles
Second category (cont’d):
Principle of Individual Freedom
Because each individual is the only one truly able to decide what is good for himself

21. Priority of the Basic Principles
In the second, or particular way, priority is determined only be referring to the actual situation or context in which moral actions and decisions occur

22. Situation or Context
Importance of the situation and context of moral problems and basic principles
The situation or context is important because morality always occurs in particular situations to particular people, never in the abstract
We must start from a broad yet humanly applicable, near-absolute principle so that there will be some basis for acting morally and avoiding immorality

23. Humanitarian Ethics
Humanitarian Ethics is an eclectic approach, a “mixed deotological,” or combined consequentialist-nonconsequentialist and act-rule, approach to morality
How did these two moral issues hold up under the five principles?
Living together before marriage
Rape