1. Introduction to Ethical Theory
Phil 240, Week 4, Lecture 1
Benjamin Visscher Hole IV

2. Agenda
Clicker Quiz
Singer

3. 1. Singer’s argument begins with the assumption that:
all people are created equal.
we ought to do whatever maximizes happiness.
pleasure is good.
suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.
None of the above

4. we do not thereby sacrifice anything of comparable moral importance.
2. Singer invokes the principle that we morally ought to prevent bad things from happening, if it is in our power and:
we do not thereby sacrifice anything of comparable moral importance.
we do not thereby sacrifice anything at all.
we do not thereby violate anyone’s rights.
we do not thereby harm anyone.
None of the above

5. 3. Of the two versions of the principle that Singer considers:
he considers the stronger version to be correct.
he considers the weaker version to be correct.
he ends up rejecting them both
he claims that they are equivalent.

6. Hobbes
Right action is determined by one’s social contract.
Hardin
Right action is determined by the principle of utility.
Hobbes
“A fifth law of nature is complaisance; that is to say, that every man strive to accommodate himself to the rest.”
Hardin
We should view the world as analogous to a situation after a shipwreck in which some are in a lifeboat and many more are in the sea, drowning.

7. Course Schedule Dates Required Readings Recommended Readings
Week One: June 24-28
Why be moral? Moral Theory Primer
Syllabus
Plato, 65-78
Timmons (electronic)
Shafer-Landau, 1-17
Shafer-Landau,
Concepción (electronic)
Week Two: July 1-5
Social Contract Theory and Collective Action Problems
Hobbes,
Hardin (electronic)
Vaughn, “How to Read an Argument” (electronic)
Shafer-Landau,
Week Three: July 8-12
Utilitarianism
Nozick (electronic)
Bentham,
Shafer-Landau,
Shafer-Landau, 21-58
Week Four: July 15-19
Singer,
Mill,
Shafer-Landau,
Week Five: July 22-26
Kantian Ethics
Kant,
O’Neil (electronic)
Velleman (electronic)
Shafer-Landau,
Week Six: July 29 - August 2
Assessing Utilitarianism & Kantian Ethics
Anscombe,
Williams,
Wolf,
Stocker (electronic)
Baker (electronic)
Week Seven: August 5-8
Virtue Ethics
Aristotle, ;
Shafer-Landau,
Aristotle,
Week Eight: August 12-16
Virtue Ethics & Assessing Ethical Theory
Nussbaum,
Note: Final Paper due August 12
Week Nine: August 19-23
Contemporary Moral Issues: Abortion
Thomson,
Hursthouse,
Review for the final
Note: Final Exam August 23

8. Peter Singer http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/
One of the leading present-day defenders of utilitarianism in the realm of applied ethics.

9. Preliminary Thought Experiment
Pond
Envelope

10. Proximity makes a moral difference
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

11. Empirical Information
“In 2001 the World Bank estimated that 2.8 billion people – nearly half the world population – live on less than $2 a day. In its latest figures the World Bank reported that 1.4 billion people in the developing world (one in four) were living on less than US$1.25 a day in In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) the proportion of people living below $1.25 a day has remained the same, at 50%, from 1981 to In absolute terms, however, the number of poor people in SSA nearly doubled, from 200 million in 1981 to 390 million in 2005.”
*Chart from the World Bank website
Empirical Information

12. Empirical Information
“Over the last decade, disasters around the world have caused an average 90,000 deaths a year … The UN estimates that 34,000 children and 16,000 adults die each day from hunger or preventable diseases with poverty-related causes. That amounts to 18 million a year (See R Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work?, Page 121).”
Hunger; malnutrition; widespread disease; high infant mortality rate; great pain and suffering, which shortens lives and undermines human dignity.
Empirical Information

13. Discussion Exercise
Your Donation
What It Can Provide
$35
Two high-energy meals a day to 200 children
$50
Vaccinations for 50 people against meningitis, measles, polio or other deadly epidemics
$70
Two basic suture kits to repair minor shrapnel wounds
$100
Infection-fighting antibiotics to treat nearly 40 wounded children
$250
A sterilization kit for syringes and needles used in mobile vaccination campaigns
$500
A medical kit containing basic drugs, supplies, equipment, and dressings to treat 1,500 patients for three months
$1000
Emergency medical supplies to aid 5,000 disaster victims for an entire month
$5500
An emergency health kit to care for 10,000 displaced people for three months
Estimate how much money you have spent on entertainment and luxuries this past year (movies, music, toys, comforts, eating out … everything not necessary to your survival).
Estimate how much good that money would do if donated to charity (Oxfam, Doctors without Borders, Unicef, etc.).
Compare your responses … Are the two of “comparable moral importance”? (

14. Do you feel morally guilty?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree