1. PHIL242: MEDICAL ETHICS SUM2014, M-F, 9:40-10:40, SAV 156
INSTRUCTOR: BENJAMIN HOLE
OFFICE HOURS: M-F, 10:40-11 

2. Agenda 1. Clicker Quiz 2. Ethical Theory
Natural Law Theory
3. Ethical Theory, Culture, & Religion
Divine Command Theory and Relativism
Next week
“Writing Philosophy” (PDF), Mark Woodhouse
“The Principle of Utility” (PDF), Jeremy Bentham
“Utilitarianism,” John Stuart Mill (52-54)
“The Moral Law,” Immanuel Kant (55-60)

3. QUIZ Please set your Turning Technology Clicker to channel 41
Press “Ch”, then “41”, then “Ch”

4. Kant says that through reason and reflection we can derive our duties from
The categorical imperative
The duration of human history
Experience
A calculation of consequences

5. Natural law tradition resolves dilemmas through the principle of utility.
True
False

6. Which view holds that the moral law is constituted by the will of god?
Kantian Deontology
Rule Utilitarianism
Divine Command Theory
Moral Absolutism
Virtue Ethics

7. Aquinas’s version & the Doctrine of Double Effect
Natural Law Theory
Aquinas’s version & the Doctrine of Double Effect

8. Natural Law Theory
The view that right actions are those that conform to moral standards discerned in nature through human reason.
“An action is right if and only if (and because) in performing the action one does not directly violate any of the basic values” (Timmons, MTP)
Human Life
Human Procreation
Human Knowledge
Human Sociability

9. How is NLT action-guiding in moral dilemmas?

10. Doctrine of Double Effect
“An action that would bring about at least one evil effect and at least one good effect is morally permissible if (and only if) the following conditions are satisfied:
Intrinsic permissibility
Necessity
Non-intentionality
Proportionality”

11. Natural Law Theory Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

12. Divine Command Theory
Euthyphro Dilemma

13. Common “shortcuts” around ethical theorizing
1. Divine Command Theory
2. Cultural Relativism

14. DCT:
An act is right if and only if God commands that we do the action

15. Horned Dilemma Argument
If A, then B or C.
B is absurd
C is absurd
Therefore, A is absurd

16. Dilemma Horn One:
If it is a good thing because God loves it:
Then is there no reason for God to love it?
Isn’t it capricious, or random? What if God commanded the torture of all left-handers?
If it is right because God commands it, then there is no basis for the word of God.

17. Dilemma Horn Two:
If God loves it because it is a good thing:
Then isn’t God constrained by some moral order, so that we might look directly at that order?
If God commands it because it is right, then there is some standard for rightness besides the word of God.

18. Different thinkers have answered differently…
St. Thomas Aquinas:
God has a reason for what he says, and this reason constrains Him.
William of Ockham:
God could indeed make murder mandatory.

19. The Euthyphro Dilemma
Divine Command Theory: An act is right iff God commands it.
The Dilemma: Either it right because God commands it or God command it because it is right.
Horn One: If it is right because God commands it, then there is no basis for the word of God.
Horn Two: If God commands it because it is right, then there is some standard for rightness besides the word of God.

20. Which horn of the dilemma is easier for you to accept?
True
False

21. Relativism

22. Ethical Relativism
Subjective Relativism—The view that right actions are those sanctioned by a person
Cultural Relativism—The view that right actions are those sanctioned by one’s culture
(CR) “An act (performed by members of group G) is right if and only if the moral norms that are accepted by G permit the performance of the action.”
(Timmons, 32)
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS

23. Cultural Ethical Relativism
“An act (performed by members of group G) is right if and only if the moral norms that are accepted by G permit the performance of the action.”
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS

24. Cultural Differences Argument
If people’s moral judgments differ from culture to culture, moral norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Judgments differ from culture to culture.
Therefore, norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS

25. Criticize the Argument
If people’s moral judgments differ from culture to culture, moral norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Judgments differ from culture to culture.
Therefore, norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS

26. Criticize the Argument
If people’s moral judgments differ from culture to culture, moral norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Judgments differ from culture to culture.
Therefore, norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Objection
Judgments might not differ much from culture to culture, just the expression of those judgments.
Context Sensitivity
“The rightness or wrongness of an action may depend in part on facts about the agent and her circumstances, where her circumstances may include facts about the norms for what counts as constituting insults, a person’s privacy, proper respect for others, and so forth”
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS

27. Criticize the Argument
If people’s moral judgments differ from culture to culture, moral norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Judgments differ from culture to culture.
Therefore, norms are relative to culture and there are no objective moral standards.
Objections
Undermines tolerance
Undermines internal criticism
Undermines external criticism
Undermines moral progress
THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM by JAMES RACHELS