RIGHT TO LIFE p.2

1. RIGHT TO LIFE (p.2) Rule of Respecting Right to life The right to life as a moral right Rule of thumb? Rule of practice? Absolute rule/prima facie rule Two applications of rule: Abortion Capital punishment

3. Ambiguity of �right� and �moral� (p.9) �Morally Right:� morally permissible but not obligatory �Right� as a noun Non-Moral uses of �right:� a right answer Morally good person or character trait Non-moral use of �good:� a good watch Moral vs. immoral/moral vs. non-moral

4. Conscience (p.12) The voice of conscience. E.g. Johann Gottlieb Fichte Situation ethics Joseph Fletcher Uniqueness of each situation Irrelevance of rules of practice. But rules of thumb may apply. Ethics is un-teachable. Only rules can be taught. Deafness to voice of conscience

5. Problems with Conscience as Standard of Rights and Wrong How do we know whether some inner voice we hear is the voice of conscience and not the voice of the devil? If conscience is the ultimate standard, it is arbitrary, it acts for no good reason. But if there is a good reason for what it says, it is not ultimate after all. That reason (happiness?, respect for rights?) is ultimate. Ethics based merely on conscience dissolves.

6. Revelation (p.16) Religious ethics: The will of God as standard of right action Problem 1. Paradox of Religious Ethics: Either the will of God is based on no good reason and is arbitrary, or it is based on a good reason and is not the ultimate standard of right and wrong. Problem 2..How do we know the will of God? Problem of interpreting Scripture Problem 3. Religious ethics makes it difficult for non-religious people, or people of a different religion, to be ethical. Religious ethics requires some further non-religious ethics to govern relations with people who do not accept one�s religion.

7. Reason (p.17) Reason is the true standard of right action. Hence empirical observation or generalization is not the standard of right action. Reason is the ability to correct error by discussion with any member of the universal audience. Right action is creation of this audience and active respect for every member�s right to free thought. E.g., right action is active respect for the right to food since no one can exercise freedom of thought without food.

8. Why Be Moral? (p.18) From the moral point of view the question does not arise. Points of view: cognitive, selfish, aesthetic, social, moral Possibility of cognitive, aesthetic, social, and selfish reasons to be moral. Giving a moral reason to be moral (�It�s right because it is right�) begs the question A social reason to be moral is egoistic for social animals With a selfish or cognitive reason to be moral the moral point of view is no longer primary The cognitive point of view is primary if morality is to be justified. Being moral advances the search for truth by empowering a maximum range of discussion partners.

9. Relativism (p.27) �Relativism� = �Subjectivism� Thinking something to be so makes it so for the person who believes it. Individual relativism (pp.34-35 = collective relativism Thinking an action to be right makes it right for the individual or society that thinks it to be right. Objectivism: beliefs are made true not merely by believing them but by their correspondence to the facts.

10. Homosexuality (pp. 30-32) Is homosexuality right for some people and wrong for others? Is it objectively right for some because they cannot help it? (Ought implies Can.) Is there a human right to express one�s sexual orientation? (To repress such expression is to repress freedom of thought, which expresses itself in sexual orientation as well as in nationality or in the use of one�s mother tongue.)

11. Arguments against Relativism If relativism is true, it is not objectively true: it is relatively true only for relativists, and its truth is in no way superior to objectivism, which is true for objectivists. Relativists think their belief can make statements objectively true: faith moves mountains. Thus they do not escape objective truth If relativism is true everyone is already right, so that inquiry or the correction of error is impossible.

12. Aristotle�s Egoistic Ethics (p.40) Egoism is not egotism: man is a social animal Happiness as an end in itself, the final end. Ends/means calculus Disagreement about the means Happiness as harmonious exercise of faculties Vegetative, animal, and rational faculties Rule-based ethics/virtue based ethics Virtue is not inborn, but is learned as a habit Virtues, vices, and the golden mean Four cardinal virtues: temperance, courage, wisdom, justice Vices of excess and vices of deficiency Cowardliness and foolhardiness Over-indulgence and Being cheap and over-spending

13. Relativism (p.27) Contextual relativism Application of absolute normative beliefs relative to different environments Descriptive normative relativism Normative beliefs are relative to culture or temperament Prescriptive Normative relativism Normative beliefs are true for all who think they are true. Criticism of normative relativism More generally, criticism of cognitive relativism Relativism itself is only relatively true. Relativism makes learning impossible. Ideals of objective truth and fallibilism