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4. lecture. Ethical theories II. Reminder. The goal of the course: To help students to solve professional moral dilemmas. To achieve this you need to know How to evaluate actions Why do certain actions have certain values Normative ethical theories discuss these questions. Contractualism.
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4. lecture Ethicaltheories II.
Reminder • The goal of the course: To help students to solve professional moral dilemmas. • To achieve this you need to know • How to evaluate actions • Why do certain actions have certain values • Normative ethical theories discuss these questions.
Actions do not have an objective value • The basic principle in contractualism is that • Actions have no agent-independent (or mind-independent) objective value. • There are no natural obligations. • The only things there are for ethical evaluation are the personal preference and values of people. • (This is what deontic ethical theories deny).
"A man is a wolf to another man” • What would happen if people would only follow their own goals without any respect to the needs of others?
Moral convention • Morality and values are based on convention. • There is nothing wrong with stealing. It is made wrong only by convention. • We accept these rules becuase we all benefit from them at the end. Cooperation and social life becomes better if we conform to common values. • Conventions are not explicit contracts but they are manifested in a similar manner.
Why do we have these conventions in particular? • Conventions are formed via common agreement and public discourse. • Everyone wants to maximally satisfy their own needs and if we do not have objective values then the resulting conventions reflect only the power relations of the parties who make the bargain. • The role of morality concerning contractualism is to result better cooperation. • But weak parties have less contribution to the cooperation than strong ones.
Why do we have these conventions in particular? • How to explain the following: morality usually favours the weak against the strong. Why is this worth it for the strong? • Strength is not an objective and constant phenomena. • It is affected by history, change in the social structure and technology. • Strong people do not always stay strong. Therefore on the long run, it is worth it for everyone to keep a social order that helps those who are less fortunate.
Right and wrong action • Right action: that is in conformity to convention. • Wrong action: that is not in conformity to convention. • Conventions declare obligations for agents. (this is how contractualism can serve as a foundation for deontic ethical systems). • But conventions can also affect basic values and their definitions: justice, rights, social hierarchy, language etc.
Evaluating actions within contractualism • Any attempt to evaluate an action in the light of contractualism leads to the following questions: • Would my action make cooperation possible? Would my peers or the public accept my action as good?
Critical notes on contractualism • Conventions can be immoral. • E.g. Certain arrangements of power relations may lead to immoral conventions that target or even eliminate the weaker. • Conventions themselves cannot be criticized on moral grounds. • Contractualism is counterintuitive: • Contractualism: morality is the system of a mutually benefitial cooperation. • Intuition: morality should provide us the grounds for cooperation and power relations. • There are objective moral values.
Work in groups • Should we build a nuclear plant somewhere? • Should we interfere in the Yugoslav War? • Should I kill Emperor Nero?
Right action • According to utilitarianism right action is defined by the consequences of that action. • An action is right if it leads to the most benefit. • Principle of utility: Morally right action is such that it results to the most benefit for the most agents. • Benefit: what is good to whom are concerned and affected by the action.
Calculating consequences? • Actions are evaluated by their consequences. • In any situation you need to evaluate the expected consequences of the available actions and you need to choose the one that has the greatest expected value. • This leads us to the problem of calculating probabilities and benefits.
Evaluating actions in the light of utilitarianism • Attempting to evaluate moral sitatuations with the help of utilitarianism leads to the following questions: • What are the possible conseaquences of my action? Which one of these consequences would lead to the greatest benefit?
Critical notes on utilitarianism • While it is reasonable to evaluate actions by their consequences, it remains difficult to do it. • It is usually difficult to account for all possible consequences. • Calculating probabilities is difficult. • It is difficult to decide who benefits from what and how much is the profit and loss. • Some ethical norms can be violated by utilitarian considerations (e.g. human experimentation, totalitarian regimes, slavery etc).
Norm-Utilitarianism • Actions can be evaluated by their consequences but that leads us to strange results. • Rule-utilitarianism on the other hand evalutes social norms. • A norm (and action following this norm) is good if following the norm statistically leads to more benefit for more people. • Norm-utilitarianism provides us with a tool to evaluate norms and not just actions.
Norm-Utilitarianism II. • Norm-Utilitarianism therefore provides us with norms to follow. • However you can violate these norms in cases when you have good reasons for it (it is more beneficial to violate the norm than to conform to it).
Evaluating actions with norm-utilitarianism • Attempting to evaluate actions according to norm-utilitarianism leads to the following questions: • If we violate a certain rule then we produce significantly more benefit than if we conform to it.
