1 / 6

Introduction: Films, Cases and Ethical Reasoning (Part I)

Introduction: Films, Cases and Ethical Reasoning (Part I). Dr. Chan Ho Mun Department of Public and Social Administration City University of Hong Kong Dec 11, 2008. Moral Theories. A moral theory consists of a set of moral principles.

jenniferrjones
Download Presentation

Introduction: Films, Cases and Ethical Reasoning (Part I)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Introduction: Films, Cases and Ethical Reasoning (Part I) Dr. Chan Ho Mun Department of Public and Social Administration City University of Hong Kong Dec 11, 2008

  2. Moral Theories • A moral theory consists of a set of moral principles. • These principles specify the conditions under which an action is morally right or wrong, or what makes a person or something good or bad. • They purport to guide our moral reasoning by providing justifications for our actions. • Together with facts about an individual case, we can further judge whether an individual act is morally right or wrong, or whether a person or something is good or bad.

  3. Applied Ethics • Applied Ethics: We can resolve any ethical issues by a direct application of some relevant moral theories. • Applied ethics is akin to something like applied mathematics. • Individual cases serve as good illustrations of moral theories. • “a+b = b+a” can be illustrated by “2+3 = 3+2”. • The approach is top-down.

  4. Bottom-up Approach (Case-based Approach) • Start with an obvious (real or hypothetical) case where we have a strong intuition or considered judgement that it is morally right/wrong or good/bad. • Cases and our moral intuition (perception) have their own voices and we don’t need to rely on theories to know what is right/wrong or good/bad. • Analogical reasoning: compare it with a problematic case that is structurally similar and then draw a similar conclusion. • Example: Thomson’s arguments for and Marquis’s argument against abortion.

  5. Bottom-up Approach (Case-based Approach) • A theory is under challenge if it is inconsistent with our moral intuition. • E.g., achieve social utility by punishing an innocent.

  6. Third Way: Reflective Equilibrium • A moral theory is acceptable if it can make sense of and be compatible with our various intuitively appealing beliefs and ideas or firmly held judgements about morality. • Some of the less obvious principles of a moral theory will be modified if the theory fails to do that. • Our less committed beliefs and ideas will be modified or rejected if they cannot be made compatible with the appealing principles of a moral theory. • Is reflective equilibrium something attainable?

More Related