1. THE ETHICS OF OBLIGATION “How Should I Behave In Order To Promote A Cooperative Society Where I, And Every Other Human Can Pursue Their Life’s Plan?”

2. Obligations of the Social Contract Our duty, to gain the benefits of an ordered society, requires that we set aside our short term self-interested inclinations in favor of general rules that impartially promote the welfare of everyone … including ourselves (ultimately); rules that are in our enlightened self-interest. We can do this because others in society have agreed to do the same thing, because it is in their enlightened (ultimate) self-interest as well. The social contract is how we create an ordered society, escaping anarchy.

3. Common Morality: Deciding What To Do * Bernard Gert Stone Professor of Philosophy Dartmouth College 2004 * Common Morality is a major revision for the lay audience of Dr. Gert’s 1984 treatise Morality: A New Justification for the Moral Rules

4. Moral Precepts are rules or principles that no rational person would want violated with regard to themselves or anyone for whom they cared … without reason. They are precepts that protect the individual from suffering or evil at the hands of another.

5. THE MORAL PRECEPTS 1.Don’t Kill 2.Don’t Cause Pain 3.Don’t Disable 4.Don’t Deprive of Freedom 5.Don’t Deprive of Pleasure 6.Don’t Deceive 7.Don’t Break Your Promises 8.Don’t Cheat 9.Don’t Disobey the Law 10.Don’t Fail to do Your Duty

6. Moral Precepts Summarized: “Don’t Cause Evil or Harm”

7. “The only purpose for which power can be rightly exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others…He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise or even right.” John Stuart Mill in On Liberty

8. Ethics as a ‘Blunt Instrument’ Ethics is a fairly ‘blunt instrument,’ it is not a ‘scalpel’ that cuts sharply. Although precise and rigorous, ethics does not enable one to determine that one and only one action is moral. Certain alternatives may be ruled out, but not infrequently range of possible actions often remain that are morally acceptable.

9. Ethics As A ‘Blunt Instrument’ (continued) Sometimes all possible actions infringe on one moral rule or another. It sometimes becomes a matter of determining which is the lesser of two evils, or which moral rule deserves receiving the most weight in a particular circumstance.

10. Moral Precepts Are Universal, Not Absolute Universality in applying the moral precepts means that all rational human beings with voluntary abilities are to abide by the moral precepts. Moral absolutism is the claim that we ought never break any moral precept for any reason.

11. Moral Justification Everyone is always to obey the precepts except when impartial, rational people who know all of the relevant facts advocate that violating it be allowed. On reflection, the consequences of following a moral precept in a situation could result in more harm than good. Not infrequently all of the options available in a situation would result in violating a moral precept. Thus reflection forces consideration (and justification) of which course of action will result in the greater good or the lesser harm.

12. EXAMPLE Nazi storm troopers at the door of the Dutch home where Anne Frank and her family are hiding--does one lie to the storm troopers, and violate the moral precept, "do not deceive," or tell the truth, revealing the hiding place of the Frank family, and violate the moral rule, "do not deprive of freedom or opportunity?" The moral life is ambiguous, and frequently requires reflection and justification.

13. Rationality Rationality is concerned with actions/behavior. Rational actions are actions that comport with one’s “enlightened self- interest,” or the interest of one for whom one cares. Irrational actions are actions everyone would agree they would not advocate for one for whom they were concerned or cared. Rather they would avoid these actions. They are actions prohibited by reason … against reason.

14. Irrationality Actions against reason; prohibited by reason. To act contrary to one’s self-interest, for no reason. Actions characterized as crazy, stupid, idiotic, and insane. Distinguished from ‘mistaken’ judgements or reasoning. It is irrational for adults to believe in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus or that the earth is flat. Many beliefs are ‘mistaken,’ but not irrational, e.g., believing Oswald did not kill John Kennedy or the Holocaust did not really occur.

15. Impartiality A person is impartial when their evaluation of actions is not influenced by who is benefited or harmed by those actions.

16. Applying Moral Justification “Moral Justification” indicates that when every impartial, rational person who knows and understands the relevant features of a proposed violation of a moral precept and agrees that it is morally permissible, then it is strongly justified morally. When every knowledgeable impartial, rational person agrees it is not permissible then the violation is strongly unjustified. When people disagree about whether the violation is justified, then the violation is weakly justified, and the person could be sanctioned for the violation.

17. Kant’s “Categorical Imperative” Immanuel Kant, the 19th century German philosopher, helps further characterize moral justification with his famous dictum, “act only on that maxim that you would will it as a universal law.” If your action in a given circumstance could be willed to be universalized, that is, you would advocate that all people do what you are proposing to do in like circumstances, then you could make the claim that the action is impartial...and appropriate.

18. Moral Rules (Duties to Others) Correspond to Individual Rights

19. Reciprocity

20. “Rights are correlates of duties-- the performance of which we are not willing to leave to individual discretion.” James Rachels in Created From Animals

21. But… What Is the Role of “Doing Good” in the Moral Life? The Moral Ideals “Prevent Evil or Harm”

22. The Moral Ideals 1. Prevent Killing 2.Prevent the Causing of Pain 3.Prevent Disabling 4.Prevent Deprivation of Freedom 5.Prevent Deprivation of Pleasure 6.Prevent Deception 7.Prevent the Breaking of Promises 8.Prevent Cheating 9.Prevent Disobeying the Law 10. Prevent Others From Failing to do Their Duty

23. Gert’s Summary... “Obey the moral rules (precepts)… follow the moral ideals.”

24. The Moral Ideals… Encouraged but not required. Sanction someone for violating a moral precept… causing harm, unless able to be justified. Do not sanction someone for failing to follow the moral ideals…doing good. Can we require the doing of good? Why? Why not?

25. Moral Heroism Heroes are individuals who, in the view of society, take actions that are dangerous to self, in general, put their lives at risk, in an attempt to come to the aid of another. Heroes are people who do not only “not kill” (moral precept) but go beyond that, risking their lives to prevent killing (moral ideal.) This introduces the subject of “altruism.”

26. Altruism Altruism refers to actions taken by one person, which at some cost to the self, improves the welfare of another. “behaves in such a way as to increase another entity’s welfare at the expense of his own.” Richard Dawkins Definition of altruism is based solely on outcome, not motivation.

27. Motivations To Altruism desire to provide aid to another that has no self- interested dimension: strong altruism. Many do not think such exists. to escape the personal distress from seeing another in distress. to avoid the guilt and shame which would result from not helping. to gain social rewards that come from acting in socially approved ways. to avoid social sanctions that could be incurred from not helping. to develop in the other a sense of responsibility to help one in return at a later date..reciprocal altruism--I’ll help you now so that I can depend on you to help be later. Reciprocal altruism is the technical name for what is understood as cooperation; or to share in the joy the distressed may be expected to receive.

28. Altruism The dominant view is that all helping acts are fundamentally egoistic. That is, despite any surface indications that a helping act is intended simply to aid the victim, all helping ultimately results from a desire to ultimately increase the welfare of the helper, rather than the victim--weak altruism. Altruism, in the strong sense of the word, that is, motivated solely by increasing the welfare of the other, does not exist except potentially in relationship to individuals who are closely related genetically, such as children, siblings, or other closely genetically related individuals.

29. Altruism Are dentists, or any “professionals” altruistic? If so, in what sense? Does the concept of professionalism require that professionals be altruistic if they are to be ethical?