Chapter 2 Ethics

Lesson 1 Introduction to Ethics

Ethics in TOK Belief is the basis of all action. What is more central to us than our ethical belief? How do we know what is right, and how do we know what is wrong? What are the things that make up this knowledge? Our culture? Our beliefs? Our laws?

Morals and ethics Everyone has a set of morals that they live by This set of morals differs from other people’s A complicated superstructure of moral beliefs and ethical views can be called a “Moral Framework” Like this structure’s frame is made up of beams, our moral framework is made up of principles.

Moral Parsimony A parsimonious moral framework is one that is very stingy in its use of principles Parsimonious moral frameworks have a very limited number of principles that apply to all situations Less parsimonious moral frameworks more principles which apply to situations depending on the circumstance More or less parsimonious has nothing to do with good or bad. One is not better than the other

Questions for the Moral Parsimony exercise You pass someone in the street who is in severe need and you are able to help them a little cost to yourself. Are you morally obliged to do so? Strongly Obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 2 You have a brother. You know that someone has been seriously injured as a result of criminal activity undertaken by him. You live in a country where the police are generally trustworthy. Are you morally obliged to inform them about your brother's crime? Strongly obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 3 Do you think that assisting the suicide of someone who wants to die - and has requested help - is morally equivalent to allowing them to die by withholding medical assistance (assuming that the level of suffering turns out to be identical in both cases)? Yes or No

Question 4 You are able to help some people. Unfortunately, you can only do so by harming other people. The number of people harmed will always be 10 percent of those helped. When considering whether it is morally justified to help does the actual number of people involved make any difference? For example, does it make a difference if you are helping ten people by harming one person rather than helping 100,000 people by harming 10,000 people? Yes or No

Question 5 You own an unoccupied property. You are contacted by a refugee group which desperately needs somewhere to house a person seeking asylum who is being unjustly persecuted in a foreign country. Your anonymity is assured. You have every reason to believe that no harm will come to your property. Are you morally obliged to allow them to use your property? Strongly obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 6 A charity collection takes place in your office. For every UK£10.00 given, a blind person's sight is restored. Instead of donating UK£10.00, you use the money to treat yourself to a cocktail after work. Are you morally responsible for the continued blindness of the person who would have been treated had you made the donation? Responsible, Partly Responsible, or Not Responsible

Question 7 Someone you have never met needs a kidney transplant. You are one of the few people who can provide the kidney. Would any moral obligation to provide the kidney be greater if this person were a cousin rather than a non-relative? Yes or No

Question 8 You can save the lives of a thousand patients by cancelling one hundred operations that would have saved the lives of a hundred different patients. Are you morally obliged to do so?? Yes or No

Question 9 Are your moral obligations to people in your own country or community stronger than those to people in other countries and communities (assuming no unusual circumstances - for example, suffering because of famine - in either your own country/community or other countries/communities)? Yes or No

Question 10 You deliberately sabotage a piece of machinery in your work place so that when someone next uses it there will be an accident which will result in that person losing the use of their legs. Are you morally responsible for their injury? Responsible, Partly Responsible, or Not Responsible

Question 11 You know the identity of someone who has committed a serious crime resulting in a person being badly injured. Are you morally obliged to reveal their identity to an appropriate authority so that they are dealt with justly? Strongly obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 12 You can save the lives of ten innocent people by killing one other innocent person. Are you morally obliged to do so? Yes or No

Question 13 You see an advertisement from a charity in a newspaper about a person in severe need in Australia. You can help this person at little cost to yourself. Are you morally obliged to do so? Strongly obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 14 You are required to send a person a gift, and you have bought a bottle of drink to send to them. However, you discover it is poison and if consumed will cause blindness in the drinker. To replace it with a non-contaminated bottle will cost you UK£10.00. You give the poisoned drink as a gift anyway. Are you morally responsible for the blindness of the drinker? Responsible, Partly Responsible, or Not Responsible

Question 15 A situation arises where you can either save your own child from death or contact the emergency services in order to save the lives of ten other children. You cannot do both, and there is no way to save everyone. Which course of action are you morally obliged to follow? Save your Own or Save the Others

Question 16 You can save the lives of ten patients by cancelling one operation which would have saved the life of a different patient. Are you morally obliged to do so? Yes or No

Question 17 You own an unoccupied property. You are contacted by a welfare organisation which desperately needs somewhere to house a person from a nearby town who is being unjustly persecuted. Your anonymity is assured. You have every reason to believe that no harm will come to your property. Are you morally obliged to allow them to use your property? Strongly obliged, Weakly Obliged, or Not Obliged

Question 18 You become aware that a piece of machinery in your workplace is faulty and that if it is not repaired then there will soon be an accident which will result in someone losing the use of their legs. Despite knowing that nobody else is aware of the fault, you take no action. Shortly afterwards, the accident occurs, and someone does lose the use of their legs. Are you morally responsible for their injury? Responsible, Partly Responsible, or Not Responsible

Question 19 You can save the lives of a million innocent people by killing a hundred thousand others. Are you morally obliged to do so? Yes or No

Lesson 2 Introducing Ideas

Ethical absolutism There are definite rights and wrongs that apply all over the world and for all people A wrong action would be wrong for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in any circumstances Ethical absolutism naturally implies that there is some sort of higher, uniting ethical code that people must live up to Absolutism implies that there is an objective right and there is an objective wrong

Ethical relativism Claims that there is no objective right and wrong Ethics are created by the cultures in which the ethics apply Something that is right in one culture can be wrong in another It is a culture’s subjective view of that action that makes the action right or wrong Subsequently it is impossible for one culture to justify imposing its ethical standards upon another culture

Lesson 3 Follow up on Moral Parsimony Illustrate how different people have different ethical frameworks Discuss the different sub-categories Let the students explain their views on their scores Make ties to Lesson 2 Spend time focusing on individual questions you find interesting

The Expulsion from Paradise, Charles Joseph Natoire. (1740) Lesson 4 Absolutism The Expulsion from Paradise, Charles Joseph Natoire. (1740)

Ethical rules crucial to all societies Makes interaction possible Every culture in the world has ethics and moral rules Knowledge about how to exist within any given society must also know what is considered right and what is considered wrong

Plato and the absolute good Is this a perfect circle? Look very closely.

Plato and the absolute good Like the concept of circularity, the concept of the “Good” is found not in the physical realm of space and time, but instead as changeless concepts in the world of Forms and Ideas These things can only be known by reason The “Good” is something which exists and which all inherently know if they reason properly upon it

Dualism Human beings are made up of a body and a soul The soul originally and eternally resided in the place of perfect ideas and forms When we become incarnated, our perfect souls are taken from this perfect ideal world and they are trapped in our imperfect cages of meat This forces us to seek out the truth through the only means we have—our senses Our souls, argued Plato, understand the good and the righteous We may occasionally see a beam of light filter through the confinements which we would immediately recognize as being sunlight, but we will never get a clear, unobstructed look at the sun itself.

Plato views are hugely important for absolutism because… According to this concept, there is a Good to know It is a real ideal Our actions can be compared to this Good It is something all of us should try to obtain It is an objective standard by which all our actions are judged

Plato’s views are called an “absolute” set of morals because This ethical reality would apply to everyone everywhere All beings live by the same standard whether they realize it or not There is a set standard to live up to. If someone does not live up to that standard they are living incorrectly This viewpoint assumes there is a standard everyone should abide by

The Divine command Theory states… “Moral,” and “right,” actions are those which confirm to God’s will God’s will is the foundation for all morality Understanding God’s will allows people to know if an action right or wrong This is a form of ethical absolutism

How absolutism ties to ethical knowledge An absolutist knows that actions are either right or wrong because of the absolute rules This allows an absolutist to judge other people around the world by the same set of rules

Problems with absolutism What happens if one culture (culture A) knows something is right (for example eating pork) and another culture (culture B) knows it is wrong? Often two different cultures will adhere to two contrasting sets of ”absolute” rules Absolutism can lead to hasty judgments and misunderstanding

Lesson 5 Ethical Relativism

Hobbes and Social Contract Theory Man’s natural state is that of is that of all out warfare In this state, the only goal is to take as much as we can get and keep it for as long as possible Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Social contract (contd.) In this natural state, “To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, have there no place” “The passions that incline men to peace are: fear of death; desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living; and a hope by their industry to obtain them.”

Social contract (contd.) In this state of total war, “every man has a right to every thing, even to one another's body. And therefore, as long as this natural right of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no security to any man” Because of the fact that there can be no security at all in this state, man is inclined to seek peace. These motives are selfish for peace is the most reasonable means of procuring the things one wants

Social contract (contd.) This leads into an agreement, “that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men as he would allow other men against himself” “For as long as every man holdeth this right, of doing anything he liketh; so long are all men in the condition of war”

Social contract (contd.) It is only at this point that the concept of injustice or unethical can begin to exist “so in the world it is called injustice, and injury voluntarily to undo that which from the beginning he had voluntarily done” If a person, after agreeing to give up the right to all things, once again attempts to have the right to all things, this is an injustice “The mutual transferring of right is that which men call contract”

Social contract (contd.) And in this law of nature consisteth the fountain and original of justice. For where no covenant hath preceded, there hath no right been transferred, and every man has right to everything and consequently, no action can be unjust. But when a covenant is made, then to break it is unjust and the definition of injustice is no other than the not performance of covenant. And whatsoever is not unjust is just.

How Hobbes’ ideas lead into ethical relativism People need certain things to survive in their environment These things are different from place to place

How Hobbes’ ideas lead into ethical relativism (contd.) Because of this the concept of being selfish is different from place to place If someone takes whatever they want, whenever they want it, what they take will differ from place to place due to the conditions of that place

How Hobbes’ ideas lead into ethical relativism (contd.) Subsequently, when men tire of the state of constant conflict and agree to give up the right to everything, what they give up the right to will also differ (i.e. water in one place coal in another) Therefore the concept of what is ethical behaviour and what is unethical behaviour will differ from place to place because the social contract dictating proper behaviour differs from place to place Thus ethics and morals are relative to the cultures from which they come since they are created by cultures so these specific cultures can coexist

Summarizing The crucial point to remember is since cultures develop differently in different parts of the world, what is considered selfish is also different. Therefore, the social contracts people make, contracts which keep them from being selfish, will also be different. Consequently, behaviour that breaks those contracts (behaviour that is ethically wrong), will be different in different places. This implies there can be no absolute ethics

Lesson 6 The United Nations Ethics Game The United Nations General Assembly

The goal of this game is to produce a document consisting of 8 human rights 1 Human right must deal with the treatment of criminals/prisoners 1 Human right must deal with medical care 1 Human right must deal with education 1 human right must deal with personal freedoms 4 Human rights can be about whatever your groups can agree upon

proper wording that would please all parties The countries Gambakun Felomar (Federated Land Of Many Riches) Nanzhoushan Santa Sulônia Before the original UN declaration was signed in 1948, there were over 1400 rounds of voting to come up with proper wording that would please all parties

Food for thought "If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." - John Stuart Mill

Lesson 7 Socrates Socrates 469 BC-399 BC

Socrates argued It was possible to discover ethical truth Reasoning is the tool which can lead to the discovery The method for discovering these ethical truths is called the Socratic Method

The Socratic Method of thought for finding true ethical statements Find any (ethical) statement which you consider to be true. This is called an “ethical hypothesis.” Come up with a situation in which the statement is not true and that negates the ethical hypothesis Nuance the original hypothesis to come up with a new ethical hypothesis which takes into account the negation of the first hypothesis Find a situation in which the new hypothesis does not apply thereby negating it, and then nuance the statement to come up with yet another new hypothesis Continue the process until you find a hypothesis which is impossible to negate. Once you have done so you have found knowledge

Rules for the Socratic Circle There must be consensus between student and teacher on topic of instruction The students must agree to attempt to answer the questions the teacher poses to them

Rules for the Socratic Circle (contd.) Both student and teacher must agree to accept any answer as long as the answer is correctly reasoned. The reasoning process is more important than the facts It is imperative that the teacher exposes errors in the reasoning of the students; any fallacies must be brought to attention and dealt with. Any mistaken statement or logical inconsistency must be weeded out to get a truthful answer

Rules for the Socratic Circle (contd.) The teacher must be able to reason quickly and correctly to discover errors in the students’ reasoning, then be able to formulate questions that students must reason correctly about if they are to answer them The teacher must be willing to be corrected by the students if there is an error in the teacher's reasoning

Lesson 8 Closing arguments

Moral relativism Moral relativism states that a culture’s morality is part of an intricate framework of tradition, beliefs, practice, history, world view, and feelings that are comprised to make up what we generally call culture Cultures differ around the world and so to will different cultures’ ideas of morality

Arguments against the absolutist set of beliefs All moral systems are sets of rules Second, we are blank moral slates at birth Finally, we can not escape the subjectivity of at least one moral system

Absolutism Moral relativists would have us believe that there is no right and there is no wrong This is incorrect. Some things are simply wrong

Absolutism (contd.) If relativism were to work at all, it would it only work when cultures are isolated from one another Belief does not make something right or wrong in ethics any more than it does in math or science Relativism is a simple-minded, easy philosophy