o Community Values

Week 1 SO, ethics and morality deals with the

same subject matter: HUMAN ACTIONS
What is ethics? OR HUMAN BEHAVIOR.
Ethics as de昀椀ned by Loius Pojman and
James Feiser: Morality vs. ethics
The branch of philosophy that deals with ETHICS comes from the Greek word
how we ought to live with the idea of ETHOS and morality comes from the
good and with concepts such as right or Latin word MORES, both of which means
wrong. CUSTOM or NORMAL BEHAVIOR.

- Ought or should means that ethics ETHICS deals with the subject matter by
is a universal or normative prescribing what should be right and
approach that it approaches the what should be wrong. MORALITY deals
subject matter in a prescriptive with what moral principles/ belief we
manner. should actually hold.

- Prescriptive: ethics, through EXAMPLE:

various ethical frameworks,
Anna believes that it is ok to tell a white
prescribe or suggest what people
lie as long as it does not hurt other
should do.
people. So, when asked if a friend looks
Morality as de昀椀ned by Loius Pojman and good, she will say yes as she believes
James Feiser: that it is the right thing to do even if she
honestly believes otherwise. This is
Descriptive morality refers to actual because hurting her friends’ feelings is
beliefs, customs, principles, and practices much worse than lying to keep her friend
of people and cultures. from getting hurt.
- Refers to our currently held - This example can be viewed as
personal belieds, views, values, or Anna’s MORALITY, which is
perspective about a subject matter. in昀氀uenced by religion, culture,
- It is about what we actually think to environment, and etc.
be right or wrong regardless of According to modern philosopher,
whether it is correct to think that it IMMANUEL KANT there are UNIVERSALLY
is what is right or wrong. WRONG ACTIONS that regardless of their
- EXAMPLE: some believe that lying reasons they will always be wrong such
for some instance is morally as LYING, CHEATING, and KILLING.
acceptable. BUT, it is another thing Hence, what Anna did was ethically
to believe that lying should be unacceptable because lying, by its very
morally acceptable or should be nature, will always be wrong.
morally correct.
In comparison, ethics is universal and
- Morality is in昀氀uenced by: prescriptive while morality is personal
o Religion and descriptive.

o Culture

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Development of ethics as a o INTELLECT: capacity to thict,
re昀氀ect, know, and deliberate.
branch of philosophy
Pojman and Feiser in their book refers to - According to Socrates, we, as
ethics as moral philosophy/ philosophy of rational individuals, always aim for
morality. Early discussions on ethics was the GOOD.
pioneered by Socrates.
o Whenever we do something it
SOCRATES: regarded as the father of is because we think it is good
modern philosophy, for us.
PRIOR to Socrates, ancient Greece lived o If we do things solely
in a society where the lives of people because it is BAD would be
were heabily dictated by Olympian gods ABSURD,
and goddesses. HENCE, morality then
o We only do bad things
revolved around what they think would
because we think it is good
please these gods.
for us but in reality, it is not.
This is called making
Socrates’ argument MISTAKES.
- Socrates was the 昀椀rst to ask on
how one SHOULD live our lives - Mistakes happen because of
INDEPENDENT of what the gods or IGNORANCE.
goddesses wanted.
o Ignorance stems from the
- It was Socrates who shifted the fact that we do not think it is
inquiry from the WORLD to the bad for us at the time that we
SELF. did it.
- It was also Socrates who o昀฀cially o When we act out of
asked how we should live. ignorance, it is not something
we intend,
- He was the 昀椀rst to ask these
questions in various platonic o Hence, bad actions are NOT
dialogues such as apology, gorgias intentional.
and the republic.
o This is because intent
- Stated that: “the unexamined life is PRESUPPOSES knowledge.
not worth living.”
o EXAMPLE: we cannot say that
- Believes that bad actions are NOT we intend to drink water, if
INTENTIONAL we do not have the
o We are all rational knowledge that what we will
individuals, so we have the be drinking is water.
capacity to think and o Therefore, lack of knowledge
deliberate various things. or ignorance presupposes
o REASON is a faculty that lack of intent. If we do not
consists of WILL. know something, we cannot
intend that thing.
o WILL: our capacity to do
things alone.

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 - ASK: what are the implications that 2. Change is impossible for those who
makes bad actions thinks that there is nothing wrong
UNINTENTIONAL. with their actions.
- This reasoning of Socrates impacts An akratic individual has already
the BLAMEWORTHINESS of the acknowledged their bad actions. They
action and the person’s simply need to strengthen their weak
RESPONSIBILITY over that action. will.
o EXAMPLE: On the other hand, an ignorant person
cannot change simply because they do
For example, it is one thing to say that it
not know that they are in the wrong.
is our fault when we have full knowledge
of the location of the foot that we EXAMPLE: Sam and Alex
stepped on. But if the scenario changes
- Sam is racist although he knows its
and we stepped on the foot because we
wrong.
do not know that it is there, we cannot
say that we intentionally stepped on it. - Alex is racist but he does not know
racism is wrong so he continues to
ASK: if we performed an action that we
do it.
do not intend to do, should we be
blamed? - Aristotle would argue that the
actions of Alex are worse than
- If people acts out of ignorance, how
Sam’s.
can we hold them liable for their
actions? o Alex has a rational faculty so
he can know that racism is
Aristotle’s argument bad,
It is indeed possible for us to INTEND bad
o Alex cannot change as he
actions even when we have full
does not know what to
knowledge that they are bad. According
change.
to Aristotle, we do this because our WILL
is WEAK. ASK: is it more problematic to act out of
ignorance or are akratic people more
- AKRASIA: weakness of the will.
problematic?
- EXAMPLE: diabetic John has a
sweet tooth. So, he eats sweets Thomas Aquinas
though he should not. 2 CLASSIFICATIONS OF ACTIONS
o In Aristotle’s reasoning, John 1. Actus Hominis
is Akratic because he cannot
resist/ has di昀฀culty resisting - Human actions refer to actions
sweets. humans do “qua” or as humans.

ROLE of IGNORANCE: The ignorant is - We are di昀昀erent because of our

worse than the akratic person because: rational faculty.

1. Ignorance means that we are not - Things we do exclusive to humans.

using our essence (rational - Examples: re昀氀ect or make
faculty). decisions.

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 2. Actus Humanus It may still be possible to distinguish
between things that are worth caring
- Acts of men or actions that we do
about to one degree or another and the
as animals.
things that are not." So here is then a
- As members of the animal point of re昀氀ection for us: “Do we care
kingdom, we share certain about the right things?”
characteristics with other animals
ASK: do we care about morality?
(breathe, sleep, etc.)
- Founded on human instincts, Announcements 05.03.2021
- Open cameras during exams,
Aquinas stated: All human actions are
proctored via zoom.
moral actions.
- 4 mini quizzes (1), 2 mini quizzes
Harry Frankfurt (2&3).
ASK: What motivates human actions?
- Refer to schedule in
ANS: Care drives our actions. announcement.
According to him, "The formation of a - No group task for M1, SW is 35%
person's will is fundamentally a matter
TERMS INTRODUCED
of his coming to care about certain things
and of his coming to care about some of - Killing is right if it serves personal
them more than about others." interest = ethical egoism
EXAMPLE: the character development of - Killing is right if it gives pleasure to
Prince Zuko in Avatar: the last air bender. the great number of people =
utilitarian
Prince Zuko cares about restoring his
honor which is the reason why he was - Killing is bad by its very nature.
hunting the Avatar. As the series has
progressed, Zuko's experiences changed Mini Quiz 1 {8 of 8}
his disposition and his outlook in life and Akrasia is translated in English as "Moral
in the last book of the series, he taught Weakness".
the Avatar a skill which is 昀椀re bending.
So during this point in his life, Zuko no - In notes, it can also be considered
longer cared about restoring his honor. as weakness of the will
What he cares about then is restoring - In the internet it is also known as
balance to the world and this motivated MORAL WEAKNESS
his decision.
- ANS: TRUE
Now that we know what we care about
drives our actions, it is now important to It is important to review what we care
examine the things that we SHOULD care about because these act as motivations
about. for our actions.

- The fact that what a person cares - In notes, Care drives our actions.
about is a personal matter does not
- ANS: TRUE
entail that anything goes.
This is book 3 Zuko

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 Week 2
All human acts are moral acts.
All human acts are moral acts as opposed
to acts of man which we share with other
animals.
It is exclusive to humans such as
debating, discussing, going to the mall.
This is considered by Aquinas as moral
acts.

- ANS: TRUE Nicomachean Ethics

One of the earliest philosophical thoughts
According to Socrates, bad actions are
on ethics by Aristotle:
not intentional.
Here, there are 2 types of actions:
- ANS: TRUE
1. Involuntary: innate, natural,
According to the lecture, moral acts are
something we cannot control. It is
those which are regarded as acts of man.
something we share with other
- Aquinas stated: All human actions animals.
are moral actions.
2. Voluntary: we have some degree of
- Acts of men or actions that we do control over these actions. We are
as animals. aware of doing it.

- Should be human actions. ASK: to what extent can we control

something. E.g. breathing. We can
- ANS: FALSE control our breathing in terms of exhaling
Book 1 Zuko is cares about restoring and inhaling and we are aware of our
balance to the world which is why he breathing when we breathe heavily.
wants to capture the Avatar. However, we cannot go a long time
without breathing hence making it
- ANS: FALSE (Should be HELP the involuntary.
Avatar).
- Another example is a habit is
Watching Net昀氀ix is an act of man. something we can control but we
- ANS: FALSE do it naturally.

Breathing is a human act. VOLUNTARY ACTIONS

- ANS: FALSE This has 3 aspects:

1. Knowledge: You are aware.
*Animals also have voluntary actions in
the sense that they do things, and they
know what they are doing. However,
their knowledge is not the same as ours.

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This is called imperfect knowledge. This Human Acts => Voluntary and Deliberate
refers to something done out of habit. Actions
2. Voluntariness: refers to our NOTE: when we do voluntary actions, we
willingness to do things. exercise our intellectual faculties.
3. Freely Done: you have the capacity EXAMPLE: di昀昀erence between homicide
to do it without hurdles. Nothing is and murder.
preventing you from doing it. (i.e.
- Homicide is not intentional.
buying ice candy)
- Murder is more morally palpable.
2 Types of Voluntary Actions
- Regardless, you still DID kill people
1. Directly Voluntary: something is
even without pre-mediated intent.
really intended. You intend to do it
i.e. killing to defend yourself.
and you intend its consequence.
2. Indirectly Voluntary: consequence Challenges of the 4 aspects of
of a directly voluntary action. (i.e.
moral actions:
buying ice candy and sharing it
(Knowledge, Voluntariness, Freely Done |
without meaning to
Intent)
Deliberate Actions
1. Ignorance
*Not part of Aristotle’s Nicomachean
a. Invincible: not aware that
Ethics
they are ignorant. It is
- There is knowledge, will, freedom, di昀฀cult to transform a person
and INTENT. who is not aware of his/her
ignorance.
- Something you did purposefully.
b. Vincible: the person can
ASK: are voluntary actions deliberate? transcend into an informed
- Not all voluntary actions are person.
INTENTIONAL. 2. Passion: refers to emotions in
- Ex: Drinking is DELIBERATE but philosophy. This impedes the
punching someone whilst drunk – is freedom associated with voluntary
that deliberate or voluntary? actions. i.e. crime of passion.

In summary, all DELIBERATE actions are 3. Fear: compromises voluntariness,

VOLUNTARY but NOT ALL VOLUNTARY and our knowledge. i.e. during an
ACTIONS are DELIBERATE. assault.

- Ex: If you are riding a train that 4. Violence: i.e. hold-up instance that
suddenly moved to the left. You causes the victim to react a certain
INVOLUNTARILY move to the right. way.
In doing so, you suddenly notice
5. Habit: something you do daily so it
that you stepped on someone.
is natural to you
Hence, the act of stepping in this
case is voluntary but NOT 6. Material Condition: i.e. when you
deliberate. are schizophrenic.

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 7. Socio-economic Status: how class - True (CORRECT: False)
compromises all the aspects of
According to the lecture, the 昀椀rst
voluntary actions. I.e. What if a
meaning of the term "moral" refers to
poor person stole their phone to
human acts.
pay for food. They do this because
they do not have a job due to poor - True
education.
All voluntary actions are deliberate
“Moral” signi昀椀es two meanings: actions.
1. Kinds of acts that are voluntary or - False
deliberate.
A deliberate action is also referred to as a
2. Rightness or wrongness of an act. direct voluntary action.*
FINAL NOTE: consider how our actions - True
a昀昀ect other people.
According to the lecture, vincible
ASK: to what extent is something a ignorance is a kind of ignorance that is
consequence of OUR actions? much more di昀฀cult to overcome.
- False
Mini-quiz 2 {9 of 10}
A dog, albeit not being human, can have
knowledge of its actions. However, such
knowledge is regarded as imperfect
knowledge.
- True
In the lecture, another term used for
passion is "emotion".
- True
If a pilot drops a bomb which
consequently kills 100 people, the act of
killing them is regarded as a direct
voluntary action.
- False; indirect
All deliberate actions are voluntary
actions.
- True
What di昀昀erentiates deliberate from other
voluntary acts is the aspect of intent.
- True
The aspects of all voluntary actions
include knowledge, voluntariness,
freedom, and intent.*

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 Moral Relativism
Week 3 Moral relativism is the idea that there is
no universal or absolute set of moral
Moral Absolutism principles.
Moral absolutism asserts that there are
It’s a version of morality that advocates
certain universal moral principles by
“to each her own,” and those who follow
which all people's actions may be judged.
it often say, “Who am I to judge?”
- It is a form of deontology.
TYPES OF MORAL RELATIVISM
CHALLENGE: there will always be strong
1. DESCRIPTIVE MORAL RELATIVISM:
disagreements about which moral
also known as cultural relativism,
principles are correct and which are
says that moral standards are
incorrect.
culturally de昀椀ned, which is
EXAMPLE: most people around the world generally true.
probably accept the idea that we should
o Indeed, there may be a few
treat others as we wish to be treated
ourselves. However, people from values that seem nearly
di昀昀erent countries hold varying views universal, such as honesty
about everything. and respect, but many
di昀昀erences appear across
- Likewise, di昀昀erent people have cultures when people
varying views about issues such as evaluate moral standards
the morality of abortion, capital around the world.
punishment, nepotism, and bribery.
2. META-ETHICAL MORAL RELATIVISM:
Moral absolutism contrasts with states that there are no objective
moral relativism, which denies that grounds for preferring the moral
there are absolute moral values. values of one culture over another.
 It also di昀昀ers from moral pluralism, o Societies make their moral
which urges tolerance of others’ choices based on their
moral principles without concluding unique beliefs, customs, and
that all views are equally valid. practices. In fact, people tend
Absolutists argue that just because there to believe that the “right”
may be cultural norms endorsing some moral values are the values
things the norms do not make these act that exist in their own
moral and there are absolute rights and culture.
absolute wrongs. 3. NORMATIVE MORAL RELATIVISM: is
So, while moral absolutism declares a the idea that all societies should
universal set of moral values, in reality accept each other’s di昀昀ering moral
moral principles vary greatly among values, given that there are no
nations, cultures, and religions. universal moral principles.
o For example, just because
bribery is okay in some
cultures doesn’t mean that

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 other cultures cannot Until recently, the vast majority of the
rightfully condemn it. world population worked on farms and
the total production of the world's
Moral relativism is on the opposite end of
economy was mostly the total
the continuum from moral absolutism,
agricultural output.
which says that there is always one right
answer to any ethical question. And this output was limited by the 昀椀xed
size of the land. The total output of the
Relativists believe that what is good is
economy did not change a lot year by
that which contributes to the health and
year. The size of the pie was 昀椀xed; the
survival of society.
world was a zero-sum game.
Relativists argue that there are no
In such a stagnating world, the only way
fundamental or absolute de昀椀nitions of
to get better o昀昀 is if someone else gets
right and wrong.
worse o昀昀. Your neighbors loss is your
GENERAL EXAMPLE: Indeed, those who gain.
adhere to moral relativism would say,
- Economic inequality was extreme.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Then, the Industrial Revolution happened
Moral Universalism and everything changed.
States that what is considered wrong, is
- We developed machinery, better
wrong for all people for all time and if
crops, better fertilizers.
one wants to perform a certain act one
would have to agree that anyone else - More people could have more at
should be able to do it as well. the same time.
Argues that REMOVING the SUBJECTIVITY - Innovation: better solutions to
of moral discretion leads to egoistic and existing problems
nationalistic rationalizations.
The more you innovate, the more
complex and interesting problems you
Egoism discover as your wishes and needs
The psychological egoist believes that evolve.The average citizen
EVERYONE acts only for their own
interests. In a positive-sum world, it is in your
personal sel昀椀sh best interest that every
- Eleanor in the good place acted as human on planet earth is well o昀昀.
a psychological egoist and sees
that everyone is up to something.
Hedonism
DAVID HUME stated that we begin to act HEDONISM: is the belief that pleasure, or
morally through our sympathy with the the absence of pain, is the most
people around us. important principle in determining the
morality of a potential course of action.
- Tahani does not believe in egoism
but her actions are egoistic. - Comes from the ancient Greek
HEDONE meaning PLEASURE.
- Jason has the ego of a child.
Epicurus believed that small pleasures
MAKING A CASE FOR EGOTISM were more likely to bring us tranquility
than earth-shattering pleasures.

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 - NOTE, modest pleasures are easier experiment was coined by ROBERT
to 昀椀nd and would in turn give us NOZICK
less pain.
It is a type of CONSEQUENTIALISM.
Mini-quiz 3 {10 out of 10}
Hedonism is a type of consequentialism.
FORMS OF HEDONISM
- TRUE
1. NORMATIVE HEDONISM: is the idea
that pleasure should be people’s Emotivists claims that moral judgements
primary motivation. are simply expressions of our emotions.

2. MOTIVATIONAL HEDONISM: says - TRUE

that only pleasure and pain cause Moral relativism does not deny that there
people to do what they do. are moral absolutes.
3. EGOTISTICAL HEDONISM: requires - FALSE
a person to consider only his or her
own pleasure in making choices. Epicurus is one of the earliest egoists in
history.
4. ALTRUISTIC HEDONISM: says that
the creation of pleasure for all - FALSE (hedonist)
people is the best way to measure For AJ Ayer, moral statements and
if an action is ethical. judgements do not pass the Veri昀椀cation
 Hedonism is criticized because it Principle so they cannot be either true or
disregards values such as freedom false.
and fairness when determining - TRUE
what is right and wrong.
Moral absolutism claims that there are
Emotivism what we call moral absolutes.
For a logical positivist, the only way to - TRUE
consider something right or wrong is
through empirical data. Egoism claims that people’s actions are
driven by their desires to act for
Hence A.J. Ayers poses that moral themselves.
judgements are just peoples’ expressions
of their emotions. - TRUE

VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE: anything is Egoists claim that people seek pleasure

meaningless which cannot be empirically and avoid pain at all times.
veri昀椀ed OR known a priori. - FALSE (hedonists)
PROBLEM WITH EMOTIVISM’S CLAIMS: The Experience Machine is a thought
Only statements that can be veri昀椀ed experiment which aims to refute the
empirically can be true of false cannot be argument of hedonism. Who is the
veri昀椀ed empirically. philosopher who wrote this thought
EXPERIENCE MACHINE: the mere illusion experiment? Answer in ALL UPPER-CASE
of pleasure is not enough compared to LETTERS.
the actual knowledge of doing something - ROBERT NOZICK
that gives you pleasure. This thought

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Egoism believes that when people act for
themselves, they can make the world a
better place.
- TRUE

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 Types of Moral Dilemmas
Week 4 1. Epistemic and Ontological
Dilemmas
What is A DILEMMA?
a. EPISTEMIC:
DEFINITION: A dilemma is a situation
where a person is forced to choose i. There are 2 or more
between two or more con昀氀icting options moral requirements
neither of which is acceptable. that con昀氀ict with each
other.
Hence, if a person is in a di昀฀cult
situation but is not forced to choose ii. The moral agent hardly
between two or more options then that knows which one takes
person is not in a dilemma but a precedence over the
problematic or distressful situation. other. (Which one is
right or wrong)
What are moral dilemmas? b. ONTOLOGICAL
DEFINITION: refer to dilemmas that
involve human actions which have moral i. There are 2 or more
implications. moral requirements
that con昀氀ict with each
Refer to situations where persons who
other, yet neither of
are called moral agents in ethics are
the moral requirements
forced to choose between two or more
overrides each other.
con昀氀icting options but neither of which
resolves the situation in a morally ii. Neither of the
acceptable manner. requirements is BETTER
than the other.
Three Conditions of a Moral 2. Self-Imposed and World-Imposed
Dilemma Dilemmas
Devised by Karen Allen in order to
consider something a moral dilemma or a. SELF-IMPOSED: Caused by
not: the moral agent’s
wrongdoings.
1. The agent of a moral action is
obliged to make a decision about b. WORLD-IMPOSED: Certain
which course of action is best. events in the world place the
moral agent in a situation of
2. There must be di昀昀erent courses of moral con昀氀ict.
action to choose from.
3. Obligation and Prohibition
3. No matter what moral action is Dilemmas
taken, some moral principles is
always compromised – there is no a. OBLIGATION: More than 1
perfect solution. feasible action is obligatory

The moral agent is BOUND TO FAIL. b. PROHIBITION: All feasible

action is prohibited

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 4. Single Agent and Multi-Person - TRUE… RIGHT ANSWER: FALSE
Dilemma
Which of the following is a classic
a. SINGLE AGENT: The agent example of an obligation dilemma?
ought, all things considered,
- SARTRE’S STUDENT
to do A, ought, all things
considered, to do B, and she
cannot do both A and B.
Finals {26 of 40}
The term “moral,” as discussed in class,
i. Has to choose between has two meanings. Which of the following
2 equal actions and statements demonstrate moral acts in
cannot choose between either of these meanings?
the 2.
Falling down the stairs after being pushed
b. MULTI-PERSON: P1 ought to
do A, and P2 ought to do B, Drinking a glass of water o昀昀ered to
and though each agent can you when you're thristy
do what he ought to do, it is Helping your classmates cheat on
not possible both for P1 to do this exam
A and P2 to do B.
Donating P100 to Bantay Bata
a. Requires more than choosing
what is right. It also entails Yawning when you see your classmate
that the persons involved yawn
reached a general consensus. Feeling pain when somebody pinches you

Mini-quiz 4 {4 of 5} Thinking of what to eat later at

A condition of a moral dilemma is that no lunch
matter what course of action is taken, a Snoozing, for the 5th time, your
moral principle would always be alarm clock
compromised.
Catching your breath after climbing 4
- TRUE 昀氀ights of stairs
What do you call that moral dilemma that Slapping the face of your ex who
is cause by a person’s own wrongdoings? cheated on you
- SELF-IMPOSED
What do you call that moral dilemma in Classify the following actions. Indicate
which there are two or more moral the numerical values below which
requirements that con昀氀ict with each correspond to their classi昀椀cation:
other?
1 - Purely Involuntary
- EPISTEMIC
2 - Involuntary but with some aspects of
When one is faced with a genuine moral a Voluntary Act
dilemma, it is possible for that person to
resolve the situation in a morally 3 - Voluntary but not necessarily
acceptable way just by choosing the Deliberate
“better” option. 4 - Purely Deliberate

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 1 People who perform bad deeds are
Shouting "Fucking cunt!" by a
mistaken as they think these are good. T
person with Coprolalia
People cannot knowingly perform bad
4
Murder actions. T
4
Opening the door when you’re
about to enter the rest room. Classify the following actions.
2
Indicate the numerical values below
Sleeping on your bed after a which correspond to their
very tiring day classi昀椀cation:
3  1 - Purely Involuntary
Choosing a glass of water over
a glass of orange juice because you’re  2 - Involuntary but with some
allergic to oranges aspects of a Voluntary Act
 3 - Voluntary but not
necessarily Deliberate
As discussed in class, one of the earliest
discussions of morality includes the  4 - Purely Deliberate
argument of Socrates about the nature of
3
bad, of evil, or of morally wrong actions. Involuntary Manslaughter
Which statements are not part of the said
1
argument? Falling down the stairs when
People cannot intend intend bad you were pushed
actions; but, they can desire bad 1
things. F Post-micturition Convulsion
Syndrome
People cannot desire bad things nor
4
intend bad actions. T Homicide
People only do bad actions because they 4
think these actions are good. T Planning a staycation with your
family
People who perform bad actions never
intend the bad aspects of these actions;
only the good. T
People who do bad actions have full
knowledge about their actions but
still do it because they are akratic. F
People cannot desire bad things, but can
enact bad deeds. T
People can only intend bad actions
but cannot do it. F
Only morally weak people can
perform bad deeds. F

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 DEFINITION: focuses on the RESULTS or
Week 5 consequences of our actions and treats
INTENTIONS as IRRELEVANT.
Consequentialism - Good Consequences = Good
- A type of NORMATIVE ETHICAL Actions
THEORY. Such theories provide
criteria for moral evaluation and Modern Utilitarianism is founded by
may also recommend rules or Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
decision procedures for people to Believed to be the theory of EPICURUS of
follow in acting morally. ancient Greece.
- DEFINITION: the moral quality of an - Agree that actions should be
action is completely determined by measured in terms of the
its consequences. happiness/ pleasure it produces.
TWO PARTS EXAMPLE: we study to get GOOD grades,
1. What is GOOD? you work to get MONEY

2. How do we APPROACH the good? Utilitarians agree that a moral theory

should apply equally to everyone.
o Underlies being RIGHT However, it is grounded on nothing more
EXAMPLE: Hedonistic Utilitarianism basic than the primal desire to seek
pleasure and avoid pain.
- States that the right action
MAXIMIZES pleasure. - Utilitarianism is viewed as a
HEDONISTIC moral theory
- Views pleasure as an INTRINSIC
good UTILITARIANISM AND EGOISM

- A doctor either uses a whole bottle - Utilitarianism is NOT egoistic

for one patient or FIVE patients - It is OTHER-REGARDING
who needs a smaller dose.
- PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: We should
o UTILITARIANISM: give it to the act always to produce the greatest
5 good for the greatest number.
Consequentialism is deemed This may imply choosing the action that
DEMANDING. would produce the most overall
happiness for the group, even though it
- So, instead of the right action as
produced less happiness for you than
one that MAXIMIZES the good
other alternatives would have.
- Consequentialism refers to the
- Utilitarians argue, as special as you
right action as the one that has
are, you are no more special than
ENOUGH good. a.k.a SATISFICING
anybody else.
consequentialism
So, utilitarians suggest that we make our
Utilitarianism moral decisions from the position of a
KANTIAN: refers to sticking to the moral benevolent, disinterested spectator.
rule book WITHOUT exceptions Rather than thinking about what I should

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do, they suggest that I consider what I According to the videos, Utilitarianism is
would think if I were advising a group of a demanding moral theory.
strangers about what they should do.
- TRUE
BERNARD WILLIAMS
Normative ethical theories provide
In a thought experiment where JIM is criteria and rules for judging moral
asked to shoot 1 so 19 will go or shoot actions.
none and 20 will go.
- TRUE
- Shooting 1 seems better BUT
For Utilitarians, Utilitarianism is founded
- Williams argues that no moral on the most basic human good i.e. the
theory ought to demand the taking primal desire to seek pleasure and avoid
of an innocent life. pain.
UTILITARIANISM IS DEMANDING: - TRUE
It says, we live in a world where Batman is a utilitarian.
sometimes people do terrible things.
- FALSE
And, if we’re the ones who happen to be
there, and we can do something to make What are the two kinds of utilitarianism?
things better, we must. Even if that
means getting our hands dirty. Classical and Rule

ACT UTILITARIANISM: in any given Act and Maxim

situation, you should choose the action
that produces the greatest good for the
greatest number. Egoistic and Hedonistic
RULE UTILITARIANISM: we ought to live
by rules that, in general, are likely to lead
to the greatest good for the greatest None of the answers given is correct
number.
Maxim and Rule
- THINK LONG TERM and on a larger
scale.
Utilitarianism is always egoistic.
Week 5 Quiz {8 out of 9}
What is the name of the person in - FALSE
Bernard Williams’ thought experiment Utilitarianism is a kind of
who is on a botanical expedition in South consequentialism that argues that
America? Type the answer in all UPPER- actions should be measured in terms of
CASE LETTERS. the happiness or pleasure they produce.
- JIM - TRUE
Consequentialism argues that the moral
quality of an action is only sometimes
determined by its consequences.
- FALSE

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 - We can use all our resources: looks,
Week 6 money, etc. for GOOD.
- Acting FROM the GOOD WILL is the
Deontology De昀椀ned ONLY WAY to BE MORAL.
Deontology is an ethical theory that uses
rules to distinguish right from wrong. EXAMPLE: A bar tender chose to give the
RIGHT amount of change to a DRUNK
Associated with IMMANUEL KANT who costumer. IF
believed that ethical actions follow
universal moral laws, such as “don’t lie, - He did it to REPEAT BUSINESS,
don’t steal, don’t cheat.” - He was afraid of GETTING CAUGHT,
SIMPLE TO APPLY: It just requires that - It makes him HAPPY.
people follow the rules and do their duty.
THEN,
- Fits well with our natural intuition
about what is or isn’t ethical. - It is not GENUINELY GOOD because
it wasn’t motivated by the
Compared to CONSEQUENTIALISM: goodwill, it was motivated by the
- Deontology doesn’t require desire to get something.
weighing the costs and bene昀椀ts of FOR KANT, it is not the consequences
a situation. that matter but that you do these actions
- This avoids subjectivity and for the RIGHT REASONS
uncertainty because you only
have to follow set rules.
PIT FALL: Following the rules makes
deontology easy to apply. But it also
means disregarding the possible
consequences of our actions when
determining what is right and what is
wrong.
Example: a software engineer can hack
into a system to STOP A MISSILE that can
KILL THOUSANDS of lives.
- However, according to deontology
HACKING is a form of lying and
cheating so IT IS WRONG even if it
would PREVENT killing.

Kant’s Moral Philosophy

Immanuel Kant says that the ONLY thing
that is GOOD WITHOUT QUALIFICATION is
the GOOD WILL.
- GOOD WILL: to do the right thing.

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