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Applied Ethics: An Introduction. Applied Ethics. There are 12 lectures and 4 tutorials in a semester: One lecture every week One tutorial every 2 weeks Please note that tutorial attendance is compulsory. Applied Ethics.
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Applied Ethics There are 12 lectures and 4 tutorials in a semester: One lecture every week One tutorial every 2 weeks Please note that tutorial attendance is compulsory.
Applied Ethics The course requirements as well as the topics covered can be found in the Course Outline. A wealth of useful resources can be found on the course website: applied-ethics.weebly.com
Applied Ethics Assessment: Group presentation 20% Written assignment 30% Examination 50%
In this lecture… What is ethics? Right and wrong Moral reasoning Fallacies Principles and Theories
What is ethics? • Ethics is the philosophical study of morality, a rational examination of people’s moral beliefs, judgments and behavior. • Applied ethics is a branch of moral philosophy that attempts to apply ethical principles, theories and concepts to real-life moral issues.
What is ethics? • In the study of ethics, we evaluate people’s actions (i.e. to judge or decide whether these actions are right or wrong), we study people’s moral beliefs, and we examine the justifications (reasons) given for moral judgments and decisions.
What is ethics? • In modern times, the terms ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ often have the same meaning. But what is morality and why do we need it? • Morality can be understood as a system of widely accepted values and principles that helps people distinguish right from wrong, acceptable from unacceptable.
What is ethics? • Every society has rules of conduct telling people what they should do and should not do in various situations. • We need morality (i.e. rules of behavior that people can agree on) because it tells us what we would expect others to do and what others would expect us to do.
Right and wrong • Unlike the study of science, there is no unified method or approach in the study of ethics which can be used to examine moral judgments and decisions across different situations. • Moral beliefs, judgments and decisions, therefore, are much less ‘certain’ than scientific facts.
Right and wrong • Susan believes that light travels faster than sound, while Dave believes that sound travels faster than light. • Anyone who has good scientific knowledge will agree that Susan’s belief is true whereas Dave’s belief is false. Why? Because Susan’s belief is based on scientific fact, but Dave’s is not.
Right and wrong • The statement ‘Water boils at 100°c’ denotes an objective fact that can be examined scientifically to see whether it is true or false. • The same cannot be said of the statement ‘Homosexuality is immoral’, which is just someone’s subjective moral judgment.
Right and wrong • Some people believe that science deals with ‘fact’ (objective facts), whereas ethics deals with ‘value’ (subjective value judgments). • According to this view, moral judgments are value judgments, and all value judgments are highly subjective.
Right and wrong • If your friend has committed a crime (e.g. stealing from a supermarket), should you report the crime to the police?
Right and wrong • Different people may have different opinions. They may not agree on what is the right thing to do. • Some may say that you should report the crime because ‘justice’ is more important than ‘friendship’. Others may choose not to report the crime because they value ‘friendship’ above ‘justice’.
Right and wrong • Different people may have different responses because they have different moral values and beliefs. They may not agree on what is the right thing to do in a situation like this.
Right and wrong • Does it imply that moral judgments (i.e. judgments about what is right and what is wrong) are simply subjective expressions of personal feelings and attitudes?
Right and wrong • No, not necessarily. People’s moral beliefs and judgments can be either ‘subjective’ or ‘objective’. • Subjective moral judgments are based on personal feelings and attitudes, whereas objective moral judgments are based on reason and evidence (i.e. knowledge of actions, events, situations, etc.).
Right and wrong • In dealing with ethical issues, there are always objective and rational considerations that we should focus on when we make moral judgments and decisions. • In the previous example, we may ask ourselves the following questions:
Right and wrong How serious is the crime committed? How does it affect other people? Are we really helping our friends if we cover up their crimes for them? What would happen if everyone covered up the crimes committed by their friends?
Right and wrong Moral judgments, therefore, are not simply subjective expressions of personal feelings and attitudes. Rational people are able to make moral judgments and decisions on the basis of objective knowledge of actions, events and situations, good moral reasoning, and shared moral values.
Moral reasoning Do you think babies can make moral judgments? Do they know the difference between right and wrong? Let’s watch this video to find out!
Moral reasoning As we can see, babies as young as 3 months old prefer nice behavior to mean (bad) behavior. They also have an ‘innate sense of justice’. For example, they feel that bad behavior should be punished.
Moral reasoning However, babies’ moral judgments are not based on reason. As shown in the video, they favor those who are similar to them, and yet they want those who are different from them to be treated badly.
Moral reasoning Babies’ moral judgments are often irrational and unreasonable. They cannot explain, justify, or give reasons for their judgments. In the study of ethics, we need to think about the reasons or justifications of our moral judgments, i.e. what makes an action right or wrong.
Moral reasoning Consider the following question: Is it acceptable for adult siblings (brothers and sisters) to have consensual sex with each other if they use contraception and no one is harmed?
Moral reasoning A survey found that about 80% of college students answered ‘No’ to the question, but most of them were unable to provide reasons or justifications for their opinion. This shows that people’s moral judgments are often based on how they ‘feel’ about an issue rather than good moral reasoning.
Moral reasoning As we have seen, ethical choice is not simply a matter of personal preference. Good moral judgment and decision-making should be based on evidence, i.e. objective knowledge of actions, events and situations. In addition, it also requires the use of ‘reason’.
Moral reasoning ‘Reason’ is the ability to think logically. Persons, objects, actions, events and situations are all represented in the human mind as ideas or concepts. We use reason to make sense of the world by figuring out the relationship between ideas or concepts inside our minds.That is how we form our beliefs and judgments.
Moral reasoning We can use reason to decide what are the right or wrong things to do in various situations. Our moral judgments and decisions, in any circumstances, should be based on good moral reasoning.
Moral reasoning What should we do when people disagree on an ethical issue? When people have different views about an issue, we can examine the evidence and the reasoning (supporting arguments) behind their beliefs and judgments to determine whose view is more reasonable.
Moral reasoning In the study of ethics, we can deal with disagreements through open-minded discussions of alternative viewpoints. Because ethics is based on reason, we should be able to explain or justify our own moral judgments with reasoned arguments, and thereby persuade others to accept our point of view.
Moral reasoning To deal with ethical issues, it is necessary to think critically, i.e. to develop skills of reasoning and argumentation. Not only should we familiarize ourselves with a variety of perspectives, we should also be able to explain why we agree or disagree with other people’s views and opinions.
Moral reasoning • To think critically and reason well about an issue, we should: • understand the background or situation • think open-mindedly and raise relevant questions • gather and evaluate information
Moral reasoning • examine various viewpoints and perspectives and their supporting arguments • come to a conclusion, i.e. a standpoint or position of our own • construct reasoned arguments to support our own position
Moral reasoning Philosophy in general and ethics in particular often have to deal with questions and issues that do not have model answers. Although there are usually no model answers to controversial moral issues, some arguments are clearly better than others.
Moral reasoning There are good arguments as well as bad ones, and much of the skill of moral reasoning consists in discerning the difference. Good arguments (reasoned arguments) are relevant, valid (logical), and well supported by evidence (facts, observations, statistics and examples).
Moral reasoning • An argument is composed of a premise (or several premises) supporting a particular conclusion. • Premises are reasons or evidence offered to support a belief or judgment, and the conclusion is the belief, judgment or decision that the premisesare intended to support.
Moral reasoning • Reasoning is the act of drawing or deriving a conclusion from a premise or a set of premises. • Consider the following example: • [P] Second-hand smoke can cause cancer. • [C] Therefore, smoking in public areas should be banned.
Moral reasoning In this example, the premise ‘second-hand smoke can cause cancer’ is a fact that lends support to (i.e. provides the reason or justification for) the conclusion that ‘smoking in public areas should be banned’.
Moral reasoning Generally speaking, arguments are either ‘valid’ (logical) or ‘invalid’ (illogical). A valid argument is one in which the support is as strong as can be: the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion.
Moral reasoning A sound or good argument is one that is valid (logical) and whose premises are true (and so its conclusion is true too). An unsound or bad argument is one that is either invalid (illogical) or that has at least one false premise.
Moral reasoning A distinction can be made between ‘deductive arguments’ and ‘inductive arguments’.
Moral reasoning A ‘deductive argument’ is valid or logical if the conclusion follows logically or necessarily from the premises: [P1] All lizards are reptiles. [P2] All reptiles are animals. [C] Therefore, all lizards are animals.
Moral reasoning Consider the following: [P1] All children are afraid of the dark. [P2] Dorothy is afraid of the dark. [C] Therefore, Dorothy is a child. Is this a valid deductive argument? Why or why not?
Moral reasoning An inductive argument is one whose premises make the conclusion seem probable yetstill not necessarily true. The strength of an inductive argument usually depends on the quantity as well as the quality (i.e. relevance and strength) of the evidence provided.
Moral reasoning Consider the following: ‘My little brother has many of the symptoms of pneumonia, such as fever, cough, headaches and shortness of breath. So it is likely that he has the disease.’
Moral reasoning The argument can be broken down into a series of premises that build to a conclusion: [P1] My brother has a fever. [P2] My brother is coughing. [P3] My brother has a headache. [P4] My brother has shortness of breath. [C] My brother has pneumonia.
Moral reasoning • In this example, it can be said that even if all the premises (P1, P2, P3, and P4) are true, we still cannot be completely certain about the truth of the conclusion (C). • The conclusion (C), in other words, is highly probable but not definite.
Moral reasoning • When we evaluate our own or other people’s arguments, we should consider the following questions: • Is the evidence relevant? • Are the facts correct? • Is the reasoning logical? • Are there any counterarguments?
