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Moral Doctrines and Moral Theories

Moral Doctrines and Moral Theories. Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life Chapter 4. The Experience Machine, Nozick. What matters to us, apart from having pleasant conscious experiences? First, we want to actually do certain things. Second, we want to be a certain kind of people.

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Moral Doctrines and Moral Theories

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  1. Moral Doctrines and Moral Theories Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life Chapter 4

  2. The Experience Machine, Nozick • What matters to us, apart from having pleasant conscious experiences? • First, we want to actually do certain things. • Second, we want to be a certain kind of people.

  3. The Experience Machine, Nozick • Third, we do not want to be limited to a man-made reality.

  4. The Judeo-Christian Tradition • Genesis: Creation and Fall • Exodus: The 10 Commandments and other moral prescriptions for Israel • Psalms: Happiness in knowing and following God

  5. The Judeo-Christian Tradition • The Sermon on the Mount: Human fulfillment through an inner moral and spiritual transformation

  6. Morality is Based on God’s Commands, Mortimer • The Divine Command Theory of Ethics: God’s will determines what is right and what is wrong. • The ethical person is both merciful and just.

  7. Why Morality Does Not Depend on Religion, Arthur • The Nature of Morality • The Nature of Religion • What is the connection between morality and religion?

  8. Why Morality Does Not Depend on Religion • Religion might motivate moral behavior. • Perhaps God provides us with moral knowledge. • Arthur’s rejection of these 2 claims

  9. Why Morality Does Not Depend on Religion • The Euthyphro Dilemma

  10. Of Benevolence, Hume • Hume believes that all knowledge is based on experience. • Morality is grounded in our human sentiments. • Benevolence is the key moral sentiment.

  11. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Le Guine • Le Guine’s description of the happiness of the many in Omelas • Le Guine’s description of the misery of the one child

  12. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas • Why do some people walk away from Omelas? • What implications does this have for the credibility of utilitarianism?

  13. Utilitarianism, Mill • Mill’s Principle of Utility • Mill’s Definition of Happiness • There is a difference between the higher and lower pleasures. • How do we discover which pleasures are better?

  14. A Critique of Utilitarianism, Williams • Utilitarianism sometimes might require us to do the wrong thing. • The case of George • The case of Jim and Pedro

  15. A Critique of Utilitarianism • Integrity and the value of our deeply held projects pose problems for utilitarianism.

  16. Good Will, Duty, and the Categorical Imperative, Kant • Kant believes that only a good will is unconditionally good. • The person of good will does her duty for duty’s sake.

  17. Kant cont’d. • Kant’s analysis of the moral worth of actions: impulse, reason, and duty. • Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives • The Categorical Imperative: act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

  18. The Holocaust and Moral Philosophy, Sommers • Introduction: religion, morality, and the Holocaust • Doing wrong vs. wrongdoing • The rationalist approach to morality, e.g. Kant

  19. The Holocaust and Moral Philosophy • The sentimentalist approach to morality, e.g. Hume • Moral philosophy should prohibit cruelty to sentient non-persons.

  20. A Critique of Kantianism, Taylor • The problem with many moral philosophers is their lack of appreciation for the pain and sorrow that exist in the world. • Such moralists focus on solving abstract philosophical problems.

  21. A Critique of Kantianism • Kant failed to realize that there may be no true morality. • Kant’s theory is divorced from concrete human nature and experience. • We must find moral answers that work.

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