Religious Ethics

Religious Ethics • Religion provides us with ethics, but we are selective about what we follow (no death for working on the Sabbath, for example) • Is something good because God says it is good, or does God say that it is good because it is good? –Plato • Give and take between personal values and what religion says. • Limitation: What about the atheists?

Duty Ethics • Ethics is simply performing one’s duty and fulfilling obligations. • But how does one know his or her duties? • Religion? How do we know it’s justified? Can we simply take a duty at face value? • Intuition? Some people have conflicting intuitions

Kant says… • Duties are derived from reason. • Can you consistently generalize your duties? • What would happen if everyone did x? • A negative answer means that you have a duty to NOT do x. • No special pleading and double standards allowed

Kant says… • We need to think of ourselves in dual roles: • Me • One among others • Reason dictates we have to at least try to be impartial and follow the golden rule

Kant says… • No individual should be discriminated against or sacrificed for the common good. • Because an individual is both one among others AND me, the needs of the many DO NOT outweigh the needs of the few

Role of motives • Moral value of an action is determined by the motives behind the action • Therefore, while you might do something to get something in return, or for sympathy, only doing something out of duty has moral value

Criticisms of Kant • Kant can’t • Avoid moral absolutism or rule worship; Kant’s approach to ethics is too inflexible, e.g. lying • Instead, we need to exercise some judgment when following a moral rule

Criticisms of Kant • Kant can’t • Avoid conflicts of duty because of the me vs. me among others • E.g. Your wife is dying of a rare disease and you can’t afford the drugs. Are you justified in stealing them? • How do we rank our duties to make an informed and moral decision?

Criticisms of Kant • Kant can’t • Avoid moral coldness and instead sacrifices feelings in the name of relying on reason • Taking feelings out of moral decisions leads to heartless ethics, i.e. we do something because it’s our duty rather than out of love or care • “The hand of compassion was faster than the calculus of reason.”

Utilitarianism • Maximize happiness! • The only thing that is good in itself is happiness • Actions are right that increase happiness, and bad that decrease happiness

Utilitarianism • What’s nice about it… • Simple and coherent; just follow what would have greatest effect on Gross National Happiness • Democratic b/c everyone’s happiness taken into account in GNH • Takes into account both long and short term consequences, e.g. smoking • Egalitarian, e.g. can be used to justify redistributing funds to poorer individuals

Criticisms of Utilitarianism • What’s not so nice about it… • How can we even measure happiness? • Constant happiness doesn’t mean a happy life, e.g. bored rich people • Can’t always know long-term consequences of our actions

Criticisms of Utilitarianism • What’s not so nice about it… • Bad, malicious, or empty pleasures that come from suffering of others, e.g. sadism or gorging on chocolate • Conflict in judging: maybe it’s not the consequence (as utilitarianism says), bur the motive that matters (as Kant says) • No room for respecting moral obligations or human rights; allows for too much flexibility, e.g. lying whenever it makes you happy

Religious Ethics