Seeking the Good Life: Ethics Explored

1. Part II: Ethics Ch. 2: How should one live? Ch. 3: How can I know what is right? Ch. 4: What makes society just? Ch. 5: Is justice for all possible?

2. Chapter 2: How Should One Live? • What constitutes a “good life”? • Need to answer moral questions in a way that is not ambiguous or vague • What is the difference between actual desires and one’s idea of what they ought to do?

3. Answering Moral Questions • Moral questions must be answered in a way that is not: • Ambiguous – has many meanings and is not clear precisely to what it refers • Vague – without clear distinctions

4. Answering Moral Questions • Moral questions should be answered in way that is: • Descriptive – describes the kinds of values people have and the sorts of principles they use • Normative – the norms that ought to guide one’s actions

5. Reading the Philosophers • Ask yourself how the author would answer these questions: • What is the good life? • How is the good life attained? • Why is the life described as a good one?

6. Justification for Answers • When asking why questions, the author should provide two types of justification: • Justification of the goal • Justification of the means

7. The Buddha and the Middle Way • Buddha= “the Enlightened One” • Siddhartha Gautama (563 BCE.) was deemed Buddha after being enlightened concerning how to attain wisdom and overcome suffering • Nirvana – release from suffering

8. Buddhism • Buddhism developed from Siddhartha Gautama’s teaching • Three main groups • Theravada – Way of the Elders • Mahayana – Greater Vehicle • Vajrayana – Diamond Vehicle

9. Buddhism • Four Noble Truths – heart of Buddah’s message. • Middle Way or Eightfold Path – the Fourth Noble Truth

10. The Four Noble TruthsThe Buddha • The Noble Truth of Suffering • The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering • The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering • The Noble Truth of the Way of Practice Leading to the Cessation of Suffering

11. The Noble Truth of Suffering • Suffering is understood through the five aggregates (components of the individual human being) of grasping • The aggregates of grasping • Form • Feeling • Perception • Mental formations • Consciousness

12. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering • A craving or desire arises and establishes itself through the pleasures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mind-objects

13. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering • Complete fading away and extinction of craving or desire • Liberation from desires

14. Noble Truth of the Way of Practice Leading to the Cessation of Suffering • Noble Eightfold Path • Right View • Right Thought • Right Speech • Right Action • Right Livelihood • Right Effort • Right Mindfulness • Right Concentration

15. The Fourth Noble TruthWalpola Rahula • Fourth Noble Truth Composed of Eightfold Path • Called the “Middle Path” because it avoids two extremes: • Search for happiness through pleasure of senses • Search for happiness through self-mortification

16. The Fourth Noble TruthWalpola Rahula • Eightfold Path promote three essentials of Buddhist training and discipline • Ethical Conduct – Right speech, action, and livelihood • Mental Discipline – Right effort, mindfulness, and concentration • Wisdom – Right thought and understanding

17. Confucius and the Life of Virtue • Confucius: • born in China (551 – 479 BCE) • “humanistic social philosophy” – concern for achieving good social order and cultivating humane qualities in the human spirit

18. Confucius and the Life of Virtue • Key attributes of Confucian philosophy • Ren (jen) – “goodness,” “benevolence,” and “humanheartedness.” What we become by cultivating aesthetic, moral, cognitive, and spiritual sensibilities. • Li – rules of proper behavior. Grounded in tradition. • Xiao (hsiao) – practice of kindness, honor, respect, and loyalty among family members • Yi – refers to what is appropriate or fitting to do in a given situation

19. Confucius and Moral CharacterD. C. Lau • Distinctions of ideal moral character • Sage (sheng jen) – highest level of moral character • Good man and complete man • Gentleman (chün tzu) – characterized by benevolence. • Small man (Hsiao Jen) – opposite of gentleman

20. Confucius and Moral CharacterD. C. Lau • Becoming a Gentleman: The meaning of benevolence. • “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire” (XII.2) • Shu – method of discovering what other people do or do not wish done to them • Chung – doing one’s best, practicing what one has learned from shu • Benevolence consists in overcoming self and observance of rites

21. Socrates on Living the Examined Life • Socrates was born in Athens 9 years after Confucius died • Socratic method – consists of asking questions to formulate, critique, and reform definitions of concepts • Divine command theory – God’s command or will makes something morally right

22. The ApologyPlato • Plato’s account of the trial and defense of Socrates in 399 BCE. • What is the good life? • The examined life, because “the life which is unexamined is not worth living” (pg 57). • How is the good life attained? • Examine life through asking questions • He who understands his own limitations is wiser than he who thinks he is wise

23. The ApologyPlato • What makes this the good life? • In the examined life, one seeks virtue and wisdom and looks to the welfare of others • This is profitable both to one’s self and others

24. Aristotle on Happiness and the Life of Moderation • Aristotle was a student of Plato (384 – 322 BCE) • Tutor of Alexandor the Great • Aristotle was a teleologist – he believed that all existing things have a purpose • Teleology = “end,” “goal,” or “purpose” • He was concerned with the good of all humans, or eudaimonia

25. Nicomachean EthicsAristotle • Every action and pursuit aims at some good • The things we do for the sake of a desired end are the chief good • Human good is the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue

26. Nicomachean EthicsAristotle • Happiness is the activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue • The nature of virtue • Intellectual – virtue born through teaching • Moral – result of habit • Virtue is a state of character concerned with choice • Moral virtue is a mean between excess and deficiency

27. The Song of God • How does one strive for moral perfection in morally imperfect world? • Hinduism • Dharma – order of the cosmos embodied in social and ethical law codes • Karma – “consequences of action.” As you sow, you will reap • Samsara – cycle of rebirth, death, and suffering of human life • Reincarnation – rebirth into new physical body

28. Bhagavad-Gita • The First Teaching: Arjuna’s Dejection • The Second Teaching: Philosophy and Spiritual Discipline

29. The Virtue of Selfishness • Ethical egoism – view that people ought to do what is in their own self-interest • Altruism – people ought to do what is in the interest of others

30. The Ethics of EmergenciesAyn Rand • “Altruism has destroyed the concept of any authentic benevolence or good will among men” • The moral purpose of life is the achievement of one’s own happiness • Values are the first concern and motive power of life