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By: Ronald F. White, Ph.D Professor of Philosophy College of Mount St. Joseph

Moral Theories. By: Ronald F. White, Ph.D Professor of Philosophy College of Mount St. Joseph. Human Inquiry. Theories- Descriptive Inquiry Scientific Theories v. Metaphysical Theories Prescriptive Inquiry Normative Theories v. Metaethical Theories.

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By: Ronald F. White, Ph.D Professor of Philosophy College of Mount St. Joseph

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  1. Moral Theories By: Ronald F. White, Ph.D Professor of Philosophy College of Mount St. Joseph

  2. Human Inquiry • Theories- • Descriptive Inquiry • Scientific Theories v. Metaphysical Theories • Prescriptive Inquiry • Normative Theories v. Metaethical Theories

  3. Cognitive v. Non-Cognitive Moral Theories • Cognitive Theories (moral judgments are true or false) • based on reason and/or experience • Virtue-Based Theories • Duty-Based Theories • Consequentialist Theories • Non-Cognitive Theories • Intuitionism • Emotivism • Constructivism (Cultural Relativism)

  4. Cognitive Moral Theories • Teleological Moral Theories • Deontological Moral Theories • Virtue-Based Moral Theories

  5. Teleological Theories • Goal Directed: A for the sake of B • Consequentialism • Cost/Benefit Ratios • Hedonism • Pleasure=GOOD, Pain =BAD • Hierarchy: • Higher (intellectual: wisdom, beauty, friendship etc. ) • Lower (biological: sex, eating, drinking, etc.) • Hedonistic Calculus • Intensity, Duration, Probability, Fecundity, • Whose Pleasures and Pains Count? • Egoism: self • Altruism: others: • Problems: • Objectivity of Pain and Pleasure • Predictability of Pains and Pleasures • (unanticipated consequences) • Justice: social utility v. discrimination

  6. Deontological Theories • Divine Command Theory (Authority) • Authorities: Leaders, Texts, Conscience. • Universality v. Pluralism • Rights-Based Theories (Justice) • Libertarianism (Locke) • Egalitarianism (Kant) • Virtue Based Theories

  7. Kantian Theory :, :,

  8. Rights • Persons and Property • Rights- • Individual Rights • Group Rights • Right to Life • Non-Human Rights • Fetal Rights • Rights and Moral Principles: Utility, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, Liberty, Justice • Positive Rights and Negative Rights • Property Rights • Rights and Duties- • Rights and Sanctions- • Natural sanction- enforced by nature (natural/unnatural) • Moral sanction- enforced by community sentiment or convention (praise/blame) • Legal sanction- enforced by government (legal/illegal) • Contingent upon governmental knowledge and authority • Relationship between legality and morality • Conflict of Claims- • Individual v. individual • Group v. group (Israelis v. Palestinians, Men v. Women, Blacks v. Whites) • Group v. individual • Natural rights, Legal rights, Moral rights

  9. Moral Responsibility • Architecture • Praise (good acts) and Blame (bad acts) • Teleological context: “forward looking” • Change Behavior • More pleasurable consequences (reinforce) • Less painful consequences (deter) • Deontological:” backward looking” • Justice as Proportionality (retribution) • Issues • Free will (voluntariness) • Determinism (causation or coercion) • Biological determinism • Social or cultural determinism • Moral Competence • Individualism v. collectivism • Is the assessment of responsibility empirical?

  10. Virtue-Based Theories • Virtue: “The Excellence of a Thing.” • Purpose: • Human Excellence • Intellectual Virtue: • Moral Virtue (Habit) • The Golden Mean” • Vice of deficiency, Virtue, Vice of Excess. • Moral Education • Deliberation • Vice • Incontinence-(weakness of the will)

  11. The Moral Virtues

  12. Non-Cognitive Theories • Non-Cognitivism • Intuitionism • Emotivism • Constructivism • Emotivism • Moral Statements are emotive expressions like expressions of taste • Killing is wrong because I disapprove of it • Killing is wrong because my culture disapproves of it • Good and Bad are not properties but expressions of individual or collective preference • Moral disagreements are conflicts of attitude not conflicts of belief. • Problems • Universality • Are there universal moral sentiments? • Irreconcilability of moral disagreements • Nature of Moral Judgment • Reasons • Toleration • Confusion between Facts and Values • Does experiencing a moral feeling necessarily imply that it is good?

  13. Evolutionary Psychology and Emotivism • Emotions are common among mammals, especially primates (monkeys and apes) • Foundational Moral Feelings • Sympathy • The Expanding Circle • In-Group Out-Group Bias • Consolation • Retribution • The Formal Principle of Justice

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