• Theories-

• Descriptive Inquiry– Scientific Theories v. Metaphysical Theories

• Prescriptive Inquiry– Normative Theories v. Metaethical 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)

• Teleological Moral Theories

• Deontological Moral Theories

• Virtue-Based Moral 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

• Divine Command Theory (Authority)– Authorities: Leaders, Texts, Conscience.– Universality v. Pluralism

• Rights-Based Theories (Justice)– Libertarianism (Locke)– Egalitarianism (Kant)

• Virtue Based Theories

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MORALITY DUTY Moral Reasoning

Persons

(Ends)

Universal Rules

(Categorical Imperatives),

Universality

Ends v. Means

Kingdom of Ends

Right Good Person

INTEREST PLEASURE Naturalistic Dialectic

Property (means)

Particular Rules

(Hypothetical Imperatives)

Good Good Citizen

• 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

• 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?

• 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)

SPHERE OF FEELINGS

VICE OF DEFICIENCY

VIRTUE VICE OF EXCESS

Fear Cowardice Bravery Foolhardiness

Pleasure/Pain Insensibility Temperance (Moderation)

Self-Indulgent

Getting and Spending

Cheapness or Tightwad

Liberality Prodigality

• 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?

• 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