Philosophy 20

Ethics

JUNE 27th

Branches of Philosophy

• Philosophy has many branches or areas of study.

• To effectively study the branch of ethics one must study the following branches in conjunction with ethics: metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, teleology, logic, and hermeneutics.

Philosophy is a System

• System is a whole compounded of several parts or members. The parts retain their structure and function and integrate with others parts that retain their structure and function to form a more complex structure and function.

• Synergy is two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable.

• Aristotle: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Metaphysics

• Metaphysics is the study of that which exist, reality, and the nature of things.

• Before you study anything you must know what it “is”, that it exists, that it is real, and it’s nature.

• If it does not exist, it is not real, it has no nature of existence, and it “isn’t.” However, there may be beliefs based on a non-existent that people study.

Ontology

• Metaphysics includes Ontology which is the study of being. It is hard to study one without the other.

• If it does exist, it is real, it has a nature, then it is something that has being.

• It is important that the existence, reality, nature aligns with it’s being.

• A car “is” a machine. It’s being is a machine, not a sex symbol or sign of affluence. Metaphysics and ontology are closely aligned.

Epistemology

• Epistemology is the study of knowledge and truth.• Epistemologists ask question about truth such as:

Why is something true? Why do people believe it is true? Is it true? How would one prove the claim that something is true.

• In the case of the nature of something (metaphysics) they would want to know what the nature is and how a person arrived at the awareness or knowledge that it is true.

Teleology

• Teleology is the study of the purpose or end result of something.

• The purpose must align with what that something “is”, it’s being (metaphysics and ontology) and how that something is known and interpreted (epistemology and hermeneutics).

Hermeneutics

• Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation• To be sure that two or more persons are

talking about the same thing, it is important that one is able to discuss the meaning of the language/words they are using.

• For an example: what is respect? Many use the word, but have different meanings for the word.

Logic

• Adler: “Logic is the morality of thought.”• Logic is directed thought that is valid.• Directed thought is that which allows us to

understand metaphysics and ontology, teleology, and hermeneutics as individual branches of philosophy as well as their sum as a whole.

• It is not possible to discuss the reality of something (metaphysics) unless you interpret the terms you are using (hermeneutics) and know (epistemology) that the language being used is being used accurately and equivocally.

• In this class each individual is encouraged to share their reality, interpretation and knowledge of the parts that make up their philosophy.

Aristotle’s Autotelic Analysis

• Who are you? Metaphysics• Why are you? Teleology• What are you going to be to fulfill your “who”

and “why”? Ontology

Base Definition of Ethics

• Ethics is the science of what “ought to be” by reason of “what is”.

• In this definition you can see that one must know the nature of who or what something is;

• Have an ontological awareness of how it’s being aligns with the nature of who or what;

• Have knowledge (epistemology) of why and how the claim about nature and being can be justified;

• Know the meaning of the words relating to their beliefs;• Have a logically valid and true basis for their belief.

Be Aware Of……

• Life is not static, it is dynamic. Things are constantly changing, but we are often in a what Aristotle refers to as a “vegetative” state of existence.

• You know your hair and nails are growing but you are not conscious of it. You take it for granted.

• Often people live a life based on a “fixed” registry. They learn scripts and theories and habituate them, i.e. repeat them, live them and pass them on without critically evaluating them….they are comfortable with the familiar or protective of the worth of their previous life experiences and need to justify who they have been.

Intent of this Class

• We are here to question our fixed beliefs.• As a psychologist, I learned that people spend

much of their life justifying what they have done, the way they have done it, and their philosophy/beliefs, rather than benefit from the experience of life and enhancing and changing. To the extent that you can, please leave your bias and emotionality at the door.

Critical Thinking

• In a critical thinking environment the process of communication is kind, understanding, and non-abrasive.

• In a critical thinking environment the content of communication can be direct and claims need be supported through logical discussion.

• You must understand your premise and where it originated; it must be supported by inference(s) and conclusions that are valid.

JUNE 30

• Freedom & Determinism• Absolutes/Universals, Relativity

Freedom

• “Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.” Sartre

• Freedom is often seen as an exemption from external control, interference, regulation, manipulation, freedom of thought and action and the like.

• The power to determine thought and action without restraint or limitation.

• Essential Freedom is the ability to think what one chooses to think without external influence, manipulation, or control that determine how and what you think.

• Effective Freedom is the ability to act the way you choose without external influence, manipulation, or control that determine how you act.

• Are all, none, some people able to be essentially free?

• Are all, none, some people able to be effectively free?

• Have people been free to think of their nature, purpose, state of being, and truth or encumbered by the teachings of others, society, advertisement, and other external locus of control?

• How much influence do the following have on thought:• Religion• Sexual orientation/preference• Gender• Socio-economics• Time you live• Place you live• Ethnicity• Color• Fate

• Are you essentially free?• Are you effectively free?

Determinism

• “Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.” B.F. Skinner

• No action is free if it must occur.• P2: For any event X there are antecedent

causes that ensure the occurrence of X in accordance with impersonal, mechanical causal laws.

• C: No action is free.

Hard Determinism

• The hard determinist defends each premise as follows:• P1 simply expresses what is meant by “free”. Surely if an

act must occur, it can't be free.• P2 is the Thesis of Determinism — the notion that every

event is caused in accordance with causal laws, which account completely for its occurrence. Obviously (for the hard determinist), nothing is uncaused. We can't even imagine what it would mean for a thing to be “uncaused.” The hard determinist claims that P2 is thus indubitable. (If you doubt P2 anyway, try to produce a counter-example — an instance of an uncaused event.)

Hard Determinism

• Thus, since causes guarantee that their effects occur — that is, if the cause is present, the effect must occur — and since everything that happens is the effect of some cause or set of causes, everything must occur. So nothing is free.

• Hard determinism: Thesis of determinism is valid and implies no freedom.

• If everything that happens must happen, everything is forced to happen.

• If an event is forced, it’s not free.• Everything that happens is forced.• So nothing is free.

Soft Determinism

• What it means is everything that we ordinarily mean when we refer to the process of choosing among options. A person is said to have made a free-choice and is morally responsible for his action when he has complied with all the conditions of free-choice. He has deliberated over the options. He is not coerced internally or externally; no one or thing forces him to choose one option over another. And, he makes the choice given the criteria that are his own. When all those conditions in making a choice are met, that's what we mean by and refer to in making a free-choice

Soft Determinism

• What else can we mean by making a free-choice except that we were not forced to choose one option and that we deliberated over the options using our own criteria? That being the case, we can hold people morally responsible for their actions.

• determinism and moral responsibility are compatible given this meaning of freedom.

Soft determinism• Thesis of determinism is valid and is compatible with freedom,

because freedom requires two elements: capability (“I can”) and desire (“I want to”). A free act is a voluntary act that nothing prevents me from performing.

• Everything that happens must happen.• My wants happen.• So I can’t want otherwise. (This is the major flaw of SD, according

to Indeterminists.)• But I can often do what I want.• Freedom is simply the ability to do what I want (capability +

desire).• Many acts are free, in this sense of freedom.

Predeterminsim: relating to religion

• Predeterminism is the idea that every event is caused, not simply by the immediately prior events, but by a causal chain of events that goes back well before recent events. For example, one's personal characteristics are predetermined by heredity, by a chain of events going back before one's birth.

INDETERMINISM

• The indeterminist disagrees with both hard and soft determinism. Hard and soft determinists alike accept the thesis of determinism (the claim that all events are caused).The indeterminist attacks the thesis of determinism itself.

• The effects of some causal laws cannot be predicted precisely. This is why chaos theory, string theory, and quantum mechanics are philosophically interesting.

• The thesis of determinism is compatible with all states of affairs, can’t be falsified.

Indeterminism

• The notion of mechanical causality applies to things but not to persons. When we account for the behavior of persons, we must use teleological explanations.

• Naturally, since the thesis of determinism constitutes an explicit premise of both the HD and SD arguments, these arguments immediately become unsound if the thesis of determinism can be shown to be false or dubious.

Absolutes

• Not limited by restrictions or exceptions; unconditional, absolute trust.

• Unqualified in extent or degree; total • Unconstrained by constitutional or other

provisions. Not to be doubted or questioned; positive, absolute proof.

• Universally true, real, important to all

Absolutes

• They are categorized as “all” or “none”.• Some consider respect for others or a deity to

be an Absolute• Something regarded as the ultimate basis of

all thought and being. • Something regarded as independent of and

unrelated to anything else.

• If there are absolute truths, they must be factored into our ethical decision making.

• How does this relate to Freedom and Determinism?

Relativity

• A state of dependence in which the existence or significance of one entity is solely dependent on that of another.

• Dependence upon some variable factor such as the psychological, social, or environmental context

• The state or quality of being relative

• If there are no absolutes and life is relative, the relative beliefs of each person needs to be factored into ethical decision making.

• How does this relate to Freedom and Determinism?

Absolute Relatives

• A relative belief that is considered an Absolute.

• How does this relate to Freedom and Determinism?

Deontology: duty/obligation ethics

• Deontology is the school of ethics that states that a person is obliged and/or has a duty to follow certain teachings or beliefs.

• The two areas of deontology ethics we will cover are the Divine Command ethics (today and/or July 11) and Kantian ethics (July 18 and 25)

• Deontological ethics is absolutist, but some claim it is a free choice and others deterministic and/or pre-deterministic

• A deity has absolute knowledge, presence, and power.

• A deity has teachings/laws/rules that followers are obligated to follow.

• A deity answers to no one.

Freedom: Group Collaboration

• If the deity knows all, do they know what will happen to you?

• If geneticist are correct you are to a great degree mapped at conception. Does a deity know what you will do given who they made you?

• Does a deity know what you will do given the circumstances of your life?

• Can a follower have essential freedom?• Can a follower have effective freedom?• Are you determined, pre-determined, free?

Judaic teaching

• The 10 commandments come to us from Exodus 20: 1-17. Here is the verse:

• And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

• You shall have no other gods before me.• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in

vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

• Honor your father and your mother.• You shall not murder.• You shall not commit adultery.• You shall not steal.• You shall not bear false witness against your

neighbor.• You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods• You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.”

Christian teaching: 8 beatitudes

• Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

• Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

• Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied. • Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.

• Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

• Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Gospel of Matthew 5:3-10

Pillars of Islam

• Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad;

• Establishment of the daily prayers; • Concern for and almsgiving to the needy; • Self-purification through fasting; and • The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are

able.

8 Fold Path of the Buddha

• Right View means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning.

• Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Metaphysics and ontological

• Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement.

• To abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies 2. to abstain from slanderous speech 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.

• right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind.

• Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully.

• Right effort which is an act of will, without it nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence.

• Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness.

• right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Are we focused on too many things?