2. What is morality?
Always tell the truth.
Do not destroy property.
Have courage..
What is Ethics?
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
“Citizens must respect another's property, choices and lives.”
3. Conventional Morality
Critical Morality
Conventional morality can differ from society to society. The conventional morality of Saudi Arabia forbids women from
publicly contradicting their husbands or brothers, while Denmark’s conventional morality allows this. People in the United
States would think it immoral to leave a restaurant without tipping a good waiter or bartender, while such behavior in
many other societies is perfectly OK.
Critical morality states that there may be times when some people argue that breaking the law is the “moral”
thing to do. Stealing food to feed a starving person, for example, might be illegal but it also might be
considered the “right thing” to do if it’s the only way to prevent someone from suffering or dying
4. The Branches of Moral Philosophy
1. Value theory
● What is the good life?
● What is worth pursuing for its own sake?
● How do we improve our lot in life?
2. Normative ethics
● What are our fundamental moral duties?
● What makes right actions right?
● Which character traits count as virtues, which as vices, and why?
3. Metaethics
● What is the status of moral claims and advice?
● Can ethical theories, moral principles, or specific moral verdicts be true? If so, what makes them true?
● Can we gain moral wisdom? If so, how?
5. Moral Starting Points
1. Neither the law nor tradition is immune from moral criticism
2. Everyone is morally fallible
3. Friendship is valuable
4. We are not obligated to do the impossible
5. Children bear less moral responsibility than adults
6. Justice is a very important moral good.
7. Deliberately hurting other people requires justification
8. Equals ought to be treated equally.
9. Self-interest isn’t the only ethical consideration.
10.Agony is bad
11.Might doesn’t make right
12.Free and informed requests prevent rights violations.
6. Normative Systems (Each of these represents a set of standards for how we ought to behave, ideals to aim for,
rules that we should not break.)
1.Law
2.Etiquette
3.Self-Interest
4.Tradition
7. Morality and Religion
The Presumed Connection between Morality and Religion
The Divine Command Theory
The basic idea is that God decides what is right and wrong. Actions that God commands are morally required; actions that
God forbids are morally wrong; and all other actions are permissible or merely morally neutral.
This idea has serious problems
● Atheists would not accept it, because they do not believe that God exists.
● Believers can be skeptical and ask, is a conduct right because the gods command it, or do the gods command it
because it is right?
