Contributions of Western moral thinkers (Part II)

Dr Awdhesh Singh, IRS (Retd.)

Director, Awdhesh Academy,

Former Commissioner, Customs & Indirect Taxes (Central Excise/GST)

Epicureanism

Epicureanism

• Epicurious regarded happiness and pleasure as the main goal of life rather than virtues

• He identifies the fears of God, death, retribution and hell as the principle cause of human unhappiness

• Sources of Epicurean Pleasure • Knowledge,

• Friendship,

• Living a virtuous and temperate life

Main teachings of Epicurean

• The greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear and absence from bodily pain

• Avoid constant desire of pleasure (Hedonism)

• Advocated absence of pain as the main goal of life

• Condition mind to rise above pain and adversity

• Achieve tranquillity by having the knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires.

• Morality should be pursued as it gives pleasure

• Virtue has no intrinsic value; It derives its value from the pleasure that accompanies virtuous action

Teaching (continues)

• Avoid momentary and sensual pleasures which often lead to pain later

• Mental pleasures arise from remembrance. • Remembering past achievements give us joy.

• Remembering future problems, give us pain.

• Discouraged learning, culture and civilization as they could result in disturbing one’s peace of mind,

• Acquire knowledge which could help rid oneself of religious fears and superstitions, such as the fear of the gods and of death.

• Strong laws and strict punishments are desirable

• A just law is one that contributes to promoting human happiness

Decline of Epicureanism

• After the official approval of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D., Epicureanism was repressed as its teachings were irreconcilable with Christian teachings

• The school endured a long period of obscurity and decline.

• It is still popular in the present work due to its doctrine of the pursuit of Happiness.

Stoicism

The Origin

• Stoicism literally means the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint.

• It is an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno(342-270 BC)

• The term "stoic" was taken from the "stoa poikile" meaning "painted porch" where Zeno of Citium used to teach

Three famous Stoics

1. Seneca

2. Epictetus,

3. Marcus Aurelius

Stoics Ethics

• Develop indifference and a passive reaction to external events

• Develop equanimity in the face of life's highs and lows.

• Live according to nature

• Accept Suffering in Life

• Rational Observance of laws

• Reduce expectations to check anger

Stoics Ethics (contd.)

• Wisdom is the source of all virtues. (Good man and wise man are one)

• Promoted ‘egalitarianism’, and encouraged the acceptance of even slaves as equals

• World is material and the body and soul were of the same substance

• Knowledge comes from senses and interpreted by mind

• God is within us and is the source of goodness. Follow inner guide to attain happiness.

Immanuel Kant and Deontology

Immanuel Kant

• A German philosopher (1724 – 1804).

• One of the most influential western philosopher since Aristotle.

• Kant spend almost all his life at his birthplace Konigsberg/Kaliningrad

• He was a bachelor.

• He was said to be so regular in his daily routine that housewives would set the their clocks by the time at which he passed their windows

• He was very unadventurous with little interest in music and arts

• He had passion for logic maths and science.

Origin of Moral laws

• Kant rejected scriptures, consciousness, inner perfection of soul or God’s will or any other extremal source as the source of moral law

• He proved that all moral laws are derived from human reason.

• Morality is not a divine law but based on reason and logic

• Man has a self-legislating capacity.

Deontological Theory of Kant

• Deontology derived from Greek roots deon (duty) + logos (reason)

• It means that an action is moral if it can be considered to be a duty with the reason that is universally acceptable

• Consequences have nothing to do with the moral duty

Categorical Imperative

• An imperative is a command like Pay your taxes, Stop kicking me!, Don't kill animals etc. They are of two types:

• Hypothetical Imperatives: These imperatives are the commands that applies on a person based on the situation.• Imperative 1: “If you want to go to medical school, study biology in college.”

• Imperative 2: "If you want to avoid jail, you must be honest!"

• Categorical Imperatives: These are absolute commands to be obeyed for its own sake. • Example 1: “Don’t cheat on your taxes.”

• Example 2: “Be honest”.

Categorical imperative

• An intentional action is rational, however, it is not always permissible

• You may intentionally refuse to return a debt, which is a rational thought as it benefits you personally. However, you can’t recommend ‘don’t return a debt’ universally

• Hence, ‘Don’t return a debt’ can’t be said to be a morally permissible maxim as it would destroy trust between people, reduce commerce and economic progress

• A rational moral agent should act in a way that the maxim of his action becomes a universal law.

Some moral laws derived from Kant’s law

• You should not steal

• Your should not injure

• You should not kill

• You should be kind to others

Other Consequences of categorical imperative • The principle of categorical imperative has led to the origin of moral

principles.

• Human beings are an ends in themselves

• They can’t be treated as a means or an instrument to achieve higher value for society or nation

• His idea represents the modern concept of human rights

Kantian philosophy and Civil service

• A government officer must follow the Kantian philosophy

• Emotions and sentiments often misguide a person

• He must follow the law as a moral duty without giving much thoughts to its consequences

• In government, you can be punished for doing an illegal or immoral act, even if it was done in the larger public interest

Criticism of Kantianism

• Men are not to be judged on the basis of principles alone. They are answerable to the consequence of the action as well

• A lot of evil can be done in the name of moral principles

• A lie may be good if it saves the life of someone

• It is difficult to be moral, if others are not obeying the moral laws

• Moral laws can’t be conceived in a Platonic world and implemented in a society without bothering about the results

Utilitarianism

Main Philosophers

• Jeremy Bentham

• John Stuart Mill

• Henry Sidegwick

Pleasure and Pain

• Humans are ruled by two sovereign masters: pleasure and pain.

• We seek pleasure and avoid pain

• Actions are approved when they are such as to promote happiness, or pleasure,

• Actions are disapproved of when they have a tendency to cause unhappiness, or pain

Philosophy of utilitarianism

• Moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility in maximizing happiness or pleasure as summed among all people.

• Maximum happiness to maximum people

• All people have the right to be happy.

• No distinctions as to who is worthy of happiness and who is not

• Accepts the idea of declining marginal utility

Egalitarian Justice

• The happiness due to wealth decreases following the principle of diminishing marginal utility

• Transfer of wealth from rich to poor will increase total satisfaction of society because the total gains would be more than the total loss of happiness

• However, individual rights are violated in taking the legally acquired wealth from the rich to distribute in the poor

• Utilitarian is different from egoism and altruism as it treats happiness of al people as same.

Important principles of Utilitarianism

• Consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced.

• Maximize the good : ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number’.

• Agent Neutral: Utilitarianism is impartial and agent-neutrality as everyone's happiness counts the same.

Case Study: Saving Life of A Noble Laurate

• There are two eminent men• Noble laurate of physics critically ill needing kidney transplantation

• Noble laurate of medicine critically ill needing heart transplantation

• Surgeon has total immunity of law

• Should he take the kidney and heart of a drunken tramp to save the life of these two noble laurates?

Act Utilitarian and Rule Utilitarian

• Act utilitarian: Every action much accord greatest happiness principle.

• Rule utilitarian: Determine whether the generalized rule produces more happiness than otherwise, if it were to be constantly followed.

• Act Utilitarian and Rule Utilitarian both must be satisfied for the right action.

The Right Action

• If killing an innocent man to save life of important person is made a universal law, it will reduce the overall happiness in the society.

• A surgeon must not kill a drunken trump for saving life of Noble Laurate

Teleological and Deontological Conflict

• Deontology (deon=duty +logos=reason) means an action is moral if it obeys moral laws (Kant)

• Teleology (telos=end or purpose + logos=reason) means morality of an action is to be judged by its end or purpose (Plato, Utilitarian)

• Teleological is also called consequentialism as the moral of an action lies in consequence while Deontology rejects such principles

Conflict between politicians and civil servants

• Politicians often follow utilitarian/teleological principle to please as many people as they can

• Civil servants must follow the Kantian/deontological principle and work strictly according to law

• The difference of their philosophies lead to conflict between them

Bona-fide action in Civil Services

• It is difficult to ascertain the consequence while doing the action

• Action with good intention may go wrong and may cause damage

• Hence the government provides protection if actions are done in good faith (bona-fide) even if they lead to err

• If you have taken reasonable precaution and care, your bona-fide actions are protected by law

Criticism

• Not only total happiness but its fair distribution among members is equally important.

• You can’t promote the overall well-being when it is against your own interest.

• All types of pleasures can’t be treated as same.

• Pleasures of the senses make the earlier theories ‘worthy only of swine’ (John Stuart Mill)

• Happiness is not the only thing that people seek

• Selflessness and altruism have pleasure of their own

• Sacrifice by soldiers and asceticism of saints can’t be explained

• Selfless care by parents of their children can’t be explained

• People often sacrifice happiness for greater things in life

• It is difficult to measure happiness

Q. Kant taught the philosophy

A. Deontology

B. Utilitarian

C. Consequentialism

D. Virtue ethics

Q. What is an incorrect statement about utilitarianism?A. Maximum happiness to maximum people

B. All people have the right to be happy.

C. Only worthy people should be made happy

D. Accepts the idea of declining marginal utility.

John Locke

John Locke

• John Locke (1632–1704) was an English philosopher and physician.

• He is widely regarded as one of the most influential of thinkers and is commonly known as the ‘Father of Liberalism’.

Rationalistic natural law preposition

1. Moral rules are founded on divine, universal and absolute laws.

2. These divine, moral laws are discernible by human reason.

3. By dint of their divine authorship these rules are obligatory and rationally discernible as such.

Locke’s hedonism theory

• Good actions are those which give us pleasure while evil actions are the source of pain.

• Pleasure and pain are not only at the physical level, but also at mental and emotional levels, which depends on the sanctions of society.

• Society rewards moral actions while punishes immoral actions, which motivates people to follow the moral path to attain more pleasure.

• We are moral not only because a divine law dictates us, but also because on rational analysis, we deduce that being moral is also a source of pleasure.

Reason of Morality

• Reason is the primary avenue by which humans come to understand moral rules.

• Moral laws are obligatory set of rules, because it reflects the will of a superior authority.

• ‘Without showing a law that commands or forbids [people], moral goodness will be but an empty sound, and those actions which the schools here call virtues or vices may by the same authority be called by contrary names in another country.’

• People must follow the laws of society which expresses the moral values of society.

• Understand the laws by using reason, because all moral laws provide pleasure and are beneficial to individuals as well as society.

Thomas Hobbes

State of nature

• Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are known for their social contract theory based on state of nature.

• State of nature means the ‘natural condition of mankind’ in which there is no government, no civilisation, no law, and no common power to restrain human nature.

• Such a state of nature would be a ‘war of all against all’, in which human beings constantly seek to destroy each other in an incessant pursuit for power.

• Existence in the state of nature is, as Hobbes famously states, ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.

Need of authoritative state

• We can’t hope to live a better life in the ‘state of nature’.

• Humans can live in peace under a sovereign power so as to avoid conflict within the ‘state of nature’, which can increase social conflict.

• Advocates the creation of a politically authoritative state to ensure the maintenance of peace and cooperation.

• Observation of law made by the state and society as desirable since that can reduce conflict within society and achieve common good for all its members.

Social Contract Theory

• State of nature is unsustainable for long. • In a sustainable society, individuals agree to relinquish their natural rights

to everything and to transfer their self-sovereignty to a higher civil authority or government.

• The authority of the sovereign is absolute, in the sense that no authority is above the sovereign and that its will is law.

• The social contract allows individuals to leave the state of nature and enter civil society.

• State of nature remains a threat and returns as soon as governmental power collapses.

• The power of the government is uncontested only if it is able to protect its subjects.

Durkheim

Emile Durkheim

• Durkheim, Carl Marx and Max Weber formally established the academic discipline of sociology.

• Durkheim rejects a priori moral concepts or abstract logical reasoning to construct ethical systems.

• Moral phenomena are conditioned both socially and historically.

• Over time every society creates its own set of moral rules and truths, which can vary dramatically from one society to the next.

• There exists no universal or transcendent morality for humanity.

• Morality is a wholly social phenomenon, with morality not existing outside of the limits of society.

• Morality begins only when an individual pertains to a group.

• Example: • Moral principles may require one to speak truth and follow non-violence

within the society.

• The same principles may not be valid when we are dealing with an enemy outside the group.

• However, within the group, morality is obligatory and desirable

Morality and Religion

• Morality and religion are intimately linked. • Wherever one finds a religion, one will find with it an accompanying moral

doctrine and moral ideals commanded to believers. • Moral authority is society’s collective force transfigured and made visible. • Moral authority constitutes a force that penetrates individuals and shapes

their personality. • ‘Society is not a mere sum of individuals. Rather, the system formed by

their association represents a specific reality which has its own characteristics.... The group thinks, feels, and acts quite differently from the way in which its members would were they isolated. If, then, we begin with the individual, we shall be able to understand nothing of what takes place in the group.’

Hegel

Moral and Ethical Life

• Hegel (1770–1831) besides Kant, was the most eminent philosopher of German idealism.

• Hegel differentiated between ‘morality’ and ‘ethical life’.

• Morality means Kant's moral philosophy which represents what is reflective, critical and individualistic in moral life.

• Hegel identifies ‘ethical life’ with ancient Greek society which stands for an attitude of unthinking, pious devotion to the traditional laws and customs of one's people.

• Hegel supports ethical life and opposes individualistic morality.

• He favours social conformism and moral traditionalism, and is an opponent of individualism and critical moral thinking.

Evolution of Ethical Values

• The ideas of morality are social and historical in nature, which evolve over a period of time.

• Even the individual ideas of morality are shaped by the ideas of morality that other people possess in our society.

• We gather our ideas from our parents and elders and they have taken their ideas from their parents and elders.

• Hence, the culture and tradition of a society play a very important role in the formation of our ethical values.

Dialectical Method of Ideas

• Hegel developed the ‘dialectical method for the development of an idea.

• Ideas evolve in terms of the categories of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. • A thesis can be seen as a single idea.

• Since this idea is simple and incomplete, it gives rise to the antithesis, which is an opposite idea.

• Since the antithesis is not complete, in order to make it more complete, a third point of view, called ‘synthesis’, arises from this conflict.

• A synthesis is more complex and a more complete idea, but does not yet represent the complete truth.

• This synthesis thus becomes a new thesis to generate more complex ideas until truth is arrived at.