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Session’s Menu
The Master
Aristotle and the Ethics of Virtue
Kant and Mill: Modern Ethical Views
Another Perspective
Two Fundamental Questions
What does ethics mean?
How should I act?
Aristotle: The Stagirite
Born 387 b.c. in Greece.
Student of Plato.
Studied and wrote about a wide range of
subjects: logic, mathematics, physics,
biology, politics, ethics, metaphysics, …
A Holistic Approach
Nature is a whole that acts upon us
Nature shows the mean, between excess and
deficiency
Virtue is the reflect of the natural mean
A Word From Aristotle
Everything aims at the Good
Nicomachean Ethics
A Hedonic Answer:
Good emotions are produced when acting virtuously
A Natural Model:
We should act virtuously, in harmony with the essence of things, without excess nor
deficiency
How to act?
Feel good
Don’t feel good
Good feelings are reflecting virtuous actions
Born 1724 in Prussia. Modernity: emancipation of thought
from nature and religion, the subject becomes central, society is perceived from the point of view of the subject.
Kant’s systematic inquiryHow do we think? (pure reason)How do we act? (practical reason)How do we perceive? (faculty to judge)What is a moral act? (metaphysics of morals)
Kant: a Systematic Approach
Reason, Intentions and Norms Ethics is based on reason alone and not
on human nature or emotions.
Intentions count, independently of the
consequences.
Norms (principles, rules, rights, duties) are
the criterion of right intentions.
A Word From Kant
Everything in nature works according to rules
Logic
An Idealist Answer:
There is no right to do wrong, neither in theory or in practice
A Rational Model:
We should act according to a rule that can be universally applied
How to act?
Subject
Lying
Not Lying
There is no right to lie, in theory or in practice
J.S. Mill: A Science of Liberty
Born in 1806 in London. In search of a science that would reflect the
human dimension of society: System of Logic; Principles of Political Economy; On Liberty; Utilitarianism; The Subjection of Women.
Practical engagement for liberty. Heritage of J. Bentham’s utilitarianism.
Function & Consequences
Right and wrong are a function of the consequences of our actions.
We should act so as to attain the greatest possible balance of good consequences over bad consequences for everyone affected by our actions.
“Good” means happiness and pleasure.
A Word From John Stuart Mill
Of two pleasures, if there is one that all or almost all prefer, by experience of it,
irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation, that is the more desirable
pleasureUtilitarianism
How to act?
Good consequences when lying
Bad consequences without lying
Calculation of consequences drives ethical behavior
A Pragmatic Answer:
When judgments conflict, experienced facts are the sole answer
A Consequentialist Model:
We should act so as to attain the overall best consequences
Three Approaches to Ethics
Virtue-based: Nature as a modelEmotions as a criterion
Idealism: Reasoning as a modelPrinciples as a criterion
Consequentialism: Consequences as a modelPreferences as a criterion
Emotions, Principles & Consequences
Looking for a criterion, these ethical perspectives identify the true answer to the
tension between
Does it feel good? (Emotions)Is this right? (Principles)
Does it harm others? (Consequences)
Ethical Dilemmas
Is there always a ‘true’ solution to these dilemmas?
A preferred consequence
A not preferred
consequence
Lying
Not Lying
Ethics as a Grey Zone
Purelyethical
Your action is here
What does it mean to say that grey is black or that grey is white?
To manage our grey zone, we need to identify both the ethical and the
unethical
It feels good
And it gives
energy
but you risk bad
surprises…
You are honest
and this is painful
but you anticipate…
? Looking at the ethical
side
Looking at the unethical
side
Purelyunethical
On-Going Ethical Questions Emotions/Virtue:
Who am I when acting? Do I feel good?
Would I feel good if it were public?
Is this a natural way to act?
Does this participate to my accomplishment? Deontology/Idealism:
What sort of principle, rule or norm do I respect?
What happens if everybody does the same?
What happens if I always act like this? Utilitarianism/Consequentialism:
What are the consequences for others?
Would I like these consequences for myself?
What are the consequences for the environment?
Would my children suffer from them?
An On-going Question?
Maybe ethics is the question itself.
We may learn to accept the tension between how things are and how they should be.
We can structure this tension and mature our feelings about it.
Then, we may even like this tension, and use it as a source of energy
A Teaching from the Vedantas
Swami Vivekananda Vedanta: its Theory and Practice, XLIII
Materialism says, the voice of freedom is a delusion.
Idealism says, the voice that tells of bondage is delusion.
Vedanta says, you are free and not free at the same time; never
free on the earthly plane, but ever free on the spiritual.
A Word from Swami Vivekananda
XLIII, Vedanta: its Theory and Practice
Do not think that good and evil are two, are two separate
essences, for they are one and the same thing appearing in
different degrees and in different guises and producing differences
of feeling in the same mind.
From the Philosophers
Keep asking you questions, this is ethical thinking Assume your responsibility, this is ethical behavior. Listen to Nature, to Yourself and Others to enrich your
ethical judgment and to better anticipate consequences
Managing the ethical tension is an on-going process source of energy
