Ethics (MOC)

Notes

Ethics deals with questions about "what is the right thing to do?" how should a person and a society act? What are the interests the drives people to act in certain ways, and are we justified in questioning the reasons for other's actions, or perhaps morality is subjective and to each his own?

Metaethics

Metaethics are grand approaches to ethics. I.e while ethics will say if action x is "right or wrong", metaethics deals with how to judge an action, what forces causes you to say that something is right or wrong. The most common approaches are:

1. Deontology - Humans are bound by logic to certain duties and rights, and they should never be taken away and always respected
2. Utilitarianism - It is within our nature to pursue pleasure and detest pain. So the best ethical action would be such that maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain.
3. virtue theory - knowing what the right thing to do is difficult and dependent on context, but we can strive to be better people, who will act in a better way
4. Ethics of care - We are social creatures, so our moral drives stem from our relations to others. We prioritize connection and care.
5. Moral Taste Buds - All humans share the same "moral taste buds", so moral differences between communities is a matter of position on the same scales, rather than completely different considerations.

What is "good"?

How can we know if something is "good"?

1. Relativism - perhaps "good" is determined by each person to himself, and there is no sense in judging others of their perception of the good
2. Pragmatism - good is what's useful, what is beneficial to achieving our goals and making sense of the world
3. Post-Modernism - what is good is dependent on identity and power struggles between communities.
4. Will to Power - The concepts of good and bad are empty of value, and are a distraction in our effort to fulfill our will to power.

Me Vs Others

1. Just World Bias - we tend to attribute less agency to us when something bad happens, and reverse when something good, but for others the level of agency is the same
2. Agent vs society moralism - similarly, we hope that others will have a higher moral standard than us, while we could be a "free rider".
3. us vs them - We tend to be more moral towards our inner group, and more hostile towards outside groups.

Existentialism and Ethics

is ethics more like "manners", a set of rules that we have to follow out of duty, or is it connected to our sense of meaning in life and our own goals?

1. morality and happiness - many asked how morality is linked to happiness (Love what is good ) , Happiness is to be virtuous

How to Be a Moral Person

What makes us moral?

1. Intelligence is not morality - Is it simply a matter of knowledge? will we act differently once we know what is good and bad?
2. Morality is both rational and emotional - Are our emotions a hindrance to acting morality or are they the source of our moral behavior?
3. to be moral is to act moral - can one be moral without acting in that way? Do thoughts alone matter?

Misc

1. Moral Licensing - Act morally gives us a "justification" to do vice. Like celebrating with a cake after eating a salad.
2. AI Ethics - How do we teach ethics to computers?

Books

Ego Is The Enemy (book) Give and Take (book) The Genealogy of Morals (book) The Righteous Mind (book) Theory of Moral Sentiments (book)

Philosophers

Socrates (philosopher) Hellenistic Age (philosopher) Immanuel Kant (philosopher) Eastern Philosophy (philosopher) Aristotle (philosopher)

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