UPSC IAS exam preparation - Ethics and Values - Lecture 2

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 Essence, determinants and
consequences of Ethics in human actions - Part 2

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2.0 Important terminologies

2.1 Moral realism

Moral realism is based on the idea that there are real objective moral facts or truths in the universe. Moral statements provide factual information about those truths.

I might be making a statement about an ethical fact

"It is wrong to murder"
This is moral realism

2.2 Subjectivism

Subjectivism teaches that moral judgments are nothing more than statements of a person's feelings or attitudes, and that ethical statements do not contain factual truths about goodness or badness. Subjectivists say that moral statements are statements about the feelings, attitudes and emotions that that particular person or group has about a particular issue. If a person says something is good or bad, they are telling us about the positive or negative feelings that they have about that something.

I might be making a statement about my own feelings

"I disapprove of murder"
This is subjectivism

2.3 Emotivism

Emotivism is the view that moral claims are no more than expressions of approval or disapproval. This sounds like subjectivism, but in emotivism a moral statement doesn't provide information about the speaker's feelings about the topic but expresses those feelings. So when someone makes a moral judgement they show their feelings about something. Some theorists also suggest that in expressing a feeling the person gives an instruction to others about how to act towards the subject matter.

I might be expressing my feelings

"Down with murder"
This is emotivism

2.4 Prescriptivism

Prescriptivists think that ethical statements are instructions or recommendations. So if I say something is good, I'm recommending you to do it, and if I say something is bad, I'm telling you not to do it. There is almost always a prescriptive element in any real-world ethical statement: any ethical statement can be reworked (with a bit of effort) into a statement with an 'ought' in it. For example: "lying is wrong" can be rewritten as "people ought not to tell lies".
 
I might be giving an instruction or a prohibition

"Don't murder people"
This is prescriptivism

2.5 God-based ethics-supernaturalism

Supernaturalism makes ethics inseparable from religion. It teaches that the only source of moral rules is God. So, something is good because God says it is, and the way to lead a good life is to do what God wants.

2.6 Intuitionism

Intuitionists think that good and bad are real objective properties that can't be broken down into component parts. Something is good because it's good; its goodness doesn't need justifying or proving. Intuitionists think that goodness or badness can be detected by adults. They say that human beings have an intuitive moral sense that enables them to detect real moral truths. They think that basic moral truths of what is good and bad are self-evident to a person who directs their mind towards moral issues. So good things are the things that a sensible person realises are good if they spend some time pondering the subject.
For the intuitionist:
moral truths are not discovered by rational argument
moral truths are not discovered by having a hunch
moral truths are not discovered by having a feeling

2.7 Consequentialism

This is the ethical theory that most non-religious people think they use every day. It bases morality on the consequences of human actions and not on the actions themselves. Consequentialism teaches that people should do whatever produces the greatest amount of good consequences. One famous way of putting this is 'the greatest good for the greatest number of people'. The most common forms of Consequentialism are the various versions of utilitarianism, which favour actions that produce the greatest amount of happiness.

Two problems with consequentialism are:

1. it can lead to the conclusion that some quite dreadful acts are good, and
2. predicting and evaluating the consequences of actions is often very difficult.
   

2.8 Non-consequentialism or deontological ethics

Non-consequentialism is concerned with the actions themselves and not with the consequences. It's the theory that people are using when they refer to "the principle of the thing". It teaches that some acts are right or wrong in themselves, whatever the consequences, and people should act accordingly.

2.9 Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics looks at virtue or moral character, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of actions - indeed some philosophers of this school deny that there can be such things as universal ethical rules. Virtue ethics is particularly concerned with the way individuals live their lives, and less concerned in assessing particular actions.

It develops the idea of good actions by looking at the way virtuous people express their inner goodness in the things that they do. To put it very simply, virtue ethics teaches that an action is right if and only if it is an action that a virtuous person would do in the same circumstances, and that a virtuous person is someone who has a particularly good character.

2.10 Situation ethics

Situation ethics rejects prescriptive rules and argues that individual ethical decisions should be made according to the unique situation. Rather than following rules the decision maker should follow a desire to seek the best for the people involved. There are no moral rules or rights, each case is unique and deserves a unique solution.

3.0 ABSOLUTISM AND RELATIVISM

3.1 Moral absolutism

Some people think there are such universal rules that apply to everyone. This sort of thinking is called moral absolutism. Moral absolutism argues that there are some moral rules that are always true, that these rules can be discovered and that these rules apply to everyone. Immoral acts i.e. acts that break these moral rules, are wrong in themselves, regardless of the circumstances or the consequences of those acts. Absolutism takes a universal view of humanity. It believes that there is one set of rules for everyone. Which enables the drafting of universal rules. Such as the Declaration of Human Rights. Religious views of ethics tend to be absolutist.

Problems with Moral Absolutism: Many of us feel that the consequences of an act or the circumstances surrounding it are relevant to whether that act is good or bad. Absolutism doesn't fit with respect for diversity and tradition.

3.2 Moral relativism

Moral relativists say that if you look at different cultures or different periods in history you'll find that they have different moral rules. Therefore it makes sense to say that "good" refers to the things that a particular group of people approve of at a particular time. Moral relativists dispute the idea that there are some objective and discoverable 'super-rules' that all cultures ought to obey. They believe that relativism respects the diversity of human societies and responds to different circumstances surrounding human acts.

Problems with Moral relativism: Many of us feel that moral rules have more to them than the general agreement of a group of people, that morality is more than a super-charged form of etiquette. Many of us think we can be good without conforming to all the rules of society.

Moral relativism has a problem with arguing against the majority view. If most people in a society agree with particular rules, that's the end of the matter. Many of the improvements in the world have come about because people opposed the prevailing ethical view but moral relativists are forced to regard such people as behaving "badly"

Any choice of social grouping as the foundation of ethics is bound to be arbitrary. Moral relativism doesn't provide any way to deal with moral differences between societies

To conclude, there are a few absolute ethical rules but a lot of ethical rules depend on the culture.

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