- Ethics comes from the Greek word ethikos or ethos (customary moral behavior). It is also said to be the study of good and evil. Western philosophy began in Greece, and there it is divided between pre-Socrates and what happened with Socrates and after. Ethics is simply applied philosophy.
- Ethics uses metaphysics, which is finding reality and figuring out what it is.
- Epistomology is finding, through philosophy, truth and knowledge and then asking "what is its source?" and secondly "how can I know with certainty that it is true?".
- Ethics equals applied philosophy.
- Most philosphers believe you can use reason to solve moral problems. Many believe that parents, religion, society, and governments create the basis of solving moral problems. Reason creates criteria used to solve moral dilemmas. It is thought that we get a "bunch" of criteria- not just one. Not all philosphers believe this.
- Some philosphers believe the following:
- We should know the difference between right and wrong
- (However, some philosophers, like Bentham, believe it is purely emotional and didn't believe in reason.)
- Human beings have free will
- Many believe you cannot hold a person accountable when they have no control over what they do
- There needs to be some reason to be moral
- Example: Why shouldn't we do it if it makes us feel good? (this example is the reverse of reason)
- Ethical decisions can be justified or defended
- Boiled down...
- Tell us what to do
- Why we should do it
From the book, page 15, John Arthur:
The question here that is addressed by Arthur is
- Do you need religion to be moral?
- Does religion motivate people to be moral?
- An example of those who believe that religion is an important part of a moral decision hold the Divine Command Theory or "We need God!".
- God commands us or wants us to do something and then we do it.
SOCRATES
- 469 to 399
- He has been called the father of philosophy
- He appears to have written nothing for us to read and many believe he was illiterate
- He believed in public debate, especially with politicians, and we know much of what he said because of his disciples, particularly Plato
- He lived off of a small pension for fighting in a war and was usually badly dressed and was notoriously ugly
- He had a special technique of embarrassing powerful politicians that made him very popular
- He used questions as his weapon of choice
- He believed in virtue and that those who governed Athens were ignorant of virtue
- When virtue is not practiced, Socrates said this would lead to evil
The specific charge was that he refused to acknowledge the gods of Athens. But, his real crime is that he was a pain in the ass. He was asked to publicly change his beliefs or die. So, he suffered for his work by drinking hemlock (poison).
PLATO
- 427-347 BC
- He was born to one of Athens' wealthiest and politically influential families
- One would guess that he would find a good position in the political service in the city. However, he became one of Socrates' most passionate followers, and after Socrates' death he developed a distrust and dislike for politicians.
- He decided to establish a school of philosophy in 387 and called it The Academy, a name that came from one of the hills found in Athens. The school lived well beyond him for some 800 years, closing in 529 AD.
- Some of Plato's beliefs and statements are found in the following:
- When personal pleasure replaces your willingness to do good to your fellow man, you have lost your moral way.
- (He used the destruction of the mythological city of Atlantis by Zeus as an example of this.)
- He believed that the existence of perfection is in the mind.
- (Larson's example: You can find the most perfect orange- shape, color, texture, etc. and behold it. Then, stick it away and forget it and it turns nasty. But, when you behold it you still see it in its perfect state by using the picture of it in your mind.)
- A priori : refers to principles and judgements that are valid without using sense impressions; going from cause of effect; deductive.
- You must know it in your mind first before it is acted upon.
- One of Plato's ultimate beliefs was in ideal justice. You need knowledge of what is perfect and one's experience draws it out of us.
- How do we know perfect morality? Your duty is to a principle rather than a specific thing or person. In other words, your chief obligation is to the principle of helping someone who is hurt, rather than to the actual person themselves.
- How do we know the principles of justice? We do by use of reason. Reason is the key to knowing morality and truth.
- The soul is:
- Desire, pleasure
- Emotion
- Reason... which make us different than animals
- JUSTICE IS THE SUPREME VIRTUE
- MORALITY IS FIXED AND UNCHANGING
ARISTOTLE
- 384 TO 322 BC
- Born in Athens
- Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle was not driven by a passion to search for justice in the absolute wisdom of philosophy... For Plato knowledge and justice were inseperable; Aristotle said that they simply lived together or were intertwined.
- He was the student of Plato and when he was not given Plato's school (because everyone thought he was heir-apparent) he went off and founded his own and called it "The Lyceum". But, before he spent time at the school he became the tutor for Alexander the Great, the son of Phillip of Macedon. It may be difficult to think of just what Aristotle made permanent in Alexander's mind, but there certainly was a connection.
- Aristotle refuted Plato's deductive reasoning and used the opposite, inductive.
- Deductive: a subtracting or taking away, reasoning from the general (the biggest chunk) to the particular (the smaller pieces).
- Inductive: the drawing of a general conclusion from a number of known facts, then saying: if it is true for one value that is known, then it must follow that another value would be equally true if it were the same.
- Aristotle believed that the state is the guardian of virtue.
- You must form your own character, yet act in conformity with virtue.
- Everything has a purpose, a destiny. You are happy when you are fulfilling your destiny, therefore you must act in harmony with your destiny. (Example: a clumsy person may find it difficult to be a craftsman of fine glass.)
- When you act with virtue you act morally.
- Aristotle called pure virtue "The Golden Mean". (Different from the Golden Rule (treat others as you want yourself to be treated)).
- "The Golden Mean"
- Courage
- Brings honor to you to be brave, and then vice brings shame
- Charity
- Helping others in need. Too little would be stingy, too much- wastful
- Pride
- To have a good image of yourself. Too much would be vanity; too little- false humanity.
- Good Temper
- Friendliness
- Too little- coldness, too much- patronizing
- Truth* (most important)
- Too little is a lie- too much can hurt people
- Justice* (most important)
- Too little is unjust- too much is injurious
- Aristotle's logic, a system for finding the truth to a problem or argument, is used to this day. His metaphysics can still be found in Catholic theology.
- After working with Alexander, Aristotle went back to Athens to teach in his Lyceum. Later he, too, was indicted for treason. Unlike Socrates, he took his family and fled north.
EPICURUS
- 341-270 BC
- He believed pleasure is the only thing worth following. It is a good in itself.
- Women and slaves were welcome in his school
- One of his followers believed that atoms made up all things
- His followers generally believed that there was no life after death
- However, too much of a good thing is not good. Reach a state of repose: not too much or not too little; live simply without excess
- Gods are not to be feared... keep saying it over and over and over until you believe it
- Good is easy... say it over and over and over until you believe it
- Pleasure is the source of goodness, but in moderation
- For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared.
ZENO
- Zeno of Elea (ˈzɛnɔ ɔf ˈelea, Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης) (ca. 490 BC? – ca. 430 BC?) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic, and Bertrand Russell credited him with having laid the foundations of modern logic. He is best known for his paradoxes.
- You don't control what happens to you.
- You are at the mercy of the world
- You do the best you can
- Life is tragic
Great reading, isn't it? These notes are posted on January 31st. They were taken from Jon Larson's class last Monday, January 28th. Khatra, Brandon, Peri, Carl, and Katy participated and wrote until their arms fell off- but we retrieved them. Peri cheated, she is a whiz on the computer and you could hear the click, click, click of her keys around the room. I am taking the class also to show how much an old man forgets. I challenge them that if any one of them got a higher grade than me I would give them $100.00 dollars. I am starting to put money in my piggy bank because some of our students are really bright.
These are my notes, taken in class. I threw in a few facts that I remember from when I took this course in 1959. You can see all the cobwebs and dust, can't you? The idea now is to share each other's notes so that we can find "the truth" just like the Greek philosophers.
This blog will also be used by our Community students who have been sentenced to take our Ethics class. It is not really that bad- I could make you read the whole book!
The readings section of the notes will come later, because I want to get the book and scan the necessary pages. So, there it is- you've got to love those Greeks!
Terry
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