Kant

• Kant reacts to the threat of determinism
• Causality belongs to the world of appearance only
• The real human self is autonomous
• Kant's theory of ethics
• Kant's notion of practical rationality
• Hypothetical and categorical imperatives
• The Golden Rule
• The Kingdom of Ends
• Duty
• The good will the only thing that is good
• Evidence for a world in which rationality guides
• Review Questions

Aristotle

• Introduction to Aristotle and his perspective
• Aristotelian virtues
• Aristotelian claims
• The good life
  • - for the rhododendron
  • - for the frog
  • - for the human being
• Rationality as distinctive of the human being
• Your 'nature' and your 'genes'
• The doctrine of the mean
• Happiness
• Virtue

Plato

• A reminder: Can virtue be taught? (Meno)
• Hedonism
• Your immediate inclinations can sometimes lead maximising personal pleasure.
• - But many times it doesn't
• The hedonist therefore needs knowledge
• - Knowledge of the likely consequences of actions
• - Ignorance about possible sources of pleasure
• - Ignorance about what will give you, in particular, pleasure
• Knowledge v. right opinion
• Understanding is the source of the greatest happiness
• The Myth of the Cave
• Aspects of the Cave myth
• Disregard of the realm of the visible
• Disregard of the 'lower' pleasures
• Vindication of Philosophy
• The Form of the Good creates intelligibility in general
• What is the connection between morality and religion?

Hume

• What is morality all about?
• Hume's conception of reason
• Hume's theory of reasoning and moral judgements
• Actions are driven by the feeling side of human beingsHume: the basic motivators are pain and pleasure.How pursuing pleasure/avoiding pain can lead to altruism
• Hume's rooting all motivation in pleasure and pain feeds the perceived problem of altruism
• Justice
• Hume and the 'function' of morality
• Hume and environmental philosophy

Utilitarianism

• The gist
• The theory behind Mill’s Utilitarian principle
• Mill’s arguments for the claim that you should pursue happiness
• The reason doesn’t amount to proof
• Issues
  • Why bother about other people’s happiness?
  • What is meant by happiness exactly?
  • The ‘ultimate good’
  • Is a principle of action based on feeling (eg pleasure) demeaning?
  • The big difficulty with Utilitarianism: Justice is said sometimes to conflict with it.
  • Utility is impossible or too time consuming to calculate
  • Pillories special relationships as involving special pleading

Contractarianism

• How to reap the benefits of communal life
• Can you promise except within a framework of morality?
• Convention
• Law enforcement
• The 'just' society
• How to discount prejudice?
• Rawls' answers
• The utilitarian objection
• Self interest

Aristotle the Galapogos tortoise, about a hundred, last known to be a resident of the Como Park Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Thanks to Wisdom in Edutainment

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Revised 06:12:08 | Prepared by VP

Foundations of Ethics Home page

A module of the BA Philosophy programme

Center for Professional Ethics | University of Central Lancashire | e-mail hhoughton@uclan.ac.uk