Kantian Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Dignity, Price, And
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Western Philosophy Rev
Designed by John Cornet, Phoenix HS (Ore) Western Philosophy rev. September 2012 The very process of philosophy has been a driving force in the tranformation of the world. From the figure who dwells upon how to achieve power, to the minister who contemplates the paradox of the only truth (their faith) yet which is also stagnent, to the astronomers who are searching the stars for signs of other civilizations, to the revolutionaries who sought to construct a national government which would protect the rights of the minority, the very exercise of philosophy and philosophical thought is at a core of human nature. Philosophy addresses what are sometimes called the "big questions." These include questions of morality and ethics, ideology/faith,, politics, the truth of knowledge, the nature of reality, and the meaning of human existance (...just to name a few!) (Religion addresses some of the same questions, but while philosophy and religion overlap in some questions, they can and do differ significantly in the approach they take to answering them.) Subject Learning Outcomes Skills-Based Learning Outcomes Behavioral Expectations and Grading Policy Develop an appreciation for and enjoyment of Organize, maintain and learn how to study from a learning, particularly in how learning should subject-specific notebook Attendance, participation and cause us to question what we think we know Be able to demonstrate how to take notes (including being prepared are daily and have a willingness to entertain new utilizing two-column format) expectations perspectives on issues. Be able to engage in meaningful, substantive discussion A classroom culture of respect and Students will develop familiarity with major with others. -
Moral Values
MORAL VALUES Moral values are one basis on which we make decisions–right or wrong? good or evil? Other bases are financial, convenient, aesthetic (an artist), arbitrary (flipping a coin), physical/health, rational (investigating a product before buying). INDIVIDUAL MORALITY AND SOCIAL MORALITY Individual morality This provides the basis of decisions of and judgments by the individual: honesty, loyalty, good faith, being responsible Social morality Fairness is one basis of law, which helps to govern society and to control individual behavior. Social morality considers whether an action threatens society’s well-being.. Conflict. Individual morality and social morality may conflict. Is the free downloading/sharing of music from the Internet a copyright violation? Is using text downloaded from the Internet without footnotes in student papers plagiarism? Should the government regulate non-harmful sexual acts by consenting adults in their own homes or adults reading pornography at home? MORAL RELATIVISM VERSUS MORAL ABSOLUTISM Individual relativism Right and wrong depend on the social or moral commitments of the individual. Situational relativism Right and wrong vary depending on the particular situation. Cultural relativism Moral norms vary by culture; right and wrong depend on the moral norms of the society: female infanticide in China, suttee in India, slavery. Moral absolutism Absolute standards exist by which all rules, commitments and behavior can be judged. The fact that moral commitments vary in different societies does not mean that morality is relative, just as the fact that scientific beliefs may differ in various societies does not prove that scientific truth is relative. MORAL PRINCIPLES APPLYING TO INDIVIDUALS The rules that most of us think of as morality are based on principles. -
'The Supreme Principle of Morality'? in the Preface to His Best
The Supreme Principle of Morality Allen W. Wood 1. What is ‘The Supreme Principle of Morality’? In the Preface to his best known work on moral philosophy, Kant states his purpose very clearly and succinctly: “The present groundwork is, however, nothing more than the search for and establishment of the supreme principle of morality, which already constitutes an enterprise whole in its aim and to be separated from every other moral investigation” (Groundwork 4:392). This paper will deal with the outcome of the first part of this task, namely, Kant’s attempt to formulate the supreme principle of morality, which is the intended outcome of the search. It will consider this formulation in light of Kant’s conception of the historical antecedents of his attempt. Our first task, however, must be to say a little about the meaning of the term ‘supreme principle of morality’. For it is not nearly as evident to many as it was to Kant that there is such a thing at all. And it is extremely common for people, whatever position they may take on this issue, to misunderstand what a ‘supreme principle of morality’ is, what it is for, and what role it is supposed to play in moral theorizing and moral reasoning. Kant never directly presents any argument that there must be such a principle, but he does articulate several considerations that would seem to justify supposing that there is. Kant holds that moral questions are to be decided by reason. Reason, according to Kant, always seeks unity under principles, and ultimately, systematic unity under the fewest possible number of principles (Pure Reason A298-302/B355-359, A645- 650/B673-678). -
Moral Relativism
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research New York City College of Technology 2020 The Incoherence of Moral Relativism Carlo Alvaro CUNY New York City College of Technology How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/583 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] 1 The Incoherence of Moral Relativism Abstract This paper is a response to Park Seungbae’s article, “Defence of Cultural Relativism”. Some of the typical criticisms of moral relativism are the following: moral relativism is erroneously committed to the principle of tolerance, which is a universal principle; there are a number of objective moral rules; a moral relativist must admit that Hitler was right, which is absurd; a moral relativist must deny, in the face of evidence, that moral progress is possible; and, since every individual belongs to multiple cultures at once, the concept of moral relativism is vague. Park argues that such contentions do not affect moral relativism and that the moral relativist may respond that the value of tolerance, Hitler’s actions, and the concept of culture are themselves relative. In what follows, I show that Park’s adroit strategy is unsuccessful. Consequently, moral relativism is incoherent. Keywords: Moral relativism; moral absolutism; objectivity; tolerance; moral progress 2 The Incoherence of Moral Relativism Moral relativism is a meta-ethical theory according to which moral values and duties are relative to a culture and do not exist independently of a culture. -
When the Kingdom of God Became the Kingdom of Ends: Altruism’S Development Into a Normative Ideal
When the Kingdom of God Became the Kingdom of Ends: Altruism’s Development into a Normative Ideal A Senior Honor Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with distinction in Political Science in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences by Benjamin T. Jones The Ohio State University December 10, 2006 Project Advisors: John M. Parrish, Department of Political Science (Loyola Marymount University) Michael A. Neblo, Department of Political Science (The Ohio State University) Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Introduction 1 The Paradox at the Heart of Altruism 4 Defining Altruism and Normativity 6 What Are We Looking For? 11 Roadmap of What’s to Come 14 Part I Towards a Problem: The Ancient Debate over Public Life 17 Eudaimonia and Ancient Ethics 18 Plato and Aristotle 24 Epicurus and the Stoics 40 A Solution from an Unlikely Source 47 Augustine’s Reconciliation of the Two Cities 55 Conclusion 63 Part II Self-Love’s Fall from Grace: How Normative Altruism Developed out of the Augustinian Tradition 65 Entangled in Self-love: Augustine’s Normative Argument 67 Augustine Goes Secular 75 Kant’s Problematic Solution 83 Reworking Kant—And Altruism 89 Conclusion 91 Part III The Problems with Normative Altruism 93 Two Conceptions of Altruism 93 Evidence for Altruism on a Descriptive Level 95 Motivational Barriers to Normative Altruism 113 Changing the Way We Talk About Altruism 121 Conclusion 126 Bibliography 131 i Abstract In contemporary moral philosophy, altruism holds a place of prominence. Although a complex idea, the term seeps into everyday discourse, by no means confined to the esoteric language of philosophers and psychologists. -
The Education of the Categorical Imperative
Stud Philos Educ (2006) 25:385–402 DOI 10.1007/s11217-006-9006-2 The education of the categorical imperative James Scott Johnston Received: 20 October 2005 / Accepted: 6 June 2006 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006 Abstract In this article, I examine anew the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant and its contributions to educational theory. I make four claims. First, that Kant should be read as having the Categorical Imperative develop out of subjective maxims. Second, that moral self-perfection is the aim of moral education. Third, that moral self-perfection develops by children habituating the results of their moral maxims in scenarios and cases. Fourth, that character and culture, Kant’s highest aims for humanity, are the ultimate beneficiaries of this process. Keywords Kant Æ Moral education Æ Categorical Imperative Æ Self-perfection Æ Pedagogy Æ Character Decades have passed since Immanuel Kant has figured prominently in the dis- cipline of philosophy of education as practiced in the English-speaking world. To my mind the last article-length, sympathetic exposition of Kant’s contribution to the philosophy of education was Donald Butler’s Idealism in Education, and this was published in 1966. This state of affairs continues, despite the many criticisms of Kant extant in the disciplinary literature and the presence of much new scholarship on Kant, particularly in the areas of ethics, politics, and anthropology. German scholarship on Kant has long had Traugott Weisskopf’s Immanuel Kant und die Pa¨dagogik (1970) and more recently, Ju¨ rgen-Eckhardt Pleines’s edited volume, Kant und die Pa¨dagogik: Pa¨dagogik und Practische Philosophie (1999). -
{PDF} Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Ebook Free Download
GROUNDING FOR THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Immanuel Kant,James W. Ellington | 92 pages | 01 Jun 1993 | Hackett Publishing Co, Inc | 9780872201668 | English | Cambridge, MA, United States Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals PDF Book The claims do not conflict because they have different targets. To put the point slightly differently: Because the world of understanding is more fundamental and primary, its laws hold for the world of sense too. It could have just given us instinct, and thus made us simply and naturally happy, and fit to live. This is a negative definition of freedom—it tells us that freedom is freedom from determination by alien forces. At this point, Kant asks, "what kind of law can that be, the representation of which must determine the will, even without regard for the effect expected from it? A maxim of an action is its principle of volition. All that we may know is that we have a concept of freedom of the will, and that morality may be based on this concept. Similarly, ethics contains an empirical part, which deals with the question of what—given the contingencies of human nature —tends to promote human welfare , and a non-empirical part, which is concerned with an a priori investigation into the nature and substance of morality. Freedom is the ability to give your own law to your will. Kant thinks that, with the exception of the good will , all goods are qualified. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. -
Animals in the Kingdom of Ends
25 Animals in the Kingdom of Ends Heather M. Kendrick Department of Philosophy and Religion Central Michigan University [email protected] Abstract Kant claimed that human beings have no duties to animals because they are not autonomous ends in themselves. I argue that Kant was wrong to exclude animals from the realm of moral consideration. Animals, although they do not set their own ends and thus cannot be regarded as ends in themselves, do have ends that are given to them by nature. As beings with ends, they stand between mere things that have no ends, and rational beings that are ends in themselves. I propose a broader version of Kant's kingdom of ends, in which rational beings respect the ends of all other beings that have them, including animals. The moral status of animals would still be dependent on the existence of rational beings, but our duty to take their ends into account would be a direct duty to them, rather than being a covert duty to human beings. Introduction Immanuel Kant holds that we have no duties to animals, because they are not ends in themselves, that is, autonomous beings of intrinsic value. Instead, we have indirect duties with regard to them. We ought not treat them cruelly, as it damages our natural sympathies and thus can harden us in our dealings with other human beings. He uses the example of a man who has his dog shot when the animal is no longer of service; this is not a violation of any duty to the dog, but of his duty to cultivate “the kindly and humane qualities in himself, which he ought to exercise in virtue of his duties to mankind” (Kant 1997b 27:459). -
Absolutism, Utilitarianism, and Moral Military Decision Making. Kristine V
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 1999 Absolutism, utilitarianism, and moral military decision making. Kristine V. Nakutis University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Nakutis, Kristine V., "Absolutism, utilitarianism, and moral military decision making." (1999). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 2554. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/2554 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSOLUTISM, UTILITARIANISM, AND MORAL MILITARY DECISION MAKING A Thesis Presented by KRISTINE V. NAKUTIS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS September 1999 Philosophy - ABSOLUTISM, UTILITARIANISM, AND MORAL MILITARY DECISION MAKING A Thesis Presented by KRISTINE VARNUM NAKUTIS Approved as to style and content by: ^7 (— Fred Feldman, Chair i/eth B. Matthews, Member olftn G. Robison, Department Head department of Philosophy TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page 1. UTILITARIANISM AND WAR ... 1 Introduction... .. 1 Utilitarianism War ..2 ..5 U.S. Catholic Bishop View of War Combatants versus Non-Combatants 2. NAGEL’S ABSOLUTISM AND UTILITARIANISM Means and Ends 18 Straightforward Utilitarianism 20 What is Absolutism? 22 Technical Matters 26 Absolutist Restriction on Warfare 28 Class of Persons 28 Manner of Attack on Specific Classes of Persons 33 Utilitarianism and Absolutist Conflict 38 3. BRANDT’S RULE-UTILITARIANISM Nagel’s “Absolutism” 43 Morally Justifiable Rules 47 Utilitarian Rules 49 Rules Restricting Military Operations 52 Rules of War and Morality 60 4. -
Ethics for A-Level for AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies
Ethics for A-Level For AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies MARK DIMMOCK AND ANDREW FISHER To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/639 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. Ethics for A-Level Mark Dimmock and Andrew Fisher https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2017 Mark Dimmock and Andrew Fisher This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Mark Dimmock and Andrew Fisher, Ethics for A-Level. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017, https:// doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0125 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://www. openbookpublishers.com/product/639#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.openbookpublishers. com/product/639#resources ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-388-9 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-389-6 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-390-2 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-391-9 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-392-6 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0125 Cover image: Malaysia from the Sky, photo by Ishan @seefromthesky. -
Moral Relativism Overview on Moral Relativism
Moral Relativism Overview on Moral Relativism https://youtu.be/5RU7M6JSVtk Moral relativism is the idea that there is no universal or absolute set of moral principles. It’s a version of morality that advocates “to each her own,” and those who follow it say, “Who am I to judge?” It is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. It does not deny outright the truth-value or justification of moral statements (as some forms of Moral Anti-Realism do), but affirms relative forms of them. It may be described by the common aphorism: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. Moral Relativists point out that humans are not omniscient and history is replete with examples of individuals and societies acting in the name of an infallible truth later demonstrated to be more than fallible, so we should be very wary of basing important ethical decisions on a supposed absolute claim. Absolutes also tend to inhibit experimentation and foreclose possible fields of inquiry that might lead to progress in many fields, as well as stifling the human spirit and quest for meaning. In addition, the short term proves itself vastly superior in the ethical decision-making process than the relatively unknown long-term. Relativistic positions may specifically see moral values as applicable only within certain cultural boundaries (Cultural Relativism) or in the context of individual preferences (Ethical Subjectivism). A related but slightly different concept is that of Moral Pluralism (or Value Pluralism), the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other (e.g. -
Allocating Health Care Morally
Allocating Health Care Morally Einer Elhauge TABLE OF CoNTENTs Introduction ..................................................... 1452 I. The Absolutist Position ..................................... 1457 A. Moral Absolutism v. Professional Ethics ................ 1457 B. Why the Absolutist Position Is Untenable ............... 1459 C. Denial Devices ........................................ 1461 D . Lessons ............................................... 1464 II. Equal Access to Adequate Care ............................. 1465 A. Difficulties in Defining the Right to Adequate Health Care .................................................. 1465 1. Physician-Prescribed Care, Reasonable-Cost Care, and Care Received by Others ........................... 1466 2. "Necessary" Health Care ........................... 1467 3. Care that Restores "Normal Species Functioning" ...1468 4. List-of-Services Approach .......................... 1470 5. Case-by-Case Determinations ....................... 1471 6. Concluding Observations ........................... 1471 B. The Underlying Redistributional Claim and Its Traditional Justifications ............................... 1473 1. The Special Importance of Health Care ............. 1476 2. Undeserved Misfortune ............................. 1479 3. Unpredictable Need for Health Care ................ 1479 4. Paternalism ........................................ 1480 5. Externalities ....................................... 1480 C. A Negative Justification for Targeting Health Care ...... 1486 D. The Purely