Introduction to Moral Philosophy

Introduction

Scenario 1: Driver of a trolley car heading towards 5 workers, brakes fail, can switch to another track where 1 worker is working
- Question: What is the right thing to do?
- Opinion Poll: Majority would turn to kill 1 and save 5
- Reason: Better to kill 1 than 5
- Counterpoint: Justifies genocide/totalitarian thinking
Scenario 2: Onlooker on a bridge, trolley heading towards 5 workers, can push a fat man to stop the trolley
- Question: Push the fat man?
- Opinion Poll: Majority wouldn't push
- Reason: Direct action of pushing someone feels morally worse than redirecting the trolley

Difference in choices: Active push vs. redirecting an already moving object
Ethical Analysis: Introduces two moral reasoning approaches:
- Consequentialist Moral Reasoning: Judging by outcomes (saving 5 at the cost of 1)
- Categorical Moral Reasoning: Judging the intrinsic morality of the act itself (pushing the fat man feels worse)

Jeremy Bentham's Principle: Maximize utility (happiness over suffering)
Example: The Queen vs. Dudley and Stephens (Survival cannibalism case)
- Dudley and Stephens: Killed and ate Parker to survive
- Defense: Acted out of necessity; better one dies than all
- Prosecution: Murder is murder, morally wrong
- Class Poll: Majority found them guilty

Key Questions:
1. Why is murder categorically wrong?
2. Does a fair procedure (e.g., lottery) justify an outcome?
3. What moral difference does consent make?
Philosophical Context:
- Utilitarianism: Largest welfare
- Categoricalism: Certain acts are just wrong
Risks of Studying Philosophy: Personal and political risks, challenges conventional beliefs, unsettling
Skepticism and Unsettled Reason: Philosophy doesn't solve but complicates; encourages critical thinking

Reading List: Aristotle, Locke, Kant, Mill, etc.
Practical Questions: Affirmative action, free speech, same sex marriage, etc.
Goal: To awaken the restlessness of reason and critically examine moral and political philosophy