Refresher on Core Theoretical Foundations of Ethics

Utilitarianism

• Definition: A consequentialist theory where an action is morally right if it results in the greatest overall good.
• Historical Background:
  • Traced back to ideas before formalization in the 19th century.
  • Jeremy Bentham:
    • Defined 'good' as pleasure and 'bad' as pain.
    • Evaluated actions based on factors like intensity, duration, certainty, proximity, fecundity, and purity.
    • Aimed to reform laws and policies for maximizing collective happiness.
  • John Stuart Mill:
    • Argued for higher quality intellectual pleasures over sensual ones.
    • Emphasized internal sanctions (e.g., guilt) to guide behavior.
  • Henry Sidgwick:
    • Explored utilitarian methods and challenges in balancing self-interest with overall good.
  • G.E. Moore:
    • Critiqued strict hedonism and introduced the notion of organic unity.

Virtue Ethics

• Focus: Development of moral character rather than rule-following or outcome calculation.
• Key Concepts:
  • Cultivating traits like honesty, courage, and generosity.
  • Eudaimonia: Flourishing or true happiness achieved by living virtuously.
  • Practical Wisdom (phronesis): Enables navigation of complex moral situations.
• Modern Versions:
  • Eudaimonist perspectives, agent-based approaches, target-centered analyses, and platonistic variants.

The Common Good

• Definition: Social systems, institutions, and conditions benefiting everyone.
• Historical Roots:
  • Ideas from thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero; refined by modern voices like John Rawls.
• Components: Public healthcare, safety, a just legal system, and a clean environment.
• Challenges:
  • Pluralism, free-rider problem, focus on individualism, and unequal burdens.

Justice and Fairness

• Principle: Giving each person what they deserve.
• Core Idea: Equals treated equally, unequals treated unequally based on morally relevant distinctions.
• Types:
  • Distributive Justice: Fair allocation of societal benefits and burdens.
  • Retributive or Corrective Justice: Proportional punishment for offenses.
  • Compensatory Justice: Fair redress of harms or losses.

Ethical Decision-Making Framework

• Advisors: Vascas, Andre, Shanks, and Meyer.
• Process:
  • Begin by gathering facts.
  • Evaluate actions through five lenses: utilitarian, rights, justice, common good, and virtue.
• Outcome: Structured roadmap for determining ethical actions.