ethics

Ethics

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that asks how we ought to live and what makes actions right or wrong. It is not merely a catalog of rules — it is the systematic investigation of the grounds for moral judgment. This skill covers the major normative theories, metaethical positions, applied ethical domains, and a structured framework for analyzing moral dilemmas.

Agent affinity: kant (ethics, Sonnet), beauvoir (existentialism and phenomenology, Opus)

Concept IDs: philo-ethical-frameworks, philo-virtue-ethics, philo-applied-ethics

The Ethics Landscape at a Glance

| # | Domain | Core question | Key thinkers | |---|--------|---------------|--------------| | 1 | Consequentialism | What produces the best outcomes? | Bentham, Mill, Singer | | 2 | Deontological ethics | What duties and rules must we follow? | Kant, Ross, Scanlon | | 3 | Virtue ethics | What kind of person should I be? | Aristotle, MacIntyre, Foot | | 4 | Care ethics | What do our relationships require? | Gilligan, Noddings, Held | | 5 | Existentialist ethics | How do I create meaning through choice? | Beauvoir, Sartre, Kierkegaard | | 6 | Metaethics | What is the nature of moral claims? | Ayer, Mackie, Moore, Hare | | 7 | Applied ethics | What should we do in specific domains? | Thomson, Leopold, Bostrom |

1 — Consequentialism

Core idea. An action is morally right if and only if it produces the best overall consequences. The rightness of an act depends entirely on its outcomes, not on the intentions behind it or the nature of the act itself.

Utilitarianism

Bentham's hedonic calculus. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) proposed that the right action maximizes total pleasure and minimizes total pain, calculated across all affected parties. He identified seven dimensions: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity (nearness in time), fecundity (tendency to produce further pleasures), purity (freedom from pain), and extent (number affected).

Mill's qualitative distinction. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) argued that Bentham's calculus was too crude — some pleasures are qualitatively higher than others. "It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." Mill introduces the competent judge test: anyone who has experienced both higher and lower pleasures will prefer the higher.

Act vs. Rule Utilitarianism

• Act utilitarianism: Evaluate each individual action by its consequences. Allows exceptions to any rule when breaking it produces better outcomes.
• Rule utilitarianism: Follow the rules whose general adoption would produce the best consequences. Provides stability and predictability.

Worked example — The transplant surgeon:

A surgeon has five patients dying from organ failure. A healthy visitor arrives for a routine checkup. Harvesting the visitor's organs would save five lives at the cost of one.

Act utilitarian analysis: Five lives saved vs. one lost — the calculus favors harvesting. But this ignores second-order effects: if surgeons routinely harvested patients, nobody would visit hospitals, producing catastrophically worse outcomes.

Rule utilitarian analysis: The rule "surgeons may kill patients to harvest organs" would, if generally followed, destroy trust in medicine. The rule maximizing overall utility is "surgeons must not harm patients" — so the surgery is wrong.

This case demonstrates why most sophisticated consequentialists are rule utilitarians or incorporate indirect effects.

Singer's Expanding Circle

Peter Singer (1946-) extends utilitarian reasoning globally: if we can prevent suffering without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought to do so. His "drowning child" thought experiment — would you ruin a $200 suit to save a drowning child? — argues that geographical distance is morally irrelevant, so we are obligated to donate to effective charities.

2 — Deontological Ethics

Core idea. Some actions are inherently right or wrong, independent of their consequences. Morality consists in following rules, duties, or principles that respect the dignity and autonomy of persons.

Kant's Moral Philosophy

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) grounded morality in pure reason, not consequences or feelings.

The categorical imperative — first formulation (universalizability): "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Worked example — Lying promises:

Can I make a promise I intend to break?

1. Maxim: "When in need, I will make a false promise."
2. Universalize: Everyone makes false promises when in need.
3. Test: If everyone did this, the institution of promising would collapse. Nobody would believe promises. My own false promise could not succeed.
4. Contradiction: The universalized maxim is self-defeating. Therefore the action is morally impermissible.

The categorical imperative — second formulation (humanity as end): "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never merely as a means."

This forbids treating people as mere instruments. Slavery, deception, and coercion all violate this formulation because they bypass the autonomous will of the person acted upon.

The kingdom of ends. Kant envisions a community of rational agents, each legislating moral laws that all could accept. This anticipates Rawls's original position and Scanlon's contractualism.

Ross's Prima Facie Duties

W. D. Ross (1877-1971) rejected Kant's absolutism while preserving the deontological framework. He proposed seven prima facie duties — duties that hold unless overridden by a stronger duty:

1. Fidelity (keep promises)
2. Reparation (make amends for wrongs)
3. Gratitude (return kindnesses)
4. Justice (distribute goods fairly)
5. Beneficence (improve others' conditions)
6. Self-improvement (develop your own virtue and knowledge)
7. Non-maleficence (do no harm)

When duties conflict, moral judgment — not a formula — determines which prevails. This captures the phenomenology of moral experience better than single-principle theories.

3 — Virtue Ethics

Core idea. Ethics is not primarily about actions or rules but about character. The central question is not "What should I do?" but "What kind of person should I be?"

Aristotle's Eudaimonia

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) argued that the good life (eudaimonia — often translated "happiness" but better rendered "flourishing" or "living well") consists in the exercise of virtue (arete) in accordance with reason.

The doctrine of the mean. Every virtue is a mean between two vices — one of excess and one of deficiency:

| Deficiency (vice) | Mean (virtue) | Excess (vice) | |-------------------|---------------|---------------| | Cowardice | Courage | Rashness | | Insensibility | Temperance | Self-indulgence | | Stinginess | Generosity | Prodigality | | Self-deprecation | Truthfulness | Boastfulness | | Boorishness | Wit | Buffoonery | | Quarrelsomeness | Friendliness | Obsequiousness |

The mean is not an arithmetic midpoint — it is the right amount, at the right time, toward the right people, for the right reason. This requires phronesis (practical wisdom), which can only be developed through experience and habituation.

Worked example — Courage in the face of a difficult truth:

A doctor must tell a patient that their condition is terminal. The coward avoids the conversation entirely. The rash person delivers the news bluntly without care. The courageous doctor finds the right moment, speaks honestly but with compassion, and remains present to support the patient. The virtue lies not in a formula but in the character of the agent who perceives the situation rightly.

MacIntyre's After Virtue

Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-) diagnosed modernity as suffering from moral fragmentation — we have inherited disconnected fragments of ethical vocabularies from incompatible traditions. His solution: ground virtue