Moral Philosophy: Morality & Ethics

1. The University of Cambodia
PHL 105: Moral Philosophy
Lectured by:
Mut Somoeun (M.Ed)

2. Morality, Ethics and Philosophy
2

3. Moral Judgment???

4. Why Morality/ Ethics? Why Philosophy?
4
CLAIM
ASSUMPTIONS
CONSEQUENCES

5. What is Morality?
• Latin: moralitas "manner, character, proper behavior" is the
differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that
are distinguished as proper and those that are improper.
• Can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of
conduct from a particular philosophy, religion, or culture, or it can
derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal.
Morality is synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness.“
• Set of beliefs and practices about how to lead a good life

7. What is Morality? (Continued)
• Conformance to a recognized code, doctrine, or system of
rules of what is right or wrong and to behave accordingly.
• No system of morality is accepted as universal - differing
sharply from place to place, group to group, and time to
time. For some it means conscious and deliberate effort in
guiding one's conduct by reason based on fairness and
religious beliefs.

8. Morality is Defined into 2 Kinds
 Descriptively to refer to certain
codes of conduct put forward by a
society or a group (such as a
religion), or accepted by an
individual for her own behavior.
 It refers to personal or cultural
values, codes of conduct or social
mores. It does not connote objective
claims of right or wrong, but only
refers to that which is considered
right or wrong.
 Normatively to refer to a code of
conduct that, given specified
conditions, would be put forward by
all rational persons.
 It refers to whatever (if anything) is
actually right or wrong, which may
be independent of the values or
mores held by any particular peoples
or cultures. Normative ethics is the
branch of philosophy which studies
morality in this sense.

10. Moral Judgment, Argument, & Principle
• Moral judgments: Evaluations or opinions formed as
to whether some action or inaction, intention, motive,
character trait, or a person as a whole is (more or less)
Good or Bad as measured against some standard of
Good.
• Moral Judgment – Judgments based on considerations
of how other people are to be treated, and how others
interests are to weigh against their own.

11. Cont’
• Moral Arguments: Based on moral normativity or moral
order (social norm/ values).
• Moral principle: Relating to, or concerned with the principles
or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and
wrong; ethical: moral attitudes - expressing or conveying
truths or counsel as to right conduct.

12. Moral / ethical meaning of "Good"
and "Right".
• Good - (adjective): of moral excellence; upright, or
concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness
of human action and character.
o (noun): Something that is good; Goodness; virtue
(Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness).
• Right - (adjective): Conforming with or conformable to
morality.
o (noun): That which is morally good.

13. Where does morality come from?
• Community/ society
• Parents
• Peers/ friends
• Belief
• Religion
• Social norms
• Communications/ relations
• ..................

15. 4 Basic Moral Principles
• 1. Do good; avoid evil.
• This most basic moral principle, the starting point for
morality, was articulated by Aristotle, an ancient
Greek philosopher, and is held by all the world's
major religions.
• All other moral principles flow from this one.

16. 4 Basic Moral Principles (cont’)
• 2. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• All the world's major religions carry an expression
similar to the Golden Rule familiar to Christians: "Do to
others whatever you would have them do to you."

17. 4 Basic Moral Principles (cont’)
• 3. The end does not justify the means.
• Classical philosophy and the major world religious
traditions have upheld the principle that having a
good end (goal or purpose) does not justify the use of
evil means (method) to achieve that end.

18. 4 Basic Moral Principles (cont’)
• 4. Follow what nature intends.
• Known in philosophy as natural law, this principle is not
actually a law written down someplace but, rather, an approach
to making decisions that respects the nature of things,
especially human nature.
• Briefly, natural law tells us this: Follow what is natural for
human beings and the rest of creation. Do not violate the
nature of things. For instance, our innate sense of what is fair
and honorable. The universal condemnation of selfishness,
senseless cruelty, and deceit.

19. What is Ethics?
• Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is the branch of
philosophy which addresses questions of morality.
• The word "ethics" is "commonly used interchangeably with
'morality,' and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the
moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual.“
• Ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality by
defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong,
virtue and vice, justice and crime.

20. Kinds of Ethics
• Meta-ethics: concerning the theoretical meaning and
reference of moral propositions, and how their truth values
(if any) can be determined
o Meta-ethics asks how we understand, know about, and what we mean when
we talk about what is right and what is wrong.
• Normative ethics: concerning the practical means of
determining a moral course of action
o Normative ethics is the study of ethical action investigating the set of
questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally
speaking. It examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions.
• Applied ethics: concerning what a person is obligated (or
permitted) to do in a specific situation or a particular
domain of action
o Applied ethics is the branch of ethics concerned with the analysis of
particular moral issues in private and public life.

21. Modern Approach of Applied Ethics
• Utilitarianism: the practical consequences of various policies are
evaluated on the assumption that the right policy will be the
one which results in the greatest happiness (Jeremy Bentham
and John Stuart Mill).
• Deontological ethics: notions based on 'rules' i.e. that there is an
obligation to perform the 'right' action, regardless of actual
consequences (Immanuel Kant: Categorical Imperative –
ethical theory based on duty).
• Virtue ethics: derived from Aristotle's and Confucius's notions,
which asserts that the right action will be that chosen by a
suitably 'virtuous' agent.

23. Ethics (cont’)
• There is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that
of Immanuel Kant, based on notions such as duty, obligation,
and principles of conduct, reserving ethics for the more
Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning, based on the
notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of
'moral' considerations from other practical considerations.“
• Ethics is a rational reflection on morality

26. What is Philosophy?
• The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and
existence, especially when considered as an academic
discipline.
• A particular system of philosophical thought.
• The study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of
knowledge or experience.
• Synonyms: thinking, reasoning, thought, wisdom, knowledge
• A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for
behavior.

30. What is Moral Philosophy?
• Includes moral ontology, or the origin of morals, as well as moral
epistemology (logical discourse) or knowledge about morals.
Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and
the rationality of belief.
• Different systems of expressing morality have been proposed,
including deontological ethical systems which adhere to a set of
established rules, and normative ethical systems which consider the
merits of actions themselves.
• Example of normative ethical philosophy is the Golden Rule,
which states that: "One should treat others as one would like others
to treat oneself."

32. Three Branches of Moral Philosophy
(1) Normative ethics: Theories addressing the questions of how we
ought to act or how we should be. What is the basis on which we
should make decisions about what we ought to do. The central
concern of normative ethics is an elucidation of what is right,
good or virtuous.
(2) Meta-ethics: Theories concerning the nature of moral
judgements. Key questions focus on whether our moral
statements can be true or false or whether moral judgements are
instead basically subjective expressions of feeling, attitude or
agreement. The implications for moral knowledge and moral
psychology (motivation).
(3) Applied ethics: The examination of an attempt to understand
practical moral problems such as abortion, euthanasia, animal
welfare, suicide, poverty, the environment (and our relationship
to it)

33. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.