This document provides an overview of various ethical traditions from around the world, both ancient and modern. It discusses divine command theory, virtue ethics, and relativism in ancient Western ethics. In modern Western ethics, it outlines ethical egoism, the moral sense school, deontology, utilitarianism, and rights-based theories. It also summarizes key Eastern ethical traditions such as Dharmashastra from Hinduism, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, and principles of Confucianism and Taoism. The document advocates using different traditions synergistically to address complex ethical issues.
2. ETHICAL TRADITIONS - ANCIENT
WESTERN ETHICS
• DIVINE COMMAND THEORY - HAMURABI, NEBUCHADNAZZAR AND
MOSES-2000 TO 200 BC
Code of
Hammurabi
Moses with the
Tablets of the Law
Edicts of
Nebuchadnazzar
3. • THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS—SOCRATES, PLATO AND ARISTOTLE-470
TO 320 BC
Plato Aristotle
Socrates
4. ET - ANCIENT WESTERN ETHICS cont..
• VIRTUE ETHICS – EUDAIMONIA
• ETHICAL RELATIVISM AND THE SOPHISTS - PROTOGORAS, ANTIPHON
AND THRACYMACHUS – -
400 BC TO 200 AD
Protogoras Antiphon Thracymachus
ETHNOCENTRICISM, MAJORITARIANISM
5. ETHICAL TRADITIONS - MODERN
WESTERN ETHICS
• ETHICAL EGOISM - THOMAS HOBBES-16 CENTURY AD
6. • ‘ TO MAXIMISE NET BENEFIT AND MINIMISE NET HARM TO ONESELF
IS ETHICAL’
• ‘LIFE WIL BECOME SOLITARY, POOR, NASTY AND BRUTISH’
• THE MORAL SENSE SCHOOL - DAVID HUME-18TH CENTURY AD.
David Hume
7. E T - MODERN WESTERN ETHICS Cont…
• ‘ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IS A SLAVE OF PASSIONS’
• CAROL GILLIGAN AND NEL NODDINGS-20TH CENTURY AD-THE ETHICS
OF CARE
Carol Gilligan Nel Noddings
8. ETHICAL TRADITIONS - MODERN
WESTERN ETHICS
• DEONTOLOGY-EMMANUEL KANT-18TH CENTURY AD
9. Deontology
• “An action is especially moral when it benefits others at the expense of one’s
own benefit. Under no circumstances should the pursuit of one’s own happiness
be carried out at the expense of the others, or that of general wellbeing”.
• And when in doubt, morality, that is the wellbeing of others, must be placed
above one’s own.
• For Kant, the mind or the motive or action arising out of a sense of duty
ultimately determines whether an action is to be classified as moral or
immoral.—visiting your dying grandmother!!
• Hence “Deontology”—”Deon=Duty” or “Duty Ethics”
10. Deontology
• But is “good intent” enough? What if the result of a good intent is harm to the
“beneficiary”? Like ‘no medicine, only prayers’ or ‘only Ayurveda for a cancer
patient when effective allopathic surgery is available’ ?
• Therefore, Kant’s Universal Principles to help us to decide the morality of our
actions:
• Categorical Imperatives:
• Do unto others what you would want others to do unto you
• Only act according to the maxim that you can make a universal law
• The Practical Imperative:
• Act in a way that you use humanity, both in your person and in the person of each other, at any time, not
just as means but also as an end. Nagasaki
• The Publicity Rule
• All actions taken for the “good” of other people, must stand up against public scrutiny. E.g If a
pharmaceutical company does not publicize the side effects of a drug
11. Deontology
• Kant’s duties include respecting other’s dignity, helping others in need, being grateful and
conciliatory, not deceiving others, not lying, nor mocking or slandering.
• Kant’s desired virtues are benevolence, compassion, gratitude, truthfulness and integrity.
• Kant’s economic obligations are respect for the laws and the property of others, the
observance of contracts and the payment of debts.
• Kant’s political ideology was democracy where the freedom of the individual stops where the
freedom of the other begins.
• Substantive ethical tradition, very much absorbed into jurisprudence and western social
norms.
• So what’s the flaw?
• Weak against the presence of dilemmas.
• “ Thou shalt not lie”—Murderer asking for the true whereabouts of a potential victim;
preservation of ‘state secrets’ by not divulging them.
• Clash between two duties—Euthanasia
13. ACT Utilitarianism
• ‘TWO MASTERS- PLEASURE AND PAIN-MAXIMISING NET PLEASURE AND MINIMISING
NET PAIN TO THE MAJORITY IS ETHICAL’—Opposite of Ethical Egoism! Maximising the
utility function of the majoritycorporationsocietyearth
• CONSEQUENTIALISM—ETHICALITY MEASURED BY THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACT--Is
it enough to want good? No, unfortunately not. Otherwise, every fanatic, every terrorist
would be a morally acting man, even though he harms many people. It would depend
only on the subjective assessment by the actor as to what is right and wrong, ignoring
Kant’s Universal Principles.
• THE HEDONISTIC CALCULUS-THE PINTO AND HIROSHIMA--Majoritarianism
15. Teleological Utilitarianism
• Max Weber propagates his ultimate end as an ethics of responsibility--The
actions are moral when they achieve good.
• Having followed an order is not accepted as an exculpation argument--orders do
not set a person free from responsibility for his actions as a person.
• What if harm would come to the subordinate if he doesn’t follow orders? Then
he cannot be condemned morally, but as an individual, he is still legally liable for
his actions, despite attenuating circumstances.
16. Rule and Teleological Utilitarianism
• In general, teleological utilitarianism is very demanding and therefore not always
an applicable measure. It is not always possible to clearly assess the
consequences of the actions.
• Teleological ethics presupposes not only a high level of information, but also a
high intellectual and moral capacity from the actor if the consequences of
options for action are not only to be foreseen, but their results are also weighed
against each other.
• And sometimes the hedonistic calculation has to be done within a short period of
time
• Is it possible to equate joy from lustful pleasures with the joy of charity, and to
calculate it for a net profit? ? Is it moral for many to enjoy pleasure at the
expense of few? The slaves at the Roman Collosuem!
17. Rule Utilitarianism and John S Mill
• Act Utilitarianism in the narrower sense is not an ethical approach because the
welfare of others is not the focus. The approach is ethical inasmuch as the
greatest general happiness, as the happiness of all human beings, is striven for. In
this case, damage to third parties is acceptable.
• Rule utilitarianism provides an alternative approach to the act utilitarianism.
18. Rule Utilitarianism and John S Mill
• Rule utilitarianism does not refer to the happiness of the greatest number, but to
the general rule that maximizes happiness per se (not of the greatest number).
• If we use rule utilitarianism, the torture of roman slaves or any human being
cannot be justified, even if a sadistic society feels more joy than its victims,
because this joy is depraved and has negative utility for society.
• Nonetheless, hedonistic calculation is allowed in Rule Utilitarianism, to buttress
the general rule of maximising happiness—the judge allowing the building of an
airport over the objections of a the residents living in the vicinity
• Or in the case of 911, where launch orders are waiting to be given to bring down
the aircraft that will do less damage.
19. Rawlsian Moral Rights Theory
• How can Ethics give solutions to real and pressing problems like inequality of incomes within and
among states, poverty, racial discrimination, gender issues, animal rights , harmful technologies,
terrorism and global warming?
• We are a Contract Society
• The original position where parties deliberate about the rules of right conduct that will be universally
applicable in society, with the help of ‘the veil of ignorance’ .
• The rules agreed to by such a process will be moral and universally applicable.
• The parties involved In such an exercise, will necessarily arrive at two principles to make this kind of
contract moral and universally applicable:
• Every person has an equal right to the most extensive scheme of basic liberties.
• That social and economic benefits must be preferentially given to the least-advantaged members of society, so that
they become equal over time (the Maximin principle)
• The Father of Affirmative Action or Reservations
20. FROM META ETHICS TO APPLIED ETHICS
• MORAL RIGHTS THEORY - JOHN RAWLS-20TH CENTURY
“ A balanced person will seek the maximum benefit for the least privileged
segment of the people, while ensuring something came to him and his group”--
THEORY OF JUSTICE -1970-MAXIMIN PRINCIPLE
21. Synergistic Usage of Western Ethical Traditions to
Resolve Knotty Ethical Issues.
• Jurisprudence or Law has leaned heavily on Virtue Ethics and Deontology
• Rule Utilitarianism is many times used to solve deontological dilemmas. A “white
lie” is ethical if the consequences maximises happiness.
• Act Utilitarianism remains the bulwark of capitalism—shareholder wealth
maximisation, sprinkled with CSR!
• Rawlsian “Moral Rights Theory” is used to protect the rights of minorities, in
particular and the oppressed in general.
22. South Asian ETHICS
• DHARMASHASTRA- THE RIGHTEOUS WAY TO LIVE OUR LIVES
• “ EVERY ORGANISM IS BORN TO SERVE A PURPOSE. UNDERSTANDING YOUR PURPOSE AND
LIVING ACCORDINGLY IS YOUR DHARMA”-LORD KRISHNA
• It is thus the dharma of a soldier to fight in a righteous war in order to establish
truth and righteousness, and to restore the moral balance of his society.
• One’s dharma must be performed in a spirit of nonattachment to the results of
one’s actions; the agent should do his dharma for the sake of dharma, not for
consequences.
• A moral rule in the Hindu context is not a categorical imperative, that is, it is not
an unconditional command—if one is, like Arjuna, a warrior by caste, then he
should fight in battle if the cause is righteous. Similarly, if one were a priest by
caste, then he should refrain from fighting and perform the duties prescribed for
his own caste.
23. SOUTH ASIAN ETHICS
• Hence the dharma-imperatives in the G¯ıta¯ are conditional imperatives; they
assume the conditional form, “If you wish to achieve X, then you should do Y,”
rather than the simple declaration, “you ought to do Y”, which is Kant’s
Categorical Imperative. In Dharma, if you wish to achieve “Moksha”, then you
have to follow certain imperatives; but if you do not wish to achieve “moksha”,
then you don’t have to follow those imperatives meant to achieve moksha.
• Furthermore, in addition to those individual duties, which are conditional upon
one’s position in society and other contingent facts, there are universal or
common duties, for example, to speak the truth, to act kindly, to act
compassionately, and so on. These duties are binding upon all human beings,
irrespective of their caste, station in life, creed, and the like.
24. SOUTH ASIAN ETHICS
• There is a distinction between the kind of person one ought to be and the kinds of
actions one ought to perform, such that “ought to be” and “ought to do” are not co-
extensive.
• Is the ethical conception of the G¯ıta¯ simply concerned with what one ought to do, or
is it also prescriptive with respect to what one ought to be?
• In Hindu ethics the term “dharma” is used for both “duty” and “virtue.” The concept of
“dharma,” covers a large spectrum of different but connected meanings. It
encompasses within its fold a theory of ethical rules, a theory of virtue, a social ethics,
and an account of the Kantian notion of duty for duty’s sake, leading to the goal of
moksha.
• These virtues can only be acquired through the practice of yoga and once acquired, it
will lead a person to a state of Samatvam-equanimity in the face of triumph and
disaster, pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow—Detachment--Moksha!
25. • THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, ACCORDING TO BUDDHISM: EXISTENCE IS
SUFFERING (DUKHKA ); SUFFERING HAS A CAUSE, NAMELY CRAVING
AND ATTACHMENT (TRISHNA ); THERE IS A CESSATION OF
SUFFERING,(NIRVANA) ; AND THERE IS A PATH TO THE CESSATION OF
SUFFERING, THE 8 STEPS TO ENLIGHTENMENT
• THE 8 STEPS: RIGHT VIEW, RIGHT RESOLVE, RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT
CONDUCT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS,
AND RIGHT SAMADHI ('MEDITATIVE ABSORPTION OR UNION’)
26. SOUTH-EAST ASIAN ETHICS
• Confucianism - 6th century BC
• Confucian Principles - filial piety; love for one’s fellow human beings;
decorum-respect for rituals and social customs; respect for autonomy,
beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.
Confucius
27. • The ideal of the Superior Man-justification for dynasty
• Taoism- Lao-tse-Nature is God—Man must live in harmony with the
forces of nature to be balanced and well-ordered in one’s own life.
• Tao-Balance in Nature-The Yin and the Yang
Lao Tse
