moral philosophy ppt (2).pptx

BuleHoraUniversity
College ofSocialScienceandtheHumanities
DepartmentofCivicandEthicalStudy
MoralPhilosophy
Sisay Daniel /M.A/
12/2/2023

1.1. WHAT IS MORAL PHILOSOPHY?
12/2/2023 SISAY DANIEL/M.A/

Philosophy
The word `philosophy’ is derived from the Greek
word `philosophia’ which means striving after
wisdom.
Philosophy is love of knowledge and philosopher is a
person who seeks knowledge.
Philosophy is the methodical work of thoughts. It is
an art of life.
It is an attempt to understand the ultimate Reality.
Philosophy is the study of the principles which
underlie all knowledge.
Philosopher is an impartial spectator of the eternal
universe.

Cont.
Philosophy tries to discover ultimate truth.
It is an attempt of rational interpretation and
unification of all our experiences.
It tries to give a rational picture of the whole
universe.
It tries to understand the meaning and the value of
life.
Philosophy arises from the speculative and critical
search of ultimate reality.
It gives rational account of the facts, events in this
world.
Philosophy seeks the explanation of the forces

1.1. Definition of Moral Philosophy
It is the study of what are good and bad ends to pursue in
life and what is right and wrong to do in the conduct of
life.
The attempt to achieve a systematic understanding of the
nature of morality and what it requires of us in Socrates'
words, of “how we ought to live,” and why.
The rational study of the meaning and justification of
moral claims. A moral claim evaluates the rightness or
wrongness of an action or a person’s character.
 The branch of philosophy dealing with both argument
about the content of morality and meta-ethical discussion
of the nature of moral judgment, language, argument and
values.
The discipline concerned with what is morally good and
bad, right and wrong.

Cont.
The subject matter of moral philosophy is
rationality, but that does not mean that all of it is
based on reason.
Kant argued that the subject matter of moral
philosophy is the nature and content of
principles.
This ultimately determines our rational will.
If we have a priori knowledge of what is ethical,
we can decide how to act. However, we must still
consider the circumstances in which we act.
There are two fundamental ways to decide

Cont.
‘The study of the general nature of morals and the
specific moral choices to be made by the individual
in his relationship with others.’ The American
Heritage Dictionary
The branch of philosophy that studies what
constitutes right and wrong, good and evil…

Why study Moral philosophy?
The [Values] or objectives of studying ‘Moral
philosophy’ are:
to understand the moral values that ought to
guide professions,
resolve the moral issues in the profession, and
justify the moral judgment concerning the
profession.
It is intended to develop a set of beliefs,
attitudes, and habits that [professionals] should
display concerning morality.
The prime objective is to increase one’s ability to

Alternative Objectives Of The Study On
Moral Philosophy
A. Improvement of the cognitive skills (skills of
the intellect in thinking clearly)
Moral awareness (proficiency in recognizing moral
problems in professions)
Cogent moral reasoning (comprehending, assessing
different views)
Moral coherence (forming consistent viewpoints
based on facts)
Moral imagination (searching beyond obvious the
alternative responses to issues and being receptive
to creative solutions)
Moral communication, to express and support one’s

CONT.
B. To act in morally desirable ways, towards moral
commitment and responsible conduct
Moral reasonableness i.e., willing and able to be
morally responsible.
 Respect for persons, which means showing concern
for the well-being of others, besides oneself.
 Tolerance of diversity i.e., respect for ethnic and
religious differences, and acceptance of reasonable
differences in moral perspectives.
Moral hope i.e., believe in using rational dialogue for
resolving moral conflicts.
Integrity, which means moral integrity, and
integrating one’s professional life and personal

1.2. The Basic Features of Moral Philosophy
1. Moral philosophy is a science: It systematically aims
at explanation of rightness and wrongness in human
conduct with reference to ideals. It systematically
classifies our actions into voluntary, involuntary, moral,
nonmoral and evaluates them.
2. Moral philosophy is a normative science: A
normative science is concerned with ideals, the values
of the facts. A normative science pronounces how
something “ought to be”. Ethics study the ideals of
Truth, Beauty and Good respectively.
3. Moral philosophy is the science of ideals involved
in human conduct: s literally speaking, the science of
customs or habits. Habits are the settled dispositions of
character. Character is inner bent of mind while conduct

Cont.
4. Moral philosophy evaluates human action: is a discipline
which considers human actions from the viewpoint of ethical
norm or standard.
It studies what is good or right in human conduct.
It evaluates conduct with reference to the Summum Bonum of
human being.
5. Moral philosophy related with Values: the study of what is
good or right in human conduct.
Values emerge through the interaction between nature and
spirit, reality and mind.
Ethical questions are value-oriented questions.
Value judgments are complex products of intuition, sense
experience and reason.

Cont.
6. Moral philosophy is not an Art: it is concerned with
conduct or behavior i.e with the practical life of an
individual. Ethics is different from art. Art is connected to
a particular field of skill whereas Ethics is connected with
the whole life of an individual.

Morality as a Subject –Matter
Morality deals with “no small matter, but how we
ought to live,” (Socrates, 390.B.C.)
Morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide one’s
conduct by reason_ that is, to do what there are the
best reasons for doing while giving equal weight to
the interests of each individual impartialy who will be
affected by what one does. James Rachels

Cont.
Morality refers to is to compare and contrast it to
nonmoral things that are sometimes confused
with it.
Morality involves what we ought to do, right and
wrong, good and bad, values, justice, and
virtues.
Morality is taken to be important; moral actions
are often taken to merit praise and rewards, and
immoral actions are often taken to merit blame
and punishment. What we morally ought to do is
what's morally preferable

Cont.
This minimum conception of morality gives, among
other things, a picture of what it means to be a
conscientious moral agent.
A conscientious moral agent is someone
 who is concerned impartially with the interests of
everyone affected by what s/he does [decision,
action, etc.];
 who carefully sifts facts and examines their
implications;
 who accepts principles of conduct only after
scrutinizing them to make sure they are sound;
 who is willing to “listen to reason,” even when it
means that earlier convictions may have to be
revised; and
 finally, who is willing to act on the results of this

Cont.
Morality: involves what we ought to do, right and
wrong, good and bad, values, justice, and virtues.
is taken to be important;
moral actions are often taken to merit [or deserve]
praise and rewards, and
immoral actions are often taken to merit [or deserve]
blame and punishment.

Amorality
Amoral means having no moral sense, or being
indifferent to right and wrong. This term can be
applied to very few people.
Certain people who have had prefrontal
lobotomies tend to act amorally after the
operation; that is, they have no sense of right
and wrong.
And there are a few human beings who, despite
moral education, have remained or become
amoral.
Such people tend to be found among certain
criminal types who can’t seem to realize they’ve
done anything wrong.

Cont.
“Truly amoral people, that is those without any
moral sentiment or conscience at all, are both
very few in number and to be classified as some
kind of clinical aberration (though not
necessarily therefore to be forgiven)”.
‘Amoral’, meaning that they lack any sense of
moral obligation.

Ethics and Morals
The terms morals and ethics are closely related in their
original meanings.
The former comes from the Latin mores‘, and the latter
from the Greek ethos.‘
Both mean the custom or way of life.‖ Modern usage of
morality refers to conduct itself and ethics (or moral
philosophy) to the study of moral conduct. We speak of a
moral act‖ and ―an ethical code.‖
Ethics means the theory of right and wrong conduct;
morals, its practice.
It is more accurate to speak of ethical, rather than moral,
principles; and of a moral, rather than ethical, way of
behaviour.
Ethics involves the values that a person seeks to express
in a certain situation; morals, the way he sets about

ETHICS
The word `Ethics’ is derived from the Greek word
`ethos’ which means customs, usages or habits.
Ethics is also called as Moral Philosophy.
Thus literally, Ethics is the science of customs or
collective habits of men. Any custom has a
reference to the community. Customs are the
ways of acting, approved by the group.
The root word ‘ETHOS’ indicates that this branch
of philosophy was originated in Greece and the
credit goes to Aristotle.
 Paulsen defines Ethics as a science of customs

Cont.
According to Mackenzie, Ethics is the study of
what is good or right in conduct. For Seth, as the
science of the Good, Ethics is the science par
excellence of the ideal and the ‘ought’.
For Jadunath Sinha, Ethics is the science of the
Highest Good. Lillie’s definition is a
comprehensive definition.
According to William Lillie, “Ethics is a
normative science of the conduct of human
beings living in societies – science which judges
this conduct to be right or wrong, good and
bad.”

CONT.
Morality refers to conduct itself and ethics to
the study of moral conduct. We speak of “a
moral act” and “an ethical code.”
Ethics is the study of values in human
conduct.
Morals refers to the conduct or rule of
conduct by which people live, while
Ethics refers to the study of moral conduct or
the code that one follows.

Amoral and Immoral
Immoral‘ means not observing a particular known moral
rule‘,
Amoral‘ means not relevant to, or concerned with,
morals‘.
One would not call a dog Immoral for fouling a pavement
(though one might so describe its owner if no steps were
taken to prevent this), nor an infant for throwing his food
on the floor.
Only when they understand the difference between right
and wrong behaviour can people be judged Immoral.
Thus the psychopath who does not understand this
difference must be described as Amoral rather than

Cont.
Calling people ‘immoral’, meaning that they do wrong
to some degree knowingly, and
Calling them ‘amoral’, meaning that they lack any
sense of moral obligation.

1.5. The Key Concepts in Morality
Ought to do – What we morally ought to do is what's
morally preferable. It's morally preferable to give to
certain charities and to refrain from hurting people who
make us angry; so we morally ought to do these things.
What we morally ought to do is what is morally
preferable. Sometimes what we ought to do is not seen
as “optional.” Instead, we often think we have moral
duties (obligations).
Right and wrong – Something is morally right if it's
morally permissible, and morally wrong if it's morally
impermissible. For example, it's morally right to help
people and give to certain charities,

Cont.
Good and bad – “Good” and “bad” refer to positive and
negative value. Something is morally good if it helps
people attain something of positive value, avoid
something of negative vale, or has a positive value that
merits being a goal
Morally bad if it makes it difficult to attain something of
positive value
Final ends – Final ends are goals that we think are
worthy. Pleasure, survival, and knowledge are possible
examples of goods that should be taken to be promoted
as final ends.
Instrumental moral value: if it is relevant to achieving
moral goals.
Intrinsic values – Intrinsic values are things of positive

Cont.
Virtues – Some people are better at being moral
than others. It's important that we know the
difference between right and wrong, attain the skills
necessary to reach demanding moral goals, and find
the motivation to do what is morally preferable.
Praise and blame – We often think that moral
behavior merits praise and immoral behavior merits
blame. It often seems appropriate to tell people who
have done good deeds, such as saving lives, that we
appreciate it and that what they are doing is good;
Reward and punishment – One way to hold people
responsible for their actions is to reward and punish
them for their behavior, and this often seems

Central Concepts Of Morality
Values =What is regarded as a good.
Examples: Friendship, education, freedom, autonomy,
etc.
Moral norms = Moral duties and rights.
Examples: Duty not to kill, right not to be tortured
Moral duties = Norms that prescribe how one should act.
Positive duties – A duty that requires some form of
(positive) action – e.g. the duty to help people in need.
Negative duties – A duty that just requires that agents
refrain from certain courses of action – e.g. the duty not
to inflict harm on others or the duty not to lie. One can
fulfil ones negative duties without lifting a finger.

CONT.
Universal duties – Duties owed to everyone.
Special duties – Duties that arise as a result of previous acts
(e.g. signing a contract) or special relations to others (e.g.
special duties to one’s children, family and friends).
Moral agents = Persons (competent persons) who can have
moral duties towards others and who can be held accountable
(or responsible) for their actions and decisions.
Moral subjects = The class of beings who should be taken
into account in our moral assessments and reflections. All
moral agents have duties towards all moral subjects, in the
sense that all moral subjects have moral status (or moral
standing).
Moral status = ‘To have moral status is to be morally
considerable, or to have moral standing. It is to be an entity
towards which moral agents have, or can have, moral
obligations. If an entity has moral status, then we may not treat
it in just any way we please; we are morally obliged to give

2.1. Perfectionism as an Ethical View

Definition of Perfectionism
The word ‘perfect’ in both treatises
(Nicomachean and Eudemian) can bear either of
the meanings ‘complete’ or ‘final’.
The definition of happiness
the Nicomachean treatise places the emphasis
on finality,
The Eudemian places the emphasis on
comprehensiveness.
Perfectionism as a moral theory directs human
beings to protect and promote objectively good
human lives.

Cont.
Perfectionist‖ theory that values human
excellences or perfections such as knowledge,
difficult achievements, and moral virtue instead
of or as well as pleasure.
Perfectionism is the highest attainable good for an
individual, human nature, or society.
 There are a variety of ways that perfectionism can be
articulated. For Thomas Aquinas, one’s goal in life is to
become a perfect image of God
 Enlightenment philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)
argued in his Ethics that people pursue what will increase and
perfect their powers and capacities.

Genesis of Perfectionism
Historically, perfectionism is associated with
ethical theories that characterize the human
good in terms of the development of human
nature.
Writers as Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, Marx, and
T.H. Green are perfectionists in this sense.

Forms of Perfection
1. Egoistic or Non-egoistic Forms:
1) Egoistic forms of perfectionism :
Direct each human being to perfect himself as
much as possible, or at least to some threshold
level.
Narrowly self-interested:
 The good of others contributes substantially to
one’s own good
 By promoting the good of others, one can
thereby promote one’s own good

2) Non-egoistic Forms of Perfectionism
They hold that each human being has a
non-derivative duty to perfect others as
well as a duty to perfect himself.
Direct human beings to sacrifice their own
perfection for the sake of others
Perfectionism is best understood as a
moral theory that directs human beings to
care about the perfection of others as well
as themselves.

Two Versions of Perfectionism
1. Humanistic perfectionism :
 Perfectionist goods are components of an excellent
human life.
 Perfectionists have related these goods to the
development of human nature.
 For example, the development of rationality is often
considered to be a perfectionist good because it is
a capacity essential to human nature.
2. Non-Humanistic perfectionism :
 Perfectionism without any reference to human nature.
 Perfectionism as requiring the maximum “achievement of
human excellence in art, science and culture” (Rawls 1971,
325).

Socratic Perfectionism
 What the soul ultimately desire.
 What makes a soul good.
 Egoism is one answer to both questions.
 Socrates, Plato develops an alternative
conception of excellence.
Rather than external success in life, it is the
internal perfection of a person, a state of one‘s
soul.

Platonic Perfectionism
Plato's idea of perfection is articulated in his Theory
of Forms.
The Forms represent the abstract, ideal moulds of all
things and concepts in existence, rather than actual
things themselves.
In short, the idea of something is more perfect than
the tangible thing itself.

Aristotelian Perfectionism
Perfection is a formal property which happiness must
possess.
Happiness is the most perfect (teleion) of all things: it is
chosen for its own sake and never for anything else; it is
never chosen for the sake of honour, pleasure,
understanding, or virtue.
Eudaimonia, translated as “happiness”, was the
undisputable highest good.
Happiness is linked to an active life
Aristotle proposed that humans “are made perfect by
habit”
Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and
pursuit, is thought to aim at some good” .
If everything we do aims at some good, he argues, then
there must be a final or highest good that is the end of all

Virtue Ethics
According to Plato and Aristotle,
virtues are character states of the
soul with respect to its own inner
harmony.
Virtue is also considered an
objective good.
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
considered virtue to be essential to a
good life.
The word for virtue was arête,
which can also be translated as
“excellence.”
Virtue ethicists argue that right
action flows from good character

Cont.
Etymologically, the word ‘Vir’ means Hero.
The English word, ‘virtue’ corresponds to the Latin
‘virtus’ and Sanskrit ‘virya’ meaning valour or
manliness, Power, Energy, Or Excellence.
Virtues as good traits of character can be and must
be deliberately cultivated.
Character of a man is the organization of man’s
sentiments, qualities, attitudes and habits.
It is more or less permanent integration of
psychological traits and moral traits.
The moral qualities or attributes which constitute
moral character of a human being.
It can also be called as the good habits of human
beings.

Cont.
To determine the Arête, or excellence, of
something, you have to know what its purpose or
function is.
For example, the purpose of a knife is to cut things,
so its Arête is Sharpness.
A good knife is A Sharp Knife. It is easier to
determine the arête of a practical object like a knife
than the arête of a person.
Virtue is not simply a characteristic or personality
trait for the ancient Greeks but It is a way of living.
The virtuous person chooses what is right after
deliberation that is informed by practical wisdom and
experience. Through a deliberative process we

Cont.
To exercise or possess virtue is to demonstrate
excellent character.
For ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, the
pursuit of intentional, directed self-development to
cultivate virtues is the pursuit of excellence.
Someone with a virtuous character is consistent,
firm, self-controlled, and well-off.
We cultivate virtue when we bring our character into
alignment with the “mean or intermediate state with
regard to” feelings and actions, and in doing so we
become “well off in relation to our feelings and
actions” (Homiak 2019).

Socratic Virtue
 Socrates had said that virtue is Knowledge.
 The desire to know is a universal human quality.
 Part of being human is to seek knowledge. People are curious.
They have a sense of wonder. They value discovery.
 By contrast, having a lack of knowledge about the world can
lead to poor decisions, confusion, anxieties, delusions, and
other states of minds and activities that detract from well-being.
 Knowledge can be considered an important part of well-being
and flourishing in life.

Plato’s Concept of Virtues (427 B.C. –
347 B.C.)
According to Plato, goodness consists of the natural
and proper functioning of human nature.
For Plato, good life is the life of virtues.
Plato has described four important virtues in his
theory of morality.
According to him the cultivation of these four virtues
came to be called ‘Cardinal virtues’.
These four virtues are said to be the basic and
important constituents of moral life or goodness of
man.

Plato’s Cardinal Virtues
1. Wisdom is the virtue of reason. t consists in
knowing and mastering the non-rational elements
viz. spirited element and passions.
2. Courage is the virtue of the spirited element. It
must perform its heroic function within the limits set
by reason. It is of two types viz. physical courage
of a soldier and moral courage of a thinker or a
reformer.
3. Temperance or self-control consists in keeping
bodily satisfactions within limits.
4. Justice is the virtue of the whole self or the
complete person. It is the proper integration of
different parts of the self. Justice, then, is the

Cardinal Virtues Of Society
We have three elements of a society. They are:
1. Guardians : rulers, the rational or the philosophical;
live only for truth; philosopher-kings; Wisdom is their
chief virtue.
2. Auxiliaries: Spirited; live for Honour and Success;
execution of laws and to protect the society from
internal disorder and external attack. Courage is their
principal virtue.
3. Civilians: producers, such as farmers, blacksmiths,
passion is dominant. They live for material gains.
Temperance is their main virtue.
When each class does its appropriate function, justice
emerges.

Aristotle’s Virtue
Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
Aristotle’s Nichomache an Ethics describes virtue as
promoting human well-being.
virtue is the mean between a deficiency and excess.
Vices, the opposite of virtues, are deficiencies or
excesses. Bravery is virtue that involves having the
right amount of fear and confidence.
It is the mean between excessive fear and deficient
confidence on one hand (cowardice) and deficient
fear and excessive confidence (rashness) on the
other hand.
The virtuous action will be the golden mean, neither
too much nor too little.
Virtue is being able to do the right thing in the right
way, a quality that contributes to one’s well-being.

Cont.
Virtuous actions, Aristotle claims, should
“accord with the correct reason” (Aristotle, 350
BC]
Aristotle, rightly distinguishes the moral virtues
from the intellectual virtues.
The doctrine of the golden mean is central in
Aristotle’s concept of virtues.
A knife’s function is to cut. A sharp knife that cuts
extremely well is an excellent (or virtuous) knife.
The sharp knife realizes its function and
embodies excellence (or it is an excellent

Cont.
Justice as the supreme virtue. It has two forms.
Distributive justice consists in the equitable distribution
of wealth and honours among the citizens of the state.
Remedial justice consists of the fair transactions among
the members of the community.
The virtues are acquired through the development of the
habit of doing virtuous actions consistently.
Ability to think and ability to control one’s desires and
passions is the special virtue of man.

Kinds of Aristotle’s Virtue
Virtue, then, being of two kinds:
1. Intellectual Virtue
 In the main owes both its birth and its growth to teaching (for
which reason it requires experience and time),
 Intellectual virtues To have intellectual virtues is to be willing
and able to be reasonable.
 A person with intellectual virtues will reject irrational beliefs
and refuse to reject rationally required beliefs.
 It is irrational to believe that “1+1=3” and
 it's rationally required to believe that “1+1=2.”
Intellectual virtues can lead to moral knowledge.

Cont.
2. Moral Virtue comes about as a result of habit,
whence also its name (ethike) is one that is formed
by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit).
Moral virtue thus is a mean state lying between two
vices, viz. a vice of excess on the one side and a vice
of deficiency on the other.
It is not easy to find the mean.
As Sahakian has pointed out, it consists in doing the
right thing, to the right person, to the right extent,
with the right motive, and at the right time.
For instance, the practice of generosity: give
generously to the right person, at the right time, to
the right extent, with the right purpose.

Parts of Aristotelian Virtue
Aristotelian virtue ethics has two parts.
1. First, Aristotle argues that our personal
happiness (flourishing) is the ultimate goal that
we should promote.
2. Second, he argues that we should learn to have
habits and behave in ways that lead to our
personal happiness.
(To have the right habits and feelings is to be
virtuous.)

Cont.
 We can learn what behaviors cause happiness through our past
behavior and we can learn to be sensitive to particularities in
each situation.
 For example, we know not to attack people in most situations,
but it might be necessary to attack people in self defense.
 In order to know if something is morally acceptable for an
Aristotelian we must ask,
 “Is the action based on a sensitivity to the situation?
 “does the action lead to personal happiness?”
 If the answer to these questions is, Yes, then the action is
morally virtuous.
Wisdom tends to be based on avoiding extremes and finding a
moderate middle ground—the golden mean.

Perfection and Greek Virtue
 Ancient greek asserts that virtuous development is central to
human flourishing.
 Aristotle assumed our rational capacity makes us distinct from
other (living) things.
 He identifies rationality as the unique function of human beings
and says that human virtue, or excellence, is therefore realized
through the development or perfection of reason.
 For aristotle, virtuous development is the transformation and
perfection of character in accordance with reason.
 Aristotle proposed that humans “are made perfect by habit”
 Habit therefore plays an important role in our virtuous
development.
 Habit and repetition develop dispositions.
 A good upbringing will promote the formation of positive

Cont.
Through Virtuous development, we realize and
perfect ourselves, laying the foundation for a good
life.
The ancient Greeks thought the aim of life was
Eudaimonia .
Though Eudaimonia is often translated as
“Happiness,” it means something closer to “a
flourishing life.
 Aristotle, Virtuous development is the
transformation and perfection of character in
accordance with reason.

Cont.
Virtue ethicists argue that right action flows from
good character traits or dispositions. We become
a good person, then, through self-perfection.
We become a good person, then, through the
cultivation of character, self-reflection, and self-
perfection.
There is often a connection between the virtuous
life and the good life in virtue ethics because of
its emphasis on character and self-cultivation.

Cont.
Kant would probably say that we then have an ethic
based on the idea of the perfection of human nature,
and that, though this idea is morally relevant, it cannot
supply the supreme principle of morality which he is
seeking.
The Stoics and Wolff, grounds the moral law and
obligation on the idea of inner perfection.

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