Review:
What is the difference between an ethical philosophy that focuses on the criteria, or standards, of right and wrong action, and an ethical philosophy, such as Confucius's, that focuses on character?
What seems to be Socrates's ethical philosophy as portrayed in the Meno? Is it, for example, an ethical skepticism, or an objectivism, or a conventionalism?
Would you say that Confucius is an ethical universalist or particularist, or, perhaps, is he, with qualifications, both? Is Christian morality universalist or particularist?
A few general remarks:
Ethical statements are prescriptive or normative: they, for example, say how a person SHOULD act, not merely how she or he acts.
Some normative terms: ought, should, good, bad, evil, duty, may,responsible, obligation (imperatives)
Some general questions of ethical philosophy:
1. What should I do? Action: answer gives rules for action
2. What should I be? Character: answer in terms of virtues (good traits) and vices (bad traits)
Note the following uses of the ethical adjective "good":
* Good community
* Good person
* Good character trait
* Good motive
* Good intention
* Good action
3. Is any one of these more basic than another?
Community: communitarianism. Develop account of good community; a good person plays the right kind of role in such a community.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is, to change it." Karl Marx
Person, character trait: virtue ethics. Develop an account of virtues and vices. (Aristotle, Confucius, Lao Tzu) "One whose mind is set on virtue will not practice wickedness." Confucius
Motive, intention: Develop an account of pure intention, motive. Commandments of the heart. (Kant, Jesus, Buddha) "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength, and love thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus
Action: Develop criteria for correct action. (Most common: John Stuart Mill, Torah, Zera Yacob (?), Upanishads, Buddhism, Avicenna)
4. Do ethical judgments properly concern particular cases or general kinds?
Particular cases: value depends on specifics of action (or intention, etc.), people, context. Rules are general guidelines, rules of thumb.
General kinds: value depends on general features of action (or intention, etc.), people, or context. Rules define right and wrong.
I. Historical Background
A. Geez
B. Religious conflicts
II. Zera Yacob (1599-1692)
A. Debunking of religious belief: "they assume what they have heard from their predecessors and they do not inquire whether it is true or false."
B. Conflict: hid from religious persecution.
C. Problem: "As my faith appears true to me, so does another find his own faith true; but truth is one."
D. Solution: reason, "light of our heart": "To the person who seeks it, truth is immediately revealed. Indeed he who investigates with the pure intelligence set by the creator in the heart of each man and scrutinizes the order and laws of creation, will discover the truth."
III. Zera Yacob's Ethics
A. Natural religion (religion "revealed" to reason):
1. Harmony in the natural order and its excellence indicate a Creator of even greater excellence ("since from his overabundant greatness he created things that are so great").
2. "Our soul has the power of the concept of God and of seeing him mentally." And "everything has a purpose."
3. Soul-making theodicy.
4. The Golden Rule (which does not equal the Silver Rule: see ch. 8)
B. God created the world ordered by natural laws, which are good because God and the creation are good.
C. Criteria (harmony as the overall test)
1. dispositions: naturally good, but acting on them is not always good
2. health: good practices promote health
3. happiness: good practices promote happiness
4. stability: good practices are stable; bad practices aren't.
D. Negative examples, showing falsity of religious tenets
1. Fasting (Individual-level argument)
2. Sex (Individual and Species-level arguments)
3. Marriage (Societal-level argument)
4. Others: Moses on uncleanliness; Gospels on leaving family;Mohammed on slavery. All violate the order of nature.
E. Positive examples, establishing principles
1. Golden Rule.
2. Killing, stealing, lying, adultery forbidden
3. Mercy
4. Work
5. Monogamous marriage
6. Education of children
IV. Zera Yacob's Theory of Human Nature
A. Dispositions
1. Ethics is life-affirming.
2. Dispositions are good, but acting on them is not always good. (Harmony is the test.)
3. People have choices, which are tests and build character. People do not have to act on their dispositions.
4. Ethics tests policies for acting in response to dispositions arising in particular circumstances
B. Reason
1. Paradox: Isn't disposition to laziness bad? But doesn't this contradict God's goodness?
2. Tests of health, happiness, and stability place limits on acting on dispositions, including our disposition to be lazy.
3. Optimistic theory: bad policies are unstable; dispositions draw us back to good policies.