ethics

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A branch of philosophy sometimes called “moral philosophy,” ethics is concerned with questions of right and wrong behavior and how we should act.

The Three Main Approaches

Aristotle focused more on character than action with his virtue ethics, the idea that our behavior is ethical to the extent that we embody virtues in the right amount. Take for example the virtue of courage: we should strive to show an appropriate amount of courage, not too little (cowardice) and not too much (recklessness). This idea of the right amount between extremes he called “the golden mean”.
Immanuel Kant proposed the “categorical imperative” the idea that our behavior is moral to the extent that we act according to principles than can be universal. For example, we should not lie because if everyone lied then society would fall apart. This is an example of deontological ethics, which in Latin means something like “the study of duty”, reflecting an approach focused on principle more than practice. Contractualism and social contract theory are another example of deontological ethics which locate our moral responsibilities in the things we agree to, either explicitly or implicitly by living in a society.
John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham are best known for defining the moral philosophy of “utilitarianism”, the best known example of consequentialism, which is the idea that the morality of any action depends solely on its consequences. There are many ways to measure consequences, and while maximizing utility (i.e. the right action produces the most good for the most people) seems intuitive on the surface, it leads to some uncomfortable conclusions such that we should kill one person if their organs could be used to save more than one person.

If ethics is useful beyond being a clever parlor game for bored philosophers, then it would have to contribute to something like moral progress.

Does Ethics Exist?

While moral realists believe that statements of ethical principles (e.g. “Murder is wrong”) can be considered true or false, moral skeptics hold that ethical principles are fundamentally unknowable. This debate intersects with epistemology then and the question of how we can know moral facts.

Does ethics matter?

Studies have shown that people who study Ethics professionally are no more likely to behave ethically than the rest of us. People might understand what the ethical thing to do in a situation is, but we seem to have a very hard time actually doing it.

Mentions

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philosophy

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longtermism

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moral injury

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