These principles are general statements of fact that are then applied to particular situations to determine a proper course of action. In the field of morality, this means deriving rational moral principles from experience. It says that the way humans gain general or conditional knowledge–knowledge that can be applied to predict future consequences–is by forming rational principles from empirical observation and experience. Objectivism accepts the obvious truth that humans are not omniscient, and so cannot predict all the exact consequences of their actions in advance. Objectivism holds that the fundamental job of morality is to guide human choices in the context in which they are made. That which promotes the individual’s own life overall is the good for him, that which damages or destroys his own life is the bad for him.īut OEE does not simply say that actions that end up promoting your life are moral, and actions that end up damaging it are immoral. ![]() Because Objectivism, the whole philosophy from which this ethics springs, views human life as fundamentally individual–needing to be lived, maintained and enhanced by each individual through his own action–Objectivist Ethical Egoism (OEE) takes each individual’s own life as his own effective standard of value. Roughly speaking, that which promotes human life is the good, that which damages or destroys it is the bad. ![]() It takes human life as the abstract or general standard of moral evaluation. Objectivist Ethical Egoism, unlike the other terms here, names one specific theory. Modern virtue ethics takes inspiration from the moral theories of Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, (especially Aristotle.) Prominent advocates include Christine Swanton, Rosalind Hursthouse and Alasdair MacIntyre. That is, do the actions match what a virtuous person would do in those circumstances? Basically, a virtue ethicist says that you should do certain things, because they are examples of good character. Moral virtues like honesty, courage, integrity, temperance and generosity are taken to be inherently good first, then actions are evaluated based on whether they express those virtues. Virtue ethics names a type of ethical theory that takes virtues of character, rather than individual actions or rules, as the most fundamental ethical concepts. Ross, Robert Nozick and Christine Korsgaard. An advocate of deontology says that you should do certain things, just because those things are the right things to do, (they “align with duty.”) The originator of deontology as a formal theoretical framework was the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. In many deontological theories, motivation by moral duty itself–rather than other factors, like self-interest–is essential to an action’s being morally right. Deontological theories tend to focus on the motives of actions, and whether a given action was motivated by duty or something else. Consequences are irrelevant to a fully deontological theory. Classic Utilitarianism was advocated by such philosophers as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.ĭeontology names a type of ethical theory that judges human practices based on whether they are consistent with certain duties that the theory holds as intrinsically moral. By far the most common historical variant of consequentialism is Classic Utilitarianism. Roughly speaking, a consequentialist says that you should do certain things, because those actions produce good consequences. Human practices that produce good consequences are morally right, while ones that produce bad consequences are morally wrong. ![]() I’ll then discuss the nature of Objectivist Ethical Egoism and how it compares and contrasts with each of these types of ethics.Ĭonsequentialism names a type of ethical theory that judges human practices, like actions or rules, based on their consequences. I will describe all of them briefly, then describe each one of them in more detail, pointing out their defining features and major variants. There are three major categories of ethical systems that students typically learn about in philosophy classes: consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. ![]() The purpose of this article is to explain different ethical theories and compare and contrast them in a way that’s clear and easy for students to understand.
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