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Summary
Ethics Class 14

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS CLASS & QUERY RESOLUTION (5:07 PM)

  • The faculty revised the dimension of the Ethics. 

DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS (5:10 PM)

  • It is the study of people's beliefs about morality. 
  • It is an empirical investigation regarding what society rewards or punishes. 
  • It is value-free i.e. free from any judgment or opinion regarding the morality or ethical practices of society.
  • One of the famous examples of descriptive ethics is Lawrence-Kohlberg's stages of moral development.

  • Note:

    • Value-free: Knowledge and decisions are shaped by personal values; there is no such thing as complete objectivity.
    • Value-laden: Knowledge and decisions can be made without being influenced by values; complete objectivity is possible.

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT (5:17 PM) 

  • He was an American psychologist who believed that moral development follows a series of stages. 
  • He adopted a storytelling technique to tell people about stories involving moral dilemmas. 
  • It is the manner in which an individual reason and respond to the dilemma that will determine the stage of moral development.
  • One of the best-known dilemmas created was Heinz's dilemma which discussed the idea of obeying the law versus saving a life.
  • Heinz's dilemma:
  • Heinz's wife was dying due to cancer.
  • According to the Doctor, the new drugs discovered can save his wife.  
  • However, the chemist who discovered the drug was charging 10 times the cost of the drugs which Heinz could not afford.
  • After a series of requests and pleading when the chemist did not relent one night Heinz broke into the shop and stole the drugs.
  • The question asked by Kohlberg was:
  • 1. Should Heinz have stolen the drug?
  • 2. Will anything change if Heinz did not love his life?
  • 3. Will the police arrest the chemist for murder if the wife dies?
  • By studying the responses to the above questions Kohlberg identified three stages of moral development:
  • Pre-conventional stage (Age <9 years)
  • Stage 1: Right and wrong are determined by what an individual is punished for. For eg, if you get scolded for stealing then definitely stealing is wrong.   
  • Stage 2: Right and wrong are determined by what an individual is rewarded for or by doing what others want us to do. (Overall morality is determined by the motivation of self-interest)
  • Conventional stage (Age 9 <20 years)
  • Stage 3: A child possesses a conformist attitude to morality i.e. right and wrong are determined by the majority. ( Agency of socialization such as family, school, society, etc )  
  • Stage 4: They think the law is the supreme authority and it needs to be respected. However, most adults do not progress beyond this stage  
  • Post-conventional stage (Age>19 years)
  • Stage 5: Right and wrong are determined by personal values. Here, the individual is aware that laws exist for good but at times, they may work against the interest of individuals. For eg, a hungry child steals a loaf of bread for a starving family or jumps the traffic signal to save someone's life 
  • Stage 6: People at this stage have their own stage of moral guidelines which may fit or may not fit the law (people's opinions regarding homosexuality, euthanasia, etc). These principles apply to everyone and it is based on humanity, justice, equality etc. The people are ready to defend them even if it goes against the rest of society. For eg Initiative taken by Kailash Satyarthi to fight against Child labour or the efforts of Bhanwari Devi with respect to Child Marriage.
    • Note: In stage 5, one is not breaching the law while in stage 6 one is willing to breach the law 
  • Question: Write a short note on each of the following: (150 words/ 10 marks)
  • 1. Determinants of Ethics in Human Actions. 
  • 2. Descriptive Ethics 
  • 3. Heinz Dilemma
  • 4. kohlberg stages of Moral Development

META-ETHICS (5:56 PM)

  • It is a sub-discipline of Ethics which deals with the evaluation of Ethics.
  • For e.g. what do we mean by morality? Why stealing is considered immoral or Why do practices like Santhara persist in society? 
  • There are different philosophies under meta-ethics:
  • 1. Moral Absolutism:
  • It is the philosophy based on which there exists an absolute definition of moral conduct which cannot change with circumstances. 
  • There are some actions which are inherently right or wrong irrespective of the context. 
  • For example: the golden rule of life or deontology.
  • Many religions have morally absolutist positions as they source their belief from god. Therefore, it is perfect unchangeable and universal.
  • 2. Moral Relativism:
  • Nothing is right or wrong for all time to come. 
  • The moral standards of behaviour depend upon the society, culture, time period etc. 
  • For example - cross-cousin's marriage 
  • For example - patrilocal /patrilineal families or matrilocal /matrilineal families 
  • Moral Objectivism: 
  • It is the position that certain acts are objectively right or wrong independent of individuals' opinions.
  • For eg- fundamental duties as enshrined in the constitution.
  • Moral Subjectivism:
  • It is a philosophy according to which morality is not based on rules or norms but on the perceptions of the subjects.  
  • Morality is not dependent on rules or societal norms but on the individuals. 
  • For eg - According to X developmental projects should be carried out as they will lead to economic growth. According to Y, they are causing environmental pollution, and displacements of tribals hence not desirable. 
  • Moral Nihilism:
  • It is a meta-ethical view which believes there is nothing right or wrong inherently in ethics 
  • According to them, ethical claims are false because they can change and can be given meaning by humans, therefore, there are no inherent morals in any action 
  • Moral nihilists would say “Killing someone for any reason is not wrong,  but neither it is right "
  • Similarly, “capitalist punishment is prohibited in many countries on ethical grounds while other countries are in favour of it ”
  • It is different from moral relativism which allows for actions to be wrong or right in relation to a particular culture. 
  • Moral nihilists do not deny people's claim to have moral absolutes but they would deny the existence of moral absolutes 
  • According to them,  people don’t act according to their own morals but according to social conventions. Hence according to them, morality as a  concept is a fabrication or an artificial tool of social control.

NORMATIVE ETHICS (6:44 PM)

  • What is the right thing to do? 
  • It is also referred to as 'prescriptive Ethics'
  • It can be  prescribed based on the following: 
  • a) Action-based ethics 
  • b) Virtue-based ethics 
  • c) Justice-based ethics 
  • d) Right-based ethics 

Action Based Ethics (6:43 PM)

  • It is also known as duty-based ethics
  • It is divided into two types i.e. deontology and Teleology
  • In Teleology we will study Psychological Egoism (Thomes Hobbes), Ethical Egoism (Ayn Rand), Utilitarianism (Thomas Bentam), Revisted Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill), the Concept of Common Good (Amartya Sen).
  • Note- Kindly refer to the diagram drawn by the faculty related to various dilemmas.  

DEONTOLOGY (7:03 PM)

  • It is known as 'duty-based Ethics', the moral worth of an action is determined by the action itself i.e. " no wrong of doing the right thing". 
  • Here, the moral worth of an action is determined by the act itself i.e “ no wrong way of doing right things ”
  • Here rightness is determined by focusing on the process rather than the outcomes eg: - Nishkama karma 
  • Under this approach, decisions should be made considering one’s duties & rights of others
  • For eg: piracy is wrong or leaking class lectures on telegram, kicking the animal to save their life (no matter what the intention is action itself is wrong) etc 
  • This approach is criticized for being rigid in its approach.

TEOLOLOGY (7:11 PM)

  • It is also known as ‘Consequential Ethics’ 
  • Right /wrong does not depend on the process but outcomes as ‘ End justifies Means’ 
  • For instance, it is wrong to kill one person in order to save the life of others or the concept of Robinhood or leaking the video on telegram to increase the outreach can be justified 
  • However, even this approach is criticised as one can never predict the consequences of one's actions.
  • There often exists a debate between deontology and teleology where deontology is considered to be highly rigid. Hence to do away with this rigidity the concept of threshold deontology has been introduced. 
  • According to this perspective, an action which otherwise is morally wrong can still be justified if the consequences surpass a certain threshold of seriousness. 
  • For instance, it is wrong to kill one person in order to save the lives of three people but it can still be justified to torture one terrorist in order to save an entire city. 
  • Question - " With regard to the morality of actions, one view is that means is of paramount importance and the other view is that the ends justify the means. Which view do you think is more appropriate? Justify your answer. "(UPSC 2018)

THE TOPICS FOR THE NEXT CLASS: CONTINUATION OF TELEOLOGY & DEONTOLOGY