Unit 1: Murder, Morality, and the Value of Human Life
Everyone has some ideas about the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. We use these beliefs to guide our behavior, judge the behavior of others, and decide on laws and punishments in our society. Sometimes situations arise that force us to call our moral beliefs into question and debate the truth about moral behavior with our peers. It is usually the difficult cases, where people are divided about the right course of action, that bring the differences in our moral intuitions into focus and force us to clarify our moral principles.
In this unit, we investigate some notoriously difficult and divisive moral dilemmas involving justice, rights, and the value of human life. We explore the moral theory of utilitarianism in depth and consider whether it can help us determine the right thing to do and how to produce a just society. Finally, we introduce two ethical theories that contrast with utilitarianism: deontology and natural law.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- define ethics and moral philosophy;
- apply a definition of ethics to moral and political concepts, such as justice and others;
- identify and describe the intrinsic value of philosophical investigation as an academic discipline;
- use the works of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Aquinas, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to compare and contrast theories of ethics;
- identify and describe central issues and branches in ethics, including moral skepticism, reflective equilibrium, and utilitarianism, consequentialism, deontology, and natural law; and
- analyze how an ethical theory may influence policies in corporations and institutions and how an ethical theory may affect individual rights and liberties.
1.1: Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics
This chapter outlines the three broad categories of ethical systems normative ethics, applied ethics, and meta-ethics. Use the navigation arrows on the right and left side of the page to move forward through the eleven sections in this chapter. By the end of this reading, you will be able to define the three broad ethical systems and describe several approaches to ethics. Be sure you have a good understanding of the important approaches for Unit 1: deontology, consequentialism, and natural law.
1.2: Investigating Our Moral Intuitions
Watch the first half of this video until 24:12. Compare your own intuitions about the cases introduced with those voiced by the students in the video. Also, note the definition of moral skepticism introduced here. This video lecture presents a classic moral dilemma: whether it may be morally permissible to commit murder - or to allow someone to die - if it is certain that doing so will prevent an even worse catastrophe.
1.3: From Moral Intuitions to Moral Principles and Back Again
Read this tutorial about the process of reflective equilibrium in moral reasoning. This account and the diagram that accompanies it represent the process of moral reasoning that takes place in Sandel's class discussion, in which we deliberate between principles and particular cases, revising each in the light of the other.
1.4: Consequentialist Ethics and Bentham's Utilitarianism
Watch the rest of this lecture, starting at 24:13. This lecture introduces Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian moral principle. Through the case of the shipwrecked crew, Sandel demonstrates that, far from abstract puzzles, moral dilemmas are real life problems, which demand that we strive toward coherent moral codes that can be agreed upon for social and legal purposes.
1.4.1: The Lifeboat Case: A Moral Dilemma Drawn from Life
Read this description of the famous Queen v. Dudley and Stephens case. As you read, consider whether you agree with the ruling in this case, and if you would rule differently, as well as why you would do so. This text discusses the famous lifeboat case, which established the legality of choosing to murder out of necessity. Although the details of the case are quite graphic, this fact itself may serve as a prompt for many of us to revise our initial intuitions about the moral status of killing one to save many others.
1.4.2: Overview of Utilitarianism
Read this introduction to Utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill.
Read the first chapter, "Of the Principle of Utility," from this 1780 text in which Bentham justifies the principle that the morality of our actions depends on the consequences produced. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham was the first to formalize the moral principle that whether our actions are right or wrong is a matter of the consequences they produce (i.e. how much happiness and how much unhappiness results from them). It is important to note that, although Bentham places a lot of emphasis on the pleasure and pain experienced by the individual person, he is not recommending that our laws should be guided purely by individual hedonism, but by a collective responsibility to improve the happiness of everyone in society.
1.4.3: Criticisms of Bentham's Utilitarianism
Watch this lecture until 24:11. Here, Sandel introduces some important objections to Bentham's version of utilitarianism. If Bentham is right about utility being measurable, and even quantifiable, then this would seem to justify the practices of some governments and corporations in taking a dollars and cents approach to human life, which strikes many people as being in itself unethical.
1.5: Pitfalls of Consequentialist Ethics and Mill's Utilitarianism
Read this article which presents difficulties with calculating benefits and various utilitarian responses to those difficulties. Be able to define hedonistic and idealistic utilitarianism, soft and hard utilitarianism, and the difference between act and rule.
1.5.1: Overview of Mill's Utilitarianism
Watch the rest of this lecture, starting at 24:12. Despite some powerful objections raised against it, some version of utilitarianism still seems plausible, since it seems to explain a large number of cases to our satisfaction. In this lecture, Sandel introduces John Stuart Mill's improved version of utilitarianism, which attempts to reconcile a consequentialist ethical principle with the notion of individual and minority rights. The importance of a well-informed majority for Mill's view raises questions that are fundamental to the success of a democratic society.
1.5.2: Mill, Selections
Read the first two chapters of Mill's Utilitarianism, "General Remarks" and "What Utilitarianism Is." After you are done reading, ask yourself if you are able to define the principle of utility, describe the difference between higher and lower pleasures according to Mill, and describe actions which are of a generally injurious class.
Note that, while the text is original, we have divided Mill's original paragraphs into smaller pieces to make this text easier for you to read online.
1.6: Alternatives to Consequentialist Ethics
Read this description of Utilitarianism in relation to other ethical theories. After reading, be sure you are able to define deontology, describe social contract theory, and discuss the role of virtue in ethical matters.
1.6.1: Deontology
We will look at deontology in more depth in Unit 3, but for now, read this basic introduction and notice the basic contrast between deontology and consequentialism. Note: Utilitarianism is a type or a subset of consequentialism. Do you think there are duties apart from consequences?
1.6.2: Natural Law
Saint Thomas Aquinas offers a theory of natural law that is rooted in eternal and divine law. Notice again how Aquinas' natural law differs from consequentialism. Do you think there are any eternal natural laws?
Read Articles 4, 5, and 6 of Question 94. Be able to explain the following concepts: speculative reason, practical reason, natural law, whether the natural law is the same for all, whether the natural law can be changed, and whether the natural law can ba abolished from the hearts of us as human beings. Do you agree with Aquinas' description of a natural law? How does it relate to deontology and consequentialism?
In this famous letter, King makes a distinction between just laws and unjust laws and refers to the moral law, or the eternal law, as the basis for distinguishing between just and unjust laws. Notice how Martin Luther King draws upon the idea of a natural law to defend civil rights for all in this famous letter. Would you agree that segregation laws violate the natural law?