PHL271H1 Lecture 1: Tutorial - D+D+Cole
Friday, December 11, 2015
PHL 271 Tutorial - Dworkin, Devlin and Cole
Dworkin and Devlin
-Social morality: collective moral views of society
-Devlin: Society is entitled to use the law to enforce its social morality
-Dworkin: Only certain moral positions count as being part of social morality
•which positions? They have to pass some tests:
1. It should be possible to produce reasons for those positions
2. These reasons should be grounded on a more general principle
•consequence: you must be consistent in your moral positions
•E.g. Church said so: anti-euthenasia, anti-abortion
Unacceptable reasons: prejudice, emotional reaction, rationalisation, parroting
-“Because my friends think it’s true” -> not passable moral position
-“Because the (Quran) says so” -> Yes passable
•this is different because religion holds authority
-“Because I grew up with them: -> Depends on the belief
-“Because it seems wrong to me” -> Rationalisation? Emotionally?
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-Mill’s Harm Principle - society can’t interfere with your actions unless you’re harming
other people
•Dworkin thinks you can interfere to enforce social morality
-Dworkin in Argument Form:
•If a moral principle, x:
1. Meets tests 1-3
2. Is held by the majority of society
!1
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Phl 271 tutorial - dworkin, devlin and cole. Social morality: collective moral views of society. Devlin: society is entitled to use the law to enforce its social morality. It should be possible to produce reasons for those positions: these reasons should be grounded on a more general principle, consequence: you must be consistent in your moral positions, e. g. Because my friends think it"s true -> not passable moral position. Because the (quran) says so -> yes passable: this is different because religion holds authority. Because i grew up with them: -> depends on the belief. Mill"s harm principle - society can"t interfere with your actions unless you"re harming other people: dworkin thinks you can interfere to enforce social morality. Dworkin in argument form: if a moral principle, x, meets tests 1-3. Then society is entitled to use the law to enforce x, even if x causes harm to no one.
