PHIL1001 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Euthyphro Dilemma, In Re Kasinga, Explanatory Power
PHIL1001- Notes:
Moral Theory:
Aims of Moral Theory:
• Practical Aim: The main practical aim of a moral theory is to discover a
decision procedure that can be used to guide correct moral reasoning
about matters of moral concern
• Theoretical Aim: The main theoretical aim of moral theory is to discover
those underlying features of actions, persons and other items of moral
evaluation that make them right or wrong, good or bad
Moral principle: A very general statement that purports to set forth conditions
under which an action is right or wrong or something is good or bad.
Basic Moral Categories:
• Deontic Categories: Evaluate the morality of action – their rightness and
wrongness
- Obligatory actions: An action that one morally ought to do
- Wrong Action: An action that morally ought not to be done
- Optional Action: One is morally permitted to perform the action, but
need not
• Values: Speak of something as being good or bad or neither good nor
bad
- Intrinsically good: Something about it that makes it good
- Extrinsically good: that it possesses goodness because of how it is
related to something else that is good
- Intrinsically value – neutral: things that are neither intrinsically good not
intrinsically bad
Moral value: Something only agents (things that can be held responsible) can
posses
Non-moral value: Experiences and states of affair in the world
Characteristics that moral theories should possess:
• Consistency: A moral theory should be consistent in the sense that its
principles, together with relevant factual information, yield consistent
moral verdicts about the morality of actions, persons, and other objects of
moral evaluation.
• Determinacy: A moral theory should feature principles that, together with
relevant factual information, yield determinate moral verdicts about the
morality of actions, persons, and other objects of evaluation in a wide
range of cases
• Internal support: A moral theory whose principles, together with relevant
factual information, logically imply our considered moral beliefs, receives
support from those beliefs. On the other hand, if the principles of a theory
have implications that conflict with our considered moral beliefs, this is
evidence against the correctness of the theory.
• External support: The fact that the principles of a moral theory are
supported by non- moral beliefs and assumptions, including well-
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established beliefs and assumptions from various areas of non-moral
inquiry, are evidence in its favor. On the other hand, the fact that the
principles conflict with established nonmoral beliefs and assumptions is
evidence against the theory.
• Explanatory power: A moral theory should feature principles that explain
our more specific considered moral beliefs, thus helping us understand
why actions, persons and other objects of moral evaluation are right or
wrong, good or bad.
• Intuitive appeal: A moral theory should develop and make sense of
various intuitively appealing beliefs and ideas about morality.
A belief is a considered moral belief if:
• It is formed with sufficient information
• It is held or formed in moments of emotional calm
• It does not concern issues where our personal interests are at stake
• It is stable over time
• It is widely shared by other calm, well informed, impartial people
Ethics: Paul Taylor, Principles of Ethics, (1975): Ethics is a ‘philosophical inquiry
into the nature and grounds of morality’.
The Divine Command Theory:
Statement of the divine command theory: An act, x, is morally right if and only
if it does not violate any of God’s commands
Positive reasons for the divine command theory:
• Makes it possible to consider morality as a kind of law
• Potentially vindicates the belief that moral obligations imply reasons for
acting - moral rationalism, desire based theory of reasons
• Supports the objectivity of morality – that is, the idea that moral values
are not true according to a persons subjective opinion, but are
factually true
• It makes sense of the common thought that morality is closely related
to religion/god
Critiques of the divine command theory:
• Does the wrongness of an action really depend on whether God exist
or not?
• If god permitted an immoral action such as murder, would it be
considered moral?
• Even if god commands us not to perform an act, is Gods
commandment really the reason for not doing it?
• How does a theorist know that their God’s commandments are the
right ones to follow?
The Euthyphro Dilemma Against the Divine Command Theory:
Two horns of the dilemma:
• God commands x because it is obligatory: Then,
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Document Summary
Aims of moral theory: practical aim: the main practical aim of a moral theory is to discover a decision procedure that can be used to guide correct moral reasoning about matters of moral concern. Theoretical aim: the main theoretical aim of moral theory is to discover those underlying features of actions, persons and other items of moral evaluation that make them right or wrong, good or bad. Moral principle: a very general statement that purports to set forth conditions under which an action is right or wrong or something is good or bad. Basic moral categories: deontic categories: evaluate the morality of action their rightness and wrongness. Obligatory actions: an action that one morally ought to do. Wrong action: an action that morally ought not to be done. Optional action: one is morally permitted to perform the action, but need not: values: speak of something as being good or bad or neither good nor bad.
