Ethics: A Comprehensive Introduction to the Study of Morality

Ethics: An Introduction
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From the dawn of philosophy, the question concerning…the foundation of morality has been accounted the main problem in speculative thought.”

— John Stuart Mill

Ethics refers to a set of rules for human behavior or a study of judgments of value, of good and evil, right and wrong, desirable and undesirable. Morality, on the other hand, refers to the rightness or wrongness of an action. The two terms, especially their adjective form (ethical and moral), are oftentimes used interchangeably.

Why is Ethics important?

Records in the field of philosophy unequivocally prove that many of the most renowned philosophers the world has produced from ancient time to the present have, in one way or another, discussed about morality.

Underscoring Ethics’ significance in our life, the famous philosopher John Stuart Mill even pointed out in his book Utilitarianism that, “From the dawn of philosophy, the question concerning…the foundation of morality has been accounted the main problem in speculative thought” (1979, p. 1). Highlighting the importance of knowing the correct foundation of morality, W.D. Falk declared that the issue is “the problem of moral philosophy” (1944, p. 6).

The need to reassess and rebuild the dominant edifices of morality is premised by the collapse of standards of morality observed in contemporary societies, which is also the concern of today’s sociologists and social philosophers. However, building sensible edifices of morality requires constructing a reasonable ethical superstructure of morality.

And to put up this kind of superstructure, the very foundations of morality must be examined meticulously. Interestingly enough, a course in Ethics deals not only with prominent foundations of morality but also with famous theories and explanations usually put forward concerning morality.

Why is there a need to study Ethics?

More and more people today, especially among the youth, are either unable or unwilling to act in an ethical manner, or just confused on what should be considered as moral. Rutgers University conducted a study and found out that over 70% of all university students admitted they have cheated at least once. The study reports that students have always copied from someone else’s paper or stealthily brought forbidden notes into the classroom. Nineteen percent admit they have faked a bibliography, and fourteen percent say they have handed in a computer program written by someone else (“College A Cheating Haven,” p. 5).

In his book Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong, William Kilpatrick discloses the numerous crimes committed yearly on or near school property. These misdeeds result in students becoming scared and anxious about going to school and many teachers leaving the profession (1992, p. 14). Concerning students’ moral consciousness, a philosophy professor at Clark University exclaimed: “Students come to college today as moral stutterers. They haven’t been taught much respect for what I call ‘plain moral facts,’ the need for honesty, integrity, responsibility… Students don’t reason morally. They don’t know what that means.” (Marquand, 1988, p. 34)

The founder and president of the Josephson Institute for the Advancement of Ethics, Michael Josephson, likewise said, “Far too many young people have abandoned traditional ethical values in favor of self- absorbed, win-at-any-cost attitudes that threaten to unravel the moral fabric of American society” (“U.S. Youths’ Ethics Alarming, Study Says,” p. 5A). This ‘self-absorbed’ attitude is explained as that which is based on a whole new set of assumptions about how people should adopt their values and the right of individuals to construct their own values.

These, and many other observations, lead us to suspect that this ethical vacuum in society is caused by a value system without a solid foundation. Or, if there were so-called ethical systems at work in contemporary societies, perhaps they are anchored on unstable, if not totally erroneous, foundations and theories;  hence the need to seriously evaluate the various moral theories and foundations.

What are the basic ethical camps?

Many claim that ethical foundations, to become solid, must be anchored on God. Addressing the opposing view that ethical reasoning must be totally separated from theism or the belief in a Moral Law=giver (God), the famous writer, C.S. Lewis, has this to say:

“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that the atoms inside my skull happen for physical or chemical reasons to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a bye-product, the sensation I call thought. But if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It is like upsetting a milk-jug and hoping that the way the splash arranges itself will give you a map of London. But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course I can’t trust the arguments leading to atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an atheist or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I can’t believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” (Lewis, 1943, p. 32) … continue reading

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Also Check Out: From Socrates to Mill: An Analysis of Prominent Ethical Theories

Also Check Out: From Socrates to Mill: An Analysis of Prominent Ethical Theories, also by author Jensen DG. Mañebog

Also Check Out: The Worldview of Atheism by Jensen DG. Mañebog

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