Unit 3.1 PPT -Classical Western Ethics and its major theories.pptx

This article explores the impact of classical philosophy on the development of modern ethical thought. It examines how Plato, Aristotle and other classical thinkers shaped ideas of virtue, reason, and moral duty. Key concepts such as Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics, the role of reason in ethical decision-making, and the pursuit of the good life (eudaimonia) are highlighted. The article shows how these foundational ideas continue to influence contemporary approaches to ethics, providing learners with a historical framework for understanding modern moral theories.

1. Major Ethical Theories In Western Philosophy "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0 "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods"  by  Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute  is licensed under  CC BY 4.0

2. Greek Ethics “While moral theory does not invent morality, or even reflection on it, it does try to bring systematic thinking to bear on these activities.” Long before Plato and Aristotle arrived on the philosophical stage of Athens, ethics could be retraced to Homeric literature. Ethics in its formative era (  6th century BCE to the 4th century CE) saw its birth from the latter to blooming in a vast tree under Aristotle. Through piecemeal stories of the Greek Gods to the systematization of moral conduct under Aristotle, the journey of Ethics has continued to evolve into a discipline of study in its own rights owing to the intellectual endeavours of philosophers throughout the subsequent ages. Sprouting further into diverse shoots, we today have major ethical themes like Hedonism, Altruism and Perfectionism. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

3. HEDONISM The birth of the hedonist movement can be retraced to the Cyrenaic school founded by Aristippus of Cyrene during the 4 th century BCE. Built on the blueprints of the Socratic concept of life’s ultimate aim being the search of the Good, it deflected the terminology of ‘good’ from the highest form of reality to the pursuit of immediate good, which more often than not translated into seeking physical pleasure as the good of life. For the Cyrenaic followers, good was not only the absence of pain as posited by Epicurus but also satisfying the senses contentedly. This is also the reason why the Cyrenaic school faded in oblivion. Hedonism is etymologically derived form the Greek root ‘ hēdys ’ meaning ‘pleasant’ or ‘sweet’. Hence widely translated as the pursuit of pleasure, hedonism also focuses on the maximization of the latter and minimizing pain as the primary goals of life, weighing heavy on decision-making and well-being as pointed out in Jeremy Bentham’s ‘ An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.’: “ Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain, and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do ” K ey contributors to debate over hedonism include Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Aquinas, Butler, Hume, Mill, Nietzsche, Brentano et al. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

4. Often considered as an offshoot of consequentialism, which is a moral theory that judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based solely on its outcomes or consequences, hedonism flourished under the Epicurean school, as mentioned earlier. For Epicurus, pleasure was indeed the supreme good, but his interpretation of this maxim was profoundly influenced by the Socratic doctrine of prudence and Aristotle’s conception of the best life. The true hedonist would aim at a life of enduring pleasure, but this would be obtainable only under the guidance of reason. The indispensable criterion to experiencing pleasure or minimizing pain is s elf-control which intimated the maxim of the school as “Of all this, the beginning, and the greatest good, is prudence.” Epicureanism stumbled when its own followers purported seeking of indifference to pain rather than seeking pleasure. Jeremy Bentham revived hedonism under the umbrella of utilitarianism both as a psychological and moral theory (utilitarian hedonism). Moral hedonism has been under attacked since the times of Socrates where the implication was that man had no right to seek pleasure for himself. However, the pleasure of others has most of the time been a deciding factor in its pursuit evolving into utilitarian hedonism . This is the starting point of revival by Bentham who embraces a quantitative methodology where the happiness of the mass is the purpose rather than the quality of it. He devises 7 factors to quantify pleasure and pain. This methodology, also called as ‘ hedonic calculus ’ is as follows: "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5. The intensity of the pleasure or pain Its duration Its certainty or uncertainty Its propinquity or remoteness Its fecundity (the chance it has of being followed by sensations of the same kind) Its purity (the chance it has of not being followed by sensations of the opposite kind) Its extent (the number of people to whom it extends) On the other hand, John S. Mill emphasises on a qualitative pursuit of happiness, prioritizing intellectual and moral pleasures derived from activities like learning, creating art or moral assessment. He believes that " It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied ”. He defines higher pleasures as those associated with the mind, intellect and moral sentiments. Lower pleasures are those derived from activities like eating and sleeping. Ethical hedonism is yet another branch of the hedonism dictating that pleasure is an intrinsic moral value while pain is an intrinsic moral evil. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

6. ALTRUISM Altruism is the philosophy of behavioural action that benefits any other person than oneself, sometimes even at the cost of personal benefit. Contrary to self-interest, self-centeredness and egoism, altruism describes the sole aim of an action as the good interest of others. In a broader sense it is applied to animals who out of instinct, rather than benefit, protect their cubs from dangers of nature. It should be highlighted that altruism is not only the intent and action of benefitting others but also the intent of avoiding to harm others. For example, when driving in an area where children are playing, exerting extra caution does not necessarily benefit the children or improve their lives, but it carries the intent of causing no harm. Further, some altruistic actions do have mixed intent. Again, in the case of driving as cited above, one is not only ensuring the safety of the children playing on the road, but also making sure that one does not cause an accident and is not punished by law. Hence there are mixed motives involved in such altruistic actions. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

7. Hence while motive can be singularly described as either self- centred or altruistic, actions can be both. In the absence of the element of self-interest, ‘pure altruistic’ actions are obtained. for example, if someone has a ticket for a play and unfortunately falls sick on the day and calls the box office so that someone else can use the ticket, that is a purely altruistic action for it involves no self-centredness and also no self-sacrifice. Self- sacrificing behaviour is not altruism. For example, feeding a stray dog one’s own lunch at the cost of our meal is a self-sacrificing behaviour and not an altruistic one for it involves a kind of loss for the doer. Moral motives and altruism: It is important to distinguish between moral motives and altruism for they can be easily confused. For example, person X borrows a book from person Y and promises to return it in 3 days. True to his words, he gives back the book. Such an action has as foundation a moral motive and not altruism that person Y can now use his book freely. Altruism would have been the motive if person Y gifted the book to person X because it was of no interest to him and would benefit the latter more. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

8.  The notion of altruism is applicable not to every morally motivated treatment of others, but more narrowly to what is done out of a concern for the good of others—in other words, for their well-being. Altruistic acts might be described as charitable or benevolent or kind, for these words also convey the idea of acting for the good of others, and not merely rightly towards others. This also excludes proximity of relationships and indebtedness. For example, if person A is ‘altruistic’ to person B, because the latter was kind to him when he was a child, that action is motivated by personal proximity and moral conviction of repaying the kindness shown to him by person A. Altruism is what benefits others irrespective of the maxims of proximity and repayment of favours incurred. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

9. PERFECTIONISM Historically, the philosophy perfectionism is associated with ethical theories that characterize the human good in terms of the development of human nature. Writers as diverse as Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, Marx, and T.H. Green are perfectionists in this sense. This is because they have as aim the objective good and build upon this an ethical and political theory that is informed of this notion of good and thereby arrive at different ethical and political conclusions. What kind of objective good do perfectionists talk about? They defend an account of the good that is objective in the sense that it identifies states of affairs, activities, and/or relationships as good in themselves and not good in virtue of the fact that they are desired or enjoyed by human beings which echoes Kantian good. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

10. This is purported by perfectionists who believe that the natural world is independently valuable in itself even if there were to be no human beings to enjoy it. Others believe that great achievements in art and science have value beyond any effect that they have on the lives of human beings. Perfectionist views that affirm judgments of this kind are examples of what can be called  nonhumanistic perfectionism . Perfectionist accounts of the human good, by contrast, are accounts that seek to identify the goods that contribute to the value of a life for human beings. Types of perfectionism: 1. Human Nature Perfectionism: the account on which the development of rationality is often considered to be a perfectionist good because it is a capacity essential to human nature. Following Aristotle, a number of contemporary writers have sought to develop accounts of the human good along these lines (Hurka 1993, Foot 2003). "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0

11. 2. Objective Goods Perfectionism: this is about perfectionism without any reference to human nature. John Rawls characterizes perfectionism as requiring the maximum “achievement of human excellence in art, science and culture” (Rawls 1971, 325). Derek Parfit characterizes perfectionism in terms of the achievement or realization of “the best things in life” (Parfit 1986, 162). Here it is the existence of the objective goods, and not their relation to the development of human nature, that is highlighted. Similarly, other writers have identified perfectionism with the realization of a specified list of objective goods (Finnis 1980, Griffin 1986, Arneson 2000). Both types of perfectionism come with its own challenges. Human nature perfectionists have to account for the properties that are central to human nature and the development of which explain why certain activities and states are good for human beings (Hurka 1993). On the other hand, objective good perfectionists, after having removed the development of human nature as dependent on objective good perfectionism, must explain why some things in particular are considered as good, and why not others. From these accounts of perfectionism, we have various offshoots of ethical theories like consequentialism and deontology. "Majo rWestern Theories -From Classical to Contemporary Periods" by Ms Rajshree Beneymadoo & Ms Heema Jhagdambi, Mahatma Gandhi Institute is licensed under CC BY 4.0