Chapter 11:

Morality

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THE ART OF BEING HUMAN

9TH EDITION

DEFINITIONMorality – the study of moral systems by

which significant choices are made.

Moral – an adjective indicating a choice between significant options, based on principles derived from reason, family teachings, education, religion or law.

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MORALITY IN THE ARTSMoral themes can be found in all the

arts. Literature - The Scarlet Letter Cinema – The Godfather Music – Saint Matthew’s Passion Art - Guernica

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THE MORALITY OF SELF-INTEREST

Works that consider the question:• Plato – Republic• Sartre – The Respectful Prostitute• Bolt – A Man for All Seasons• O’ Connor – “The Idealist”

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THE MORALITY OF SELF-INTEREST

Enlightened Self-Interest• Machiavelli – The Prince• Hobbs - Leviathan

Politically enlightened self-interest was the only possible means to a stable and harmonious society.

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THE MORALITY OF SELF-INTEREST

Economics and Self-Interest• Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations

In a perfect society, people are free to pursue economic self-interest as long as they do not break the law. Greed itself is not immoral but a natural condition of humanity.

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THE MORALITY OF SELF-INTEREST

Transcending Self-Interest: AltruismAltruism – the quality of acting out of

concern for the welfare of others rather than one’s own.

• Dickens's – A Tale of Two Cities• Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls

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MORAL AUTHORITIESJeremy Bentham – Moral Mathematics• the greatest good for the greatest numbers

• Swift – “ A Modest Proposal”

John Stuart Mill – Liberalism• the majority can be wrong, and the

government must balance the irresponsibility of the general population.• Mill – The Tyranny of the Majority

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MORAL AUTHORITIESImmanuel Kant - The Moral ImperativeThe moral imperative – the inborn capacity to

understand what is right and wrong , “the sense of ought.”

Choices and actions are morally acceptable and unacceptable.

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MORAL AUTHORITIESReligion and Morality

The major religions of the world – Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam –all provide “moral orientation” for most of the world’s population.

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MORAL AUTHORITIESWork and Morality

The workplace is for many the means to the good life where there is world of friendship, trust and security – qualities of altruism – but it can be an adversarial world of others working for self-interest.

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MORAL AUTHORITIESMoral Relativism• the belief that right and wrong have no

definite universal meaning but must be defined within a given context.

• the opposite of moral absolutism, in which actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context. Pearson Longman © 2009

MORAL AUTHORITIESFeminist Morality• Many cultural and religious traditions have

been dominated by the male-point of view.• Feminist ethics maintain that universal and

impartial standards are difficult to apply when gender differences are ignored.

• Women’s ways of feelings and needs may alter the moral nature of situations.

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