Moral Philosophy: Ethics from Socrates to Sex
Selections from The Republic cover Socrates views on a form of censorship, especially in terms of what is allowed to children. That of fiction written and that of the poets should be censored to protect the “nature of gods and heroes.” Mainly so that false representations are not made and so that the young are not exposed and desensitized to the evils that may appear in such stories. Since most all will learn virtuous lessons from the great storytellers, censorship is needed to ensure that the mind of the audience is modeled to be virtuous. The Republic was perhaps Plato’s most epic endeavor, and became widely criticized as the basis for totalitarianism.
Aristotle – Nicomachean Ethics (350 BC)
To be good is to perform virtuous activity and Aristotle wrote that the good is what we strive for in itself as the end of our actions. In Nicomachean Ethics there are two kinds of virtue: the moral virtue and the intellectual virtue; moral being that which is learned from a parental figure and the latter being that which is learned from a teacher. Both virtues are the result of trained habits, this being the only way they are achieved and not as being innate attributes of a person. The mode of each action that is virtuous has an excess and a deficiency, thus to be good one must find the mean between the two.
St. Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica (1265)
For Aquinas people by nature want to be good and act in such a way. Actions are derived from a natural law, which is an interaction of what people have a natural inclination towards, that of an eternal law. These laws are all based on the notion that all beings want good as their ends and will avoid evil. The natural inclination towards good is according to reason and assumes that all beings want to sustain life in a natural order. This is the basis of the laws in which people live by, yet Aquinas still wrote that the closer we pay attention to detail in actions, exceptions will be found.
Kant – Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
Our actions are imperatives in that they are what ought and ought not to be done. An imperative can be either hypothetical or categorical. The categorical imperative is an action that is done for the sake of itself and not towards another end. Within the categorical imperative, the maxim of the action should be considered a universal law. Meaning that how we act in a situation or towards another being should be able to be applied to how all others should act. A hypothetical imperative in which the will has a mean to another end differs from the categorical, which is a will without means to another end. Herein stems Kant’s notion that the only good thing is a good will and that we should only treat others as the ends in the means itself and not as means to our own ends.
Edmund Burke – Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
Liberty, in ones actions, is not for Burke a matter of good or bad, but rather just freedom of thought. He writes a criticism of the French Revolution in that even though freedom should be given to all, it must be tempered by wisdom and virtue. A vague notion of liberty in government means that we are all free to do as we please, and though this may power a revolution, it is dangerous in practice. Liberty and freedom, when taken out of the reins of a state, mean nothing and is just an abstract idea.
John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism (1861)
How people should interact and treat each other for Mill is in accordance with the principle of utility. That is, a utilitarian acts so that it is the greatest good for the greatest number. Our actions are meant to give happiness not only to ourselves but also to others. This mostly applies to what one ought not to do, then what one ought to do. Mill also made the distinction of happiness between pleasures of the mental sort as a higher form than that of bodily pleasures. People lose the time and capacity for higher mental pleasures and easily give into bodily addictions, even if, as Mill states, it is better to be intelligently dissatisfied then foolishly satisfied.
Garret Hardin – The Tragedy of the Commons (1968)
Based on his example of the herdsman adding cattle, as rational beings we all want to maximize our gain by adding to our potential profit, but this has a negative side effect. If we are all using what is available to us, and want to profit from its use, then the resource can be diminished with none left for any. In the case of the herdsman, the cattle would overgraze by his choice to add more cattle, and all herds will be at a loss. In essence Hardin’s arguments stand as a criticism of Adam Smith’s theories in capitalism. In such a system, all members want to profit fully and when resources are concerned there is no regard for others involved, which lead to a depletion of what is naturally available.
Roger Scruton – Sexual Desire (1986)
Scruton applies Aristotle’s theories of ethics to the virtues of sex, or erotic love. Since there are sexual impulses and desires that should be hindered, the habit must be formed just as a parent trains their child to be virtuous. To partake in non-virtuous, wrongful sexual habits, one detaches the chance for erotic love from their body. To achieve sexual morality through virtue, the personal and the sexual must be united and for Scruton this is dependent on how one views and cares for their own body. This will enable one to receive true erotic love, based on a love of one’s self, because it can be given as well.
Thomas A. Mappes – Sexual Morality…(1992)
In the politics of engaging in a sexual act Mappes defines when, in a Kantian sense (See Kant’s Categorical Imperative Above), one is being used for another’s ends. It is morally acceptable to engage another in sex, as a pleasurable end, except when their decision is undermined by misinformation or coercion. This is what Mappes designates as voluntary, informed consent in the decision. To underline the complexity of the matter he gives the example of a child, who may voluntarily consent in their decision, yet it must be questioned if the child is fully informed. This is a form of deception or withholding information from a person’s decision. In Mappes’ further examples, “threats” are described as distinctly different from “offers”, but a threat may sometimes be posed as an offer.
Note – These summaries are based on a source reading of Daniel Bonevac’s Today’s Moral Issues: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (Mayfield 2002)
