Expert answer:Theory and Opinion

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The purpose of this discussion is to help you understand and apply ethical perspectives. Prepare
and post a response to the following prompt:
Define and contrast the three ethical perspectives. How do the perspectives differ from the
ethical theories? What does each ethical perspective tell us about morality and virtue?
Think of an issue that has occurred in your community during the past year. This may be a public
issue that has generated interest in the press, or it may be something that has come up in your
child’s school, in your church, in a social club you belong to, or in your neighborhood. Describe
the issue, and then analyze the issue from the viewpoint of one of the ethical perspectives. Apply
the perspective to the issue in the same way that the author applies the theories and perspectives
to the issues in the text.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from
the required reading material, and properly cite the reference.
1
Don Klumpp/The Image Bank/Getty Images
Introduction to Ethics and Social
Responsibility
Learning Objectives
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain why it is important to study ethics and engage in ethical debates.
• Describe the roles of argument and emotion in ethics.
• Describe the function of logic in an argument and characterize an effective ethi­
cal argument.
• Explain how ethical theory can be applied to moral questions.
• Discuss how individual decisions can have consequences in the broader society.
• Identify the three dominant ethical theories in Western philosophy: utilitarian­
ism, deontology, and virtue ethics.
• Identify the influential ethical theories that have been proposed as alternatives
to classical theories.
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Section 1.1 Why Study Ethics?
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
P
eople have worried about ethical questions—most simply stated, what is right and
wrong—since the earliest of days. From the most basic, everyday concerns to the
most important challenges a society can face, we confront these basic ethical questions all the time. In the following pages, we will look at many such moral problems, as
well as some of the ethical theories philosophers have offered to solve them.
The study of ethics can be frustrating at times, largely because the problems dealt with
rarely lead to a result that satisfies everyone. Hence, the arguments continue, new points
are raised, old views are discarded, and we seem to go nowhere. But some of this frustration can be alleviated when we realize that as long as people debate questions of right and
wrong, these disagreements will persist. At the same time, however, we will discover that
our understanding of those disagreements can be deepened and our abilities to reason
about them improved. We may not solve all the ethical problems we confront, but we can
make progress by solving some of them, and making clearer what is at stake in the problems themselves.
1.1 Why Study Ethics?
Y
ou are standing in line at the movies, and someone cuts in front of you. Your child
is sent home from school because what is written on her t-shirt is considered “inappropriate.” You discover that your best friend is cheating on his wife. You are forced
to pay taxes to support behavior you think is wrong. Your commanding officer punishes
you for something you didn’t do. Your boss promotes a co-worker who took credit for
work that was, in fact, done by you. You have a little extra money and, on your way to
play the lottery, pass a homeless woman with her child.
These situations illustrate some of the ethical situations we may confront that would
force us to consider what we should do, and whether our response is good or bad, right
or wrong, moral or immoral. The study of those problems constitutes the discipline of
philosophy known as ethics. The study of ethics is ancient and can be found across all
cultures and in all times that humans have lived in social groups. That people consider
what is right and wrong, and what they ought to do, is fundamental to living in communities. Thus, another way of thinking about ethics is that it is the study of “oughts” and
“shoulds”—what ought I do, what should others do, what ought society do. Even though
our focus in this text will be on the subject of ethics itself, we will also explore the long
history of ethics and some of its important relationships with religious traditions and legal
and political doctrines before we reach the conclusion of our readings. Recognizing how
our philosophical concepts—particularly ethical concepts—inform and clarify our understanding of religion, the law, and politics is important.
At the same time, we all have what philosophers call moral intuitions. Intuitions, in the
philosophical sense, are views that we hold, and share with others, without any specific
argument or reasoning involved. They tend to be immediate and spontaneous. Perhaps
you see an animal being treated with great cruelty, and you immediately and spontaneously object to that treatment. This reflects your intuition that such cruelty is wrong; you
don’t hesitate to consider the evidence and arguments involved—you simply react. Such
intuitions are often correct, and the study of ethics can help support them by providing
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Section 1.1 Why Study Ethics?
CHAPTER 1
deeper reflection on the issues involved and developing sophisticated arguments that
support these intuitions. It is also possible that such intuitions may be wrong, or at least
may be considered by many others to be wrong. A person’s intuitions may tell him any
number of things: that stealing is sometimes okay, that violence can sometimes solve
problems, that women or people of other races or religions are inferior. Many of us may
object to these intuitions. The study of ethics puts us in a stronger position to be able not
just to say that we disapprove, but also to explain why we disapprove and why such intu­
itions may both be wrong and lead to other immoral results. As we shall see, some phi­
losophers are content to say these intuitions are the end of the story: We either approve or
disapprove of something. Many others, however, insist that we should be able to give
some kind of reason for our beliefs and support those beliefs if at all possible with
arguments.
Most ethical debates revolve around
questions where the correct answer
isn’t always obvious. If it were obvi­
ous, of course, there wouldn’t be
much room for debate. This can be
frustrating, for ethical arguments
seem never to end, and rarely is a
serious moral problem solved in a
way that everyone accepts. At the
same time, we shouldn’t be terribly
surprised that this happens in eth­
ics, for at least two reasons. Ethical
questions are often the most impor­
tant, but most difficult, problems
we ever deal with because ethics is
Gary Huner/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images
a grey area. It would be easier if the When we judge an action as right or wrong, the view we
answers were black and white, like have comes from our moral intuitions.
those in math. If we had an “ethical
calculator,” we could enter a couple
of numbers into it, press the “multiply” button, and be guaranteed of the answer. But
ethics doesn’t work this way: First, there is rarely an agreed-upon set of rules to follow
(presumably, most of us, in contrast, agree on the basic rules of multiplication). Second,
we may not even agree on how to describe the moral question itself. If two people are
debating the morality of physician-assisted suicide, and one person insists on the exis­
tence of an eternal human soul while the other denies its existence, they almost certainly
will disagree over how to describe the problem itself.
As we will see, however, ethics can lead to solutions that seem to indicate actual “prog­
ress.” As we proceed, we will also look at some historical debates that are based on cer­
tain assumptions about people—assumptions that have changed and led to corresponding
changes in our moral understanding of human beings and in our laws. This is a reminder
that much can be gained by looking more closely at moral challenges, examining the argu­
ments that arise relative to these challenges, and considering what assumptions are made in
constructing these arguments. Studying ethics allows us to do this more carefully and with
more sophistication. Although studying ethics will not solve all our problems, it does offer
a great deal in terms of understanding those problems and determining what is involved in
the solutions to those problems that have been offered. That is why we study ethics!
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Section 1.2 Argument and Emotion in Ethics
CHAPTER 1
Be the Ethicist
Leftover Embryos
In her article “What Is the Fate of Leftover Frozen Embryos?” Laura Beil notes,
Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of embryos have accumulated
in fertility clinics throughout the country, some awaiting transfer but many
literally frozen in time as parents ask themselves questions few among us ever
consider with such immediacy: When does life begin? What does “life” mean,
anyway? In a recent survey of 58 couples, researchers from the University of
California in San Francisco found that 72 percent were undecided about the
fate of their stored embryos. In another study last year of more than 1,000
fertility patients from nine clinics, 20 percent of couples who wanted no more
children said they planned or expected to keep their embryos frozen indefinitely. (http://www.today.com/id/32489239/ns/today-parenting_and_family/t
/what-fate-leftover-frozen-embryos/)
This can be a very difficult issue that challenges our moral intuitions about the beginning of life,
about in vitro fertilization, and about what our responsibilities are, if any, to frozen embryos that
are not implanted. (As the article notes, there can also be substantial costs involved.)
As a way of introducing the kinds of questions that the study of ethics looks at, read the article that
is linked above, and try to answer the following questions:
1. Is the embryo a human being?
2. Should such embryos be kept frozen for as long as possible?
3. If it costs $40/month to keep the frozen embryos, an embryo that is maintained for 10 years
would cost almost $5,000. Who is responsible for that cost?
4. Should the cost be considered a factor in making this decision? If so, how big of a factor
should it be in the decision?
5. What other things might be done with these embryos?
1.2 Argument and Emotion in Ethics
P
eople often disagree and express that disagreement through arguments. Two peo­
ple may disagree about which is better: football or baseball. They may see a movie
together and not agree about whether it was a good movie. They can debate the
merits of two presidential candidates or to which restaurant they should go. A parent
and a teenager may have a serious disagreement about what an appropriate curfew is.
All these disputes can, and often do, lead to arguments, with each participant trying to
establish his or her claim on the basis of evidence, reasons, and logic. Sometimes ethical
arguments can become very heated, and some arguments have been known to lead to
violence. Presumably, an argument that is settled violently is one where evidence, reasons,
and logic don’t play much of a role. Other arguments are settled by one person simply
saying, “This is what is going to happen.” Thus, a parent who may (legitimately) say,
“This is when you will be home!” isn’t providing so much of an argument as imposing his
or her will on the situation.
Philosophers use the word argument in a somewhat different way, a way that empha­
sizes the idea that arguments put forth reasons to accept a conclusion. A philosopher or
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Section 1.2 Argument and Emotion in Ethics
CHAPTER 1
mathematician would call this the argument for the transitive property in arithmetic, even
though there is probably little passion or a threat of violence involved here:
10 , 20
5 , 10
THEREFORE
5 , 20.
For philosophers, the term “argument” doesn’t imply the idea it often does when we use
the term to suggest anger, emotion, and hurt feelings. Rather, in this context, arguments
simply present a conclusion and suggest why certain reasons indicate that conclusion is
true or probable.
At the same time, arguments about ethical questions tend to generate quite a bit more pas­
sion, and it can be difficult to keep emotion out of the discussion. Whether it be abortion,
taxes, gun control, gay rights, race, spanking children, or a whole host of other issues,
we have a bit more at stake personally than we may have, for instance, in the transitive
property in arithmetic. These are issues that we seem to care about a great deal, and it is
difficult to keep our emotions out of the debate. Indeed, it isn’t clear whether we should
keep all emotion out of it; we may be motivated to construct better arguments, weigh the
evidence more carefully, and examine the logic more meticulously if we care a great deal
about the issue over which we are arguing.
In arguing about ethical issues, most of which are very controversial and involve some of
our most deeply held beliefs, it is important to try to make sure the arguments focus on
the evidence, the reasons, the logic, and the argument. This doesn’t eliminate the emo­
tional element, if such a thing is possible; rather, it is to try to focus on the arguments
themselves, and not to let the conclusions be driven by emotion. Unlike parents with
children, we can’t “settle” arguments by dictating the conclusion. Nor, of course, is it
legitimate to establish a conclusion on the basis of violence or even an implied threat of
violence. Rather, we have to stick to the arguments themselves and see if we can support
our conclusions on the basis of good evidence and solid reasoning. As some philosophers
have insisted, it is only by submitting our most cherished beliefs to such critical scrutiny
that we determine which of our beliefs can really sustain this kind of examination.
In evaluating arguments, we’ve mentioned evidence and reason as crucial elements of
that evaluation. One of the most useful tools philosophers have to examine arguments is
logic, the discipline that investigates the rules of reasoning. It is to logic that we now turn,
if only briefly, so that we can have some of its apparatus at our disposal.
Opinions, Belief, and Knowledge
Consider the following sentences. Are these beliefs, opinions, or knowledge claims, or
would you use some other terms to describe them?
1. The book is on the table.
2. I have an immortal soul.
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Section 1.2 Argument and Emotion in Ethics
CHAPTER 1
3. Chicago is a better town than Atlanta.
4. Seven is greater than five.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
As we have just seen, philosophers use the term “argument” to refer to a set of claims
(the premises) that support another claim (the conclusion). But, as we know, “argument”
is used in a different way in ordinary life and can, sometimes, be unpleasant; if we argue
with another person, we may upset that person, we may get angry, or both people in the
argument may have their feelings hurt. It often seems easier just to say, “Let’s agree to dis­
agree,” or “Everyone has a right to his or her opinion.” In that way, we may have a better
chance of not making someone angry.
Although some in ethics think this is reasonable resolution, others aren’t so sure. After all,
do we really want to say that about all of a person’s claims? Let’s consider a few examples
that are not ethical in nature, but that are easily relatable. Imagine you are accused of
being late on paying your income taxes. You say you have paid them, and your accoun­
tant (or the Internal Revenue Service) says that you have not. Can we really resolve this by
saying each of the people involved has a right to his or her opinion, and that that settles
the issue? If a mother heard her son say, “Two plus two equals nine,” would she say that
he is entitled to his opinion, or would she correct him? So, to make the point, we probably
hesitate to say that anyone is justified in saying anything.
It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a claim someone makes is simply an
opinion, or is something that has more support, such as a justified belief or a knowledge
claim. To summarize these points, one could merely assert something as an opinion and
not be surprised if someone else rejected it. If that opinion is held more strongly, it may
qualify as a belief; if it is held more strongly on the basis of reasons, arguments, and evi­
dence, it may qualify as a justified belief; if that justified belief is true, it may qualify as
knowledge. Philosophers, as noted, disagree about some of these terms and how they are
used; since 1963, they have focused a great deal of attention on whether a justified true
belief is sufficient to be called knowledge.
When we turn to the sentences above, we start to see the kinds of distinctions one might
want to start making between opinions and, for lack of a better term, claims. For the
purposes of this discussion, we can use opinion to refer to anything someone believes,
regardless of any evidence, argument, or justification for that belief. One person might
believe chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla; another might believe that vanilla ice
cream is better than chocolate. Without any further information, we are probably satisfied
to see this kind of belief as an opinion and generally not something one could be right or
wrong about. Hence, we probably would be reluctant to get into a serious argument about
who was right in this case.
In contrast to an opinion, we can refer to beliefs that have some degree of specific evi­
dence or reasoning that can be appealed to in order to back up the belief. “This watch is
more expensive than that watch” would be a claim in this case; we can compare the prices,
and see that if the first watch costs more, the claim is true (and if it is not, then the claim
is false).
In general, then, we want to make sure we determine whether a given belief is merely
an opinion, or if more is at stake. Is the person putting forth the belief simply asserting
an opinion? Is the belief something for which one can provide support? It is not always
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CHAPTER 1
Section 1.2 Argument and Emotion in Ethics
obvious whether something a person believes is based on an opinion, or is being put
forth as a claim for which there is, at least implicitly, some kind of support. In ethics, and
elsewhere, we generally want to focus on claims that we can give reasons for; that is, we
want to be able to justify our beliefs with arguments. This does not mean that opinions are
without value; it means, rather, that opinions alone cannot provide the kind of claims that
we can fruitfully argue about. Consequently, when stating your beliefs, you will want to
make sure that they are the kinds of things you can back up, if asked to. And if they are
beliefs that cannot be backed up with an argument or with evidence, you should be pre­
pared to say why (see Figure 1.1 for one model of how to construct an effective argument).
One good test for this is to consider your claim from the perspective of someone who does
not share your beliefs: Would that person regard you as putting forth an opinion, or a
claim that you should be expected to support? If you are unwilling to offer such support,
should your claims be accepted, or is it as good (or as bad) as any other opinion that has
nothing to support it? It might be worth making a list of some of the things you might
think are true, or think …
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