Ethical Systems

There are eight major ethical systems described in the text and one more worthy of some attention. They are very briefly described here. Neither this presentation nor Quinn's treatment does justice to these ideas.

Names, ideas, and other material that is not mentioned in the Quinn text is shown in gray in this presentation.

• Subjective Relativism
• Cultural Relativism
• Divine Command
• Ethical Egoism
• Kantianism
• Act Utilitarianism
• Rule Utilitarianism
• Social Contract
• Situation Ethics

Subjective Relativism

What's right for you may not be right for me. It's all relative to the individual.

Proponents

• ?

Comments

• Recognizes that individuals are unique. But it makes rational discussion of morality between individuals impossible.
• Rejected by Quinn as a foundation for ethics.

Cultural Relativism

What's right for your culture or society may not be right for mine. It's all relative to the culture or society.

Proponents

• William Graham Sumner

Comments

• Recognizes that cultures are unique. But it makes rational discussion of morality between cultures impossible.
• Rejected by Quinn as a foundation for ethics.

Divine Command

As described in the text, divine command theory holds that acts are judged to be good entirely based on whether or not they are in accordance with the will of God. That is an act is right if and because God says it is right.

This is in contrast to the view that there is an objective concept of right and wrong that God knows. God commands it because it is right.

Proponents

• ?

Comments

• Reduces rational discussion of morality to deciding "Which God?"..
• Rejected by Quinn as a foundation for ethics.

Ethical Egoism

Self-interest should be the basis of all values and morals.

Proponents

• Ayn Rand
• Aristotle

Comments

• Rejected by Quinn as a foundation for ethics.

Kantianism

Kant's ethics is based on two forms of the categorical imperative:

• Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws.
• Act so that you always treat both yourself and others as ends in themselves, and never only as a means to an end.

Proponents

• Immanuel Kant

Comments

• Two possible conclusions could be drawn about an act that you would not will to be a universal moral law:
  • The act is wrong.
  • The act is not in the moral domain.
• Perhaps a better formulation of the second imperative is: When enlisting others for your own ends, treat them with honesty and do not use coercion.

Act Utilitarianism

Acts are to be judged according to their net utility.

Proponents

• Jeremy Bentham
• John Stuart Mill

Comments

• Judges acts by their effects rather than the state of mind of the actor.
• Judgments depend on how far you look into the future.
• Quantification is not a necessary part of utilitarianism.

Rule Utilitarianism

Moral rules are to be judged according to their net utility.

Proponents

• John Stuart Mill (?)

Comments

• Judging moral rues rather than action makes this form of utilitarianism a better foundation for ethics.
• Weighing the consequences is still a problem.

Social Contract

We accept rules that govern how we treat others, accepting the rules rationally for our mutual benefit. The rules are often summarized in terms of rights: respects the rights of others.

Proponents

• Thomas Hobbes
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• John Locke
• John Rawls

Comments

• There are some issues regarding what "contract" means.
• The notion of rights is an important one.
  • It can be used to delineate what is in the moral domain.
  • It can also be used to delineate the limits of government.
  The meaning of the concept is not necessarily the same for these two uses.