Moral Theories I: Concepts, Principles, and Classical Foundations

Concepts

Morality

What is Morality?	Morality refers to systems of principles or rules that guide human behavior, particularly in matters of right and wrong, fairness, justice, and harm. However, defining it precisely isn't easy because morality can mean different things in different contexts: cultural, legal, philosophical, and emotional.
Why is defining morality difficult?	Different philosophical traditions and cultures offer competing definitions. Some focus on social norms, others on rational justification, others on universal truths. This creates tension between understanding what people believe is moral and what actually is moral.
Descriptive Morality	A sociological or anthropological approach. It describes whatever rules, values, or practices are accepted by a group or society. This includes customs, taboos, and shared moral intuitions, even if they differ dramatically across cultures.
Normative Morality	A philosophical approach: It is not just what people happen to believe (i.e., descriptive), but what they ought to believe. It refers to codes of conduct that are justified by reasoning, ethical theory, or principles regardless of social consensus.

Ethics

What is Ethics?	Ethics is the philosophical study of morality. It examines how we ought to act, what values we should hold, and how to justify our moral decisions. Ethics involves critical reasoning about moral claims. This includes not just what people believe, but whether those beliefs are justified.
What isn't Ethics?	Ethics is not the same as: - feelings, - religion, - following the law, - following culturally accepted norms, - science.
Ethics vs. Morality	While morality refers to shared norms, intuitions, or cultural beliefs, ethics is the process of analyzing, questioning, and reasoning about those norms. Ethics asks: Are these norms justified? What makes an action right or wrong?

Moral Theory

What are Moral Theories?	Moral theories aim to provide systematic answers to fundamental ethical questions: What makes actions right or wrong? What makes people good or bad? They help us evaluate actions, people, institutions, and principles using consistent criteria.
Purpose of Moral Theories	Provides a framework for ethical reasoning. It helps us judge whether specific actions are morally acceptable, what obligations we have, and which values or principles should guide our decisions.
Role in Ethical Disagreement	Moral theories help clarify the origins of disagreements. Often, people don’t just disagree about facts, they disagree about which moral principles matter most or how they should be balanced.
Why Moral Theories matter	Without a theory, moral debate can become inconsistent or purely emotional. Moral theories offer a justificatory structure showing us how to move from intuition to reasoned judgment.

Basic Principles

Often, there is a reference to the four basic principles of healthcare when evaluating the merits and difficulties of medical procedures:

Autonomy	Of thought, intention, and action when making decisions regarding procedures. Therefore, the decision process must be free of coercion or coaxing. Therefore, all risks and benefits, as well as the likelihood of success, must be understood.
Justice	Includes four main areas: Fair distribution of scarce resources, competing needs, rights and obligations, and potential conflicts with established legislation.
Beneficence	Intent of doing good for those involved. Demands that providers maintain skills and knowledge, continually update training, consider individual circumstances, and strive for net benefit.
Non-Maleficence	Do no harm!

Moral Theories

Moral Relativism

What is morally right or wrong depends on the prevailing view in the society or culture we happen to be dealing with.

Moral Objectivism

What is right or wrong doesn't depend on what anyone thinks is right or wrong. Moral facts exist like “physical facts” independent of what anyone thinks they are. They simply need to be discovered.

Consequentialism

Whether an action is right or wrong depends on the action's consequences. In any situation, the morally right thing to do is whatever will have the best consequences. Sometimes called teleological theories.
It isn't very informative without a combination with a theory about what the best consequences are.

Utilitarianism

Is a theory of best consequences.
Put forward by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and improved by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
Most influential variety of consequentialism.

Basis of Utilitarianism	Ask what has intrinsic value and assess the consequences of an action in terms of intrinsically valuable things
Instrumental and Intrinsic Value	Instrumental Value: A thing has only instrumental value if it is only valuable for what it may get you (e.g., money). Intrinsic Value: A thing has intrinsic value if you value it for itself (i.e., you would value it even if it brought you nothing else.
What has intrinsic value?	For utilitarians: Only happiness has intrinsic value!

The most ethical action is the one that produces the greatest overall happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people and minimizes pain or unhappiness for everyone affected by the choice. Outcomes are prioritized over intentions.

Virtue Ethics

Actions according to (traditional) virtues lead to happiness. Most widely discussed is Aristotle's account. He believed humans had a specific function - to lead a life of true flourishing as a human. This requires abiding by the rules of rationality and acting with the traditional virtues.

Deontology

'Duty Based' Ethics
Deny that what ultimately matters is an action's consequences.
What matters is the kind of action it is - Doing our duty.
Many kinds of deontological theory.
The 'Golden Rule' is one of them:
- Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is the most influential deontologist.

Rejecting consequentialism:

“A good will is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes.” Even if, by bad luck, a good person never accomplishes anything much, the good will would “like a jewel, still shine by its own light as something which has its full value in itself.”

The Categorical Imperative

First version	Act only according to that maxim [i.e., rule] whereby you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.
Second version	Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.\\ → Important to treat people as autonomous agents.
Third version	(Not important here, just for completeness) Every rational being must so act as if [they] were through his maxim always a lawmaking member in the universal kingdom of ends.

Influential in arguments for human rights.
Informed consent
Value the autonomy of individuals.

Problems

Deontology	What if doing your duty has repugnant consequences?
Consequentialism	What if you have to do something that seems wrong to produce the best consequences?

Center for Analysis and Design of Intelligent Agents

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