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Contemporary Moral Issues
8/25/17
- What are moral issues?
- Can be justified as right or wrong
- Death penalty
- Why is it a moral issue??
- Killing is an extreme version of personal freedom
- Life = sacred
- Value of life changes
- Cultural differences
- Appeals to universal law
- Society must be organized
- Instinct (want/need to nurture)/science
- Moral Theories
- Rights: 3 categories of moral actions
- 3 categories:
- Morally obligated
- Morally optional
- Morally wrong (morally evil, absolute wrong)
- Rights → actions, doing things, the morality of our actions
- “All right” = not wrong
- Just bc it’s not the wrong thing to do, doesn’t mean it’s the best course of action
- Duty & obligations
- Duty = highest form of action
- Commitments
- Just bc you ought to do it, doesn’t mean you do it
- Ought to do it: social not legal obligation
- The good/bad: evaluations of the good
- 3 value categories:
- Intrinsically good
- Intrinsically bad (evil)
- Intrinsically neutral
- Asses the “value” of something (worth, contribute to society, betterment of
oneself)
- Intrinsic value: innate, value depends on things that are within themselves
already (e.g., love, happiness, life, knowledge, social connections)
- Extrinsic value: evolutionary purpose
- 2 aims of moral theories
- Theory = attempt to obtain a proper method at answering a question
- 2 aims:
- Theoretical aims: general feature, abstract notions that you try to make more
concrete through the theory
- Practical aims: guide choices in real life

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Textbook: Aristotle “Virtue and Character”, St. Thomas Aquinas “Treatise on Law” (pages 58-67, 43-47)
Aristotle:
Characteristics of the good
- Good = the end of action
- Good changes in each situation
- it is the end result of an action or decision
- Why would you do the action if not to get good out of it at the end
- Can be multiple good endings that are being pursued
- Good = complete
- The best good is something that is complete
Criteria for completeness
- Better to pursue something with intentions of finding the end of it opposed to diff intentions
- Happiness is able to be complete → not all goods can be complete
- Happiness is “unconditionally complete”
- Good and happiness are self sufficient
- Self sufficient doesn’t mean it happens from just one person → happiness and good
happen from a person and all of the people in their life as well
- Happiness makes life choiceworthy and not lacking anything
- Good and happiness are choiceworthy
- Happiness is the most bc it stands alone compared to good where there can be many
goods
- The larger of two goods is more choiceworthy
- A human soul expressing virtue is a clear good
- But the best good is still happiness
- The good of something depends on its function
- The unique human function is not just life but is the life of nutrition and growth
- Action with reason
- Human’s special function is the soul’s activity that expresses or requires reason
- Human good = virtuous activity
- An excellent man’s job is to do the human function well
- Humans good = humans function
- The good must be complete
Virtues of character in general
- How is virtue of character acquired?
- Virtue of thought: grows from teaching, needs experience & time
- virtue of character: ethos, comes from habit
- Virtue happens from habituation (not by nature)
- None of our virtues of character come naturally
- Natural things can’t be changed by habituation
- Natural capacities don’t come from habituation
- If something comes from nature: we are first capable of it and later we do the activity
- Legislatures are habitual
- Makes citizens good by habituating them
- Virtue and vice come from good & bad actions

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Contemporary Moral Issues 8/25/17 - What are moral issues? - Can be justified as right or wrong - Death penalty - Why is it a moral issue?? - Killing is an extreme version of personal freedom - Life = sacred - Value of life changes - Cultural differences - Appeals to universal law - Society must be organized - Instinct (want/need to nurture)/science - Moral Theories - Rights: 3 categories of moral actions - 3 categories: - Morally obligated - Morally optional - Morally wrong (morally evil, absolute wrong) - Rights → actions, doing things, the morality of our actions - “All right” = not wrong - Just bc it’s not the wrong thing to do, doesn’t mean it’s the best course of action - Duty & obligations - Duty = highest form of action - Commitments - Just bc you ought to do it, doesn’t mean you do it - Ought to do it: social not legal obligation - The good/bad: evaluations of the good - 3 value categories: - Intrinsically good - Intrinsically bad (evil) - Intrinsically neutral - Asses the “value” of something (worth, contribute to society, betterment of oneself) - Intrinsic value: innate, value depends on things that are within themselves already (e.g., love, happiness, life, knowledge, social connections) - Extrinsic value: evolutionary purpose - 2 aims of moral theories - Theory = attempt to obtain a proper method at answering a question - 2 aims: - Theoretical aims: general feature, abstract notions that you try to make more concrete through the theory - Practic ...
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