What do you believe ethics are?

@Caroline,

Caroline;96591 wrote:

To me ethics is a question of what is fundementally right or wrong, simple.
Cheers!

.....Not so simple... if the one you are teaching this to doesn't know what is meant by "right" or by "wrong".

You are chasing words around the dictionary, defining something in terms of other words that are equally obscure.

And how do you differentiate "fundamentally right" from mere "right"?

Thank you in advance for clearing this up.

Your good friend,
deepthot

@captpicard12,

What is wrong? Harming others, what is right? Helping others, does that answer your question my dear?

@Caroline,

Yes, it does, Caroline.

Thank you for clearing things up. I like your ethics. Now it becomes a matter of how we measure harming and how we measure helping.

We can use the criterion that the Supreme Court is said to use for 'obscenity': "we know it when we see it."

That may be adequate for most purposes....

Or is it?

@deepthot,

deepthot;96817 wrote:

Yes, it does, Caroline.

Thank you for clearing things up. I like your ethics. Now it becomes a matter of how we measure harming and how we measure helping.

We can use the criterion that the Supreme Court is said to use for 'obscenity': "we know it when we see it."

That may be adequate for most purposes....

Or is it?

Isn't measuring harming or helping a different question from whether some action is helping or harming? Is there any question but that we are harming someone when we torture him, or helping him when, if he is hungry, we give him food? There are, of course, inbetween cases when there might be disagreement, but aren't there clear cases too?

@kennethamy,

kennethamy;96818 wrote:

Isn't measuring harming or helping a different question from whether some action is helping or harming? Is there any question but that we are harming someone when we torture him, or helping him when, if he is hungry, we give him food? There are, of course, inbetween cases when there might be disagreement, but aren't there clear cases too?

Hi, Ken

Yes, measuring is different from whether some action is helping or harming.

And sure ...there are clear cases of each. Are you able to build a theory of Ethics on these clear cases? And would it have empirical import? That is, would your system, when it is applied to the real world, be able to give some tentative answers to various and sundry moral dilemmas, or better enable us to make moral choices? Give some illustrations beyond: Avoid torturing others!; and Go out of your way to feed the hungry!
Or should the second Moral Law read: "Feed someone who is hungry if you ever have the opportunity to do so" (?)

@captpicard12,

We don't have control over our food mountains, vote for someone who promises to feed the hungry and spreads it out and shares.

---------- Post added 10-13-2009 at 02:20 AM ----------

Have a system in place where the hungry can grow their food and the wealthy countries have supplies too aswell as the poorer nations.

---------- Post added 10-13-2009 at 03:30 AM ----------

Well if someone or something is being harmed then it is wrong, if nothing or no one is being harmed then leave it be.
Thanks.

---------- Post added 10-13-2009 at 03:33 AM ----------

jeeprs;84381 wrote:

I wonder why the fact that 'we can't be born with ethics' is important? Would somebody care to explain? We can't be born with language or culture either, yet we have the capacity to learn them. The fact that these things are not wholly innate does not seem to undermine their importance for our lives, does it?

Yes Jeeprs ethics is something we all learn on this journey called life, we are not born with these tools, we earn them through making choices of which path to go down, for instance, would you chose love or money? I answered that one at a very early age, in my twenties I think, or was it earlier, I forget.
Cheers!

Philosophy Forum

What do you believe ethics are?

Quick Links

My Account

able2know