CHAPTER TWO:

Approaches to Ethics
 Consequentialism Vs. Hedonism
• They are both consequentialist; ልዩነታቸዉ የሚያመጣዉ የዉጤት
አይነት ሲመረመር ነዉ፡፡
• Hedonism የሚመራበት መርህ pleasure principle ይባላል፡፡
• አንድ ሰዉ “Hedonist” ነዉ የሚባለዉ ግቡ አካላዊ እርካታ (pleasure)
ብቻ ሲሆን ነዉ፡፡
• እርካታ ከአካላዊ ፍላጎቶች መሞላት (ምግብ፣ መጠጥ፣ ወሲብ) ጋር
የተገናኘ ሲሆን (አርስቶትል ይህን ለእንስስሳሰት እንጂ ለሰዉ ልጅ የሚሆን
ግብ አይደለም በሚል ይተቻል፡፡) ደስታ /Happiness/ ግን ዘለቄታ ያለዉና
በራሱ የህይወት ግብ መሆን የሚችል ነዉ፡፡
• ስለዚህ consequentialist የሆነ ሁሉ Hedonist ነዉ ማለት አይደለም፡፡
consequentialist Hedonist የሚሆነዉ የሚፈልገዉ ዉጤት እርካታ
ሲሆን ብቻ ነዉ፡፡
 Cont’d
It means that they identify the highest good with pleasure,
and a morally good act is defined as the one which brings
the greatest amount of pleasure over pain.
There are two main forms of consequentialist ethics:
Ethical egoism (የድርጊቱ ዉጤት ከጉዳዩ ባለቤት አንፃር ብቻ
የሚያይ) and Utilitarianism (አንድ ድርጊት በብዙሃኑ ላይ
የሚያስከትለዉ ዉጤት የድርጊቱ ጥሩነት/መጥፎነት መለኪያ
ሊሆን ይገባል ይላል). የሁለቱም ዋና ግባቸዉ ደስታን ማግኘት ነዉ፡፡
 I. Egoism: Ethical and psychological Egoism
 Ethical egoism considers an action to be good if it brings
about the best possible outcome for me as an individual (or
in your case, for you as an individual).
 Ethical egoism holds that I should always do what will
promote my own greatest good: that an act or rule of action
is right if and only if it promotes the greatest balance of
good over evil for me compared with any alternative.
 Greatest good for all will be served only if we all pursue our
own self- interest.
 የአንድ ነገር ጥሩነትና መጥፎነት የሚለካዉ ከእኔ ደስታ አንፃር ነዉ
ብለዉ ያምናሉ፡፡
Some important things to notice about ethical egoism

 It does not just say that, from the moral point of view,
one’s own welfare counts as well as that of others. Rather,
it says that, from the moral point of view, only one’s own
welfare counts, and others’ does not, when one is making a
moral decision about how to act.
 Ethical egoism does not forbid one to help others, or
require one to harm others.
 Ethical egoism does not say that one ought always to do
what is most pleasurable, or enjoyable.
 Cont.d
 The main argument that has been used as a basis for
ethical egoism is a psychological one, an argument from
human nature.
 The psychological argument for ethical egoism is at least
reasonable, even if it is not logically compelling.
 Egoism የአንድ ድርጊት ጥሩረነትና መለኪያዉ የእኔን ደስታ
በመጨመር ና በመቀነስ ሂደት ላይ ባለዉ ትፅዕኖ ነዉ፡፡
 ይህ ማለት አንድን ድርጊት ጥሩ ወይም መጥፎ ብሎ የሚበይነዉ
ያ ድርጊት ለእኔ በሚሰጠኝ ደስታ ወይም በሚያመጣብኝ
ህመም/Pain/ ተመርኩዞ ነዉ፡፡ ማለትም እኔን የሚያስደስተኝ ነገር
ሁሉ “መልካም” ሲሆን እኔን የሚያስከፋፈኝ ነገር ሁሉ “መጥፎ”
ነዉ፡፡
 II. Altruism

 An action is right if the consequence of that action is favorable to all except the

actor. Some scholars argued that we have an inherent psychological capacity to

show benevolence to others. This view is called psychological altruism and

maintains that at least some of our actions are motivated by instinctive benevolence.

 Altruists are people who act so as to increase other people’s pleasure. They will act

for the sake of someone else even if it decreases their own pleasure and causes

themselves pain.

 Altruists argue that humans are instinctively benevolent. And instinctive

benevolence is the feature of our human nature which is the basis of our altruistic

moral obligations.
 III. Utilitarianism: Producing the best consequences

The term utilitarianism stems from the idea of utility, meaning social
utility or welfare or good of society.

The core standard of utilitarianism is the principle of “greatest

happiness for the greatest number of people”. An action is best if it
procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

Historically, social hedonism or social utilitarianism is identified with

the English philosophers Jermy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. These
two thinkers, however, represent two different forms of utilitarianism.

One emphasis on quantity of happiness whiles the other on quality of

happiness.
 Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism: Quantity over Quality

• According to Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) utility is the

sole principle that we ought to live and judge others by
and we must follow a moral system that invokes us to
maximize happiness and minimize pain for everyone in
society.
• If an action increases the greatest happiness of the
majority of the people, then that action is considered as
good or right
 Cont---

Jeremy Bentham “በደስታዎች መካከል የመጠን

(Quantity) እንጂ የዓይነት (Quality) ልዩነት የለም”
ይላል::
 “ፕሌቶን ማንበብና እግር ኳስ መጫዎት ከሚሰጡት
የደስታ ዓይነት አንፃር (Quality of happiness)
ምንም ልዩነት የላቸዉም”፤ በሚሰጡት የደስታ
መጠን (Quantity of happiness) ግን ልንሌለቸዉ
እንችላለል፡፡
 Cont’d
 There are two main features of utilitarianism, both of which
Bentham articulated:

 The consequentialist principle (or its teleological aspect): states

that the rightness or wrongness of an act is determined by the
goodness or badness of the results that flow from it. It is the end,
not the means that counts; the end justifies the means. and

 The utility principle /የአብዛኛዉ ህዝብ ተጠቃሚነት (or its hedonic

principles): states that the only thing that is good in itself is some
specific type of state (for example, pleasure, happiness, welfare).
 John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism: Quality over Quantity

• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) is also a greatly known

advocators of utilitarianism.
• For Bentham all pleasures are equal.
• Mill unlike Bentham differentiated between higher
pleasures and lower pleasures that human enjoyed and he
introduced quality and quantity in to the evaluation of
pleasures.
• በደስታዎች መካከል የመጠን (Quantity) ልዩነት ብቻ ሳይሆን
ያለዉ የዓይነት (Quality) ልዩነትም ጭምር ነዉ፡፡
 Cont---

• እንደ ምሳሌ የሚያስቀምጠዉ አንድ የታወቀ አባባል

አለዉ “ከጠገበ አሳማ ይልቅ የተራበ ሶቅራጠስ ይሻላል
የሚል”:: በዚሁ አባባሉ Mill በአካላዊ ደስታ(Physical
pleasure) እና በአእምሯዊ ደስታ(Mental pleasure)
መካከል የዓይነት (Quality) ልዩነት አለዉ፡፡ ስለዚህ ሁሉም
ደስታዎች እኩል አይደሉም በማለት ይከራከራል፡፡
 Cont’d
 The pleasure of a fool and a wise person are not the same
even if their quantitative amount is similar. Based on this
he made two types of pleasures.
 The lower, or elementary, include eating, drinking,
sexuality, resting, and sensuous titillation.
 The higher include scientific knowledge, intellectuality,
and creativity. Mental/intellectual pleasure for him is
higher pleasure and evaluating an act we have to consider
this distinction.
 Act- And Rule-Utilitarianism

 There are two classical types of utilitarianism: act- and rule-

utilitarianism.

 Act-utilitarianism argues that an act is right if and only if it

results in as much good as any available alternative- It is

Bentham’s theory.

 Rule-utilitarianism: An act is right if and only if it is required by

a rule that is itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance

would lead to greater utility for society than any available

alternative- It is Mill’s theory

 Deontological Ethics (Non- Consequentialist)
• The Deontologists does not consider the consequence of an act.
The principles or rules of Deontology may be once governing our
motives for an action or they may simply identify specific kinds of
actions that are permitted and/or forbidden, for example, Ten
Commandments.
• Deontologists focused on making sure that our actions are in
accord with certain principles, rules or commands –irrespective of
the possible benefits or harms they might bring as a consequence.
• Deontological theories stress the presence of universal ethical
principles that need to be followed irrespective of the outcome.
• The founder of classical deontological theories is Immanual Kant,
the 18th C. German philosopher from Prussia.
• He stress the importance of motives behind a conduct next to an
outcome.
 The Divine Command Theory
• Ethical principles are simply the commands of God. They derive their validity from

God’s commanding them, and they mean “commanded by God.” Without God, there

would be no universally valid morality. (አንድን ድርጊት መፈፀም ያለብን የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ

ስለሆነ ነዉ የሚል ነዉ፤ የምንታዘዘዉ የራሱ የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ/ትዕዛዝ ስለሆነ ነዉ፡፡)

• ከ Divine command Ethics መርህ አንፃር ስናየዉ አብበርሃም ልጁን ይስሐቅን መስዋት

ለማድረግ መሞከሩ ትክክለኛ ድርጊት ነዉ፡፡

• ሆኖም ግን እዚህ ጋ አንድ ችግር ይፈጥራል፡፡ ይህዉም ፡-

 የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ መሆኑን በምን እናዉቃለን?

 የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ በምን ይገለፃል?

 ለመታዘዝ ፈቃደኛ ልንሆን እንችላልን፤ ግን የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ የትኛዉ ነዉ?

 አብዛኛዎቹ የዚህ ህልዮት አቀንቃኞች ለእነዚህ ጥያቄዎች የሚሰጡት መልስ፤ የፈጣሪ ፈቃድ

የሚገለፀዉ፡-
 Cont---

 በመገለጥ (through Revelation) ነዉ፡፡ ይህ ማለት ራሱ ፈጣሪ ይገልፅልናል

 ከቅዱስ መፅሐፍቶች ማግኘት ይቻላል
 ቶማስ አኳይነስ የሚያነሳዉ የተፈጥሮ ህግን (Natural Law/Reason) ነዉ፡፡
አመክንዮ በራሱ የእ/ርን ፈቃድ ማሳየት ይችላል፡፡
 Divine command Ethics ላይ ዋና ተፅዕኖ ፈጣሪ የሆነዉ ሀሳብ ይህ የአኳይነስ Natural
Law መከራከሪያ ነዉ፡፡
1. Morality (that is, rightness and wrongness) originates with God.
2. Moral rightness simply means “willed by God,” and moral wrongness
means “being against the will of God.”
3. Because morality essentially is based on divine will, not on independently
existing reasons for action, no further reasons for action are necessary.
 Cont’d
We can express divine command theory by the following list of
four propositions:
1. Act A is wrong if and only if it is contrary to the command of
God.
2. Act A is right (required) if and only if it is commanded by God.
3. Act A is morally permissible if and only if it is permitted by the
command of God.
4. If there is no God, then nothing is ethically wrong, required, or
permitted.
 Rights Theory

• A second duty-based approach to ethics is rights theory.

• The most influential early account of rights theory is
that of 17th century British philosopher John Locke, who
argued that the laws of nature mandate that we should
not harm anyone's life, health, liberty or possessions.
• For Locke, these are our natural rights, given to us by
God.
 Cont’d
•There are four features traditionally associated with moral
rights/rights theory.

 First, rights are natural insofar as they are not invented or created
by governments.
 Second, they are universal insofar as they do not change from
country to country.
 Third, they are equal in the sense that rights are the same for all
people, irrespective of gender, race, or handicap.
 Fourth, they are inalienable which means that I cannot hand over
my rights to another person, such as by selling myself into slavery.
 Kant’s Categorical Imperative

•The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) identified the

moral theory known as deontology.

•Kant was adamantly opposed to the idea that the outcome of an action
could determine its moral worth.

•It is not consequences which determine the rightness or wrongness of

an act, but, rather, the intention of the person who carries out the act.

•The emphasis is on the correctness of the action, regardless of the

possible benefits or harm it might produce.
 Cont’d
•The Categorical Imperative: A Kant’s duty-based theory is emphasizes a single
principle of duty. Kant agreed that we have moral duties to oneself and others, such as
developing one’s talents, and keeping our promises to others.

•However, Kant argued that there is a more foundational principle of duty that
encompasses our particular duties. It is a single, self-evident principle of reason that
he calls the “categorical imperative.”

•A categorical imperative, he argued, is fundamentally different from hypothetical

imperatives that hinge on some personal desire that we have. For example, “If you
want to rich, then I should work hard.”

•By contrast, a categorical imperative simply mandates an action, irrespective of one’s

personal desires, such as “You ought to do X.”
 Cont---

• ካንት አንደኛዉን ትዕዛዝ “ሊተዉ የሚችል ትዕዛዝ” ወይም hypothetical imperative-

avoidable duties. Imperative ስንል ትዕዛዝ ነዉ፡፡

• hypothetical imperative በሁኔታዎች ላይ የተመሰረተ ሲሆን፤ ይህም ሁኔታ የሚገለፀዉ

“ይህ ከሆነ….እንዲህ ይሆናል”” (if-----,then -----) በሚል ዐ.ነገር ነዉ፡፡ ለምሳሌ ሀብታም

ለመሆን ከፈለኩ፣ ጠንክሬ መስራት አለብኝ-ይህ ትዕዛዝ ነዉ፡፡

• ካንት የሞራል ግዴታ “ሊተዉ የማይችል” (Categorical Imperative) ነዉ:: Categorical

Imperative “አድርግ/አታድርግ” የሚል ቆፍጠን ያለ ትዕዛዝ ነዉ፡፡ ከምንም ሁኔታ

(Condition)ጋር አይያያዝም፤ ራሱን የቻለ ትዕዛዝ ነዉ፡፡

• “ታዋቂ ሰዉ ለመሆን ከፈለክ ህግ አክብር” የሚል አይደለም፡፡ ይህ ህግ ምንም አይነት ቅድመ

ሁኔታ የለዉም “በቀጥታ ይህን አድር” ነዉ፡፡

 Cont’d
•Kant’s categorical imperative states that we should act in such a way
that the maxim or general rule governing our action could be a
universal law.
Examples: ☼ Always help those in need, just because it is your duty.
☼ Always respect your mother and father, just because it is your
duty.
Hypothetical imperatives: involves, when our action is depends on
certain ends or goals in mind i.e. if you want Y then you ought to do
X.
Example: - Always help those in need because then you will get to
heaven.
 Ross’s Prima Facie Duties or Moral Guidelines

•A fourth and more recent duty-based theory is that by British

philosopher Sir William David Ross (15 April 1877 – 5 May 1971),
which emphasizes prima facie duties.

•Ross’s interest in prima facie is to solve one of the problems that

Kant left unsolved.

•We have various duties that oftentimes come into conflict with each
other for instance; choosing either to speak a truth (it is always
wrong to lie) or to keep one’s promise.

•But, Kant’s deontology has no help when a person is in dilemma of

choosing.
 Cont’d
• For Ross, as in the case of Kant, moral rules without exception
should be obeyed, but when they are in conflict, we should
decide that the moral rules(moral duties of first blush) has to be
obeyed.

•According to Ross, there are moral rules that we should perform

in every situation, except that these rules themselves are in
conflict.

•These duties are called Prima facie duties. Ross identified the
following principles as a prima facie duties that every moral
action should obey always:
 Ross identified the following principles
 Duties of Fidelity: the duty to keep promises and the obligation

not to lie. Duties of fidelity are duties to keep one’s promises

and contracts and not to engage in deception.

 Duties of Reparation: This is a duty to make up for the injuries

one has done to others. Ross describes this duty as "resting on a

previous wrongful act". It is the duty to compensate others when

we harm them. If, for example, I damage something that belongs

to someone else, I have an obligation to make restitution.

 Cont---

• Duties of Gratitude: the duty to thank those who help us. Suppose,
for example, an especially good friend is suddenly in need of
assistance, I am duty bound to do all I can help this individual, who
in the past had acted so selflessly toward me.

• Duties of Justice: The duty of justice requires that one act in such
away that one distributes benefits and burdens fairly.

• Duties of Self-improvement: The duty of self-improvement is to act

so as to promote one’s own good, i.e., one’s own health, security,
wisdom, moral goodness, virtue, intelligence and happiness.
 Cont’d
 Duties of Beneficence: the duty to improve the conditions of
others. The duty to do good to others: to foster their health, security,
wisdom, moral goodness, or happiness. This duty rests upon the
fact that there are other beings in the world whose condition we can
make better in respect of virtue, or of intelligence, or of pleasure.
 Duties of Non-maleficence: The duty of non-injury (also known as
non-maleficence) is the duty not to harm others physically or
psychologically: to avoid harming their health, security,
intelligence, character, or happiness. We are obliged to avoid
hurting others physically, emotionally and psychologically.
 II. Applied Ethics
 It deals about the controversial moral issues or problems.

Applied ethics is the art – or science – of reflecting on moral dilemmas and moral
problems in different social contexts.
It is used to indicate the application of ethics to special arenas of human activity
and to particular problems.
It deals with difficult moral questions and controversial moral issues that people
actually face in their lives.
 Applied ethics therefore deal with complex ethical problems of universal nature.

(በዋናነት የሚያጠናዉ ከላይ ያነሳናቸዉን ንድፈ ሃሳቦችን እንዴት ተግባራዊ እና ደርጋቸዋለን

የሚለዉን ጥያቄ ነዉ፡፡ በህይወታችን ዉስጥ የሚገጥመንን የሞራል እንቆቅልሾች እንዴት
እንፈታቸዋልን? የሚሉትን ጥያቄዎች የሚመልስ ነዉ፡፡)
 Cont---
 Practical problems of a moral kind arise in nearly all of the domains of human
life.

 Should a society prohibit divorce?

 Should abortion be legalized?

 Should physicians be given the right to decide when a critically ill patient
should no longer receive life support systems?

 The fact is that society has often been split, with some persons vigorously
supporting positive answers to the above questions, and with some supporting

negative answers.
 Cont--
 Let us look at one example of applied ethics, the one concerning
abortion of the unwanted fetuses, in order to have a better
understanding of the concept.
 Those who favor keeping the right to have an abortion legal
emphasize that the woman carrying the fetus has the right to choose
what to do with her own baby, and that is a private, personal
decision in which the state have no interest.
 Opposed to this is the view that the fetus has the right to live, and
the state should have the duty to protect the fetus.
 Case Study
 Ato Cheru is ordinarily a law-abiding man. One day, his wife becomes

seriously ill. Cheru takes her to the doctor, who prescribes a medication for

her. Her health improves quite well on this medication. However, Cheru runs

out of money quickly paying for this expensive medication. After a few months,

he can no longer purchase the medication and has nobody who can help him.

As a result, the health situation of his wife begins to get worse. One day, he is

in the pharmacy and notices that no one is behind the counter. The medication

is in plain view. Should he steal the medication to help his sick wife?

 what is your decision? What is your moral judgment?

 Non-Normative Ethics
• Non normative ethics consists of either a factual
investigation of moral behavior or analysis of the
meaning of the terms used in moral discourse and
an examination of the moral reasoning by which
moral beliefs can be shown to be true or false.
• Non-normative ethics consists of two fields. These
are Scientific or descriptive study and Meta ethics.
 Scientific or Descriptive Study


The Scientific or descriptive study of morality involves factual

investigation of moral behavior.


It is concerned with how people do in fact behave.

This approach is used widely in the social sciences

What is Meta-ethics?
•In meta-ethics, we are concerned not with questions which are the
province of normative ethics like 'Should I give to famine relief?' or
'Should I return the wallet I found in the street?' but with questions about
questions like these.
•Meta-ethics tries to answer question, such as:
 Cont’d
• What does “good,” “right,” or “justice” mean?
• What makes something good or right?
• Is moral realism true?
• Is morality irreducible, cognitive, or overriding?
• Do intrinsic values exist?
 Generally, Meta-ethics

• Examines the meaning of moral terms and concepts

and the relationships between these concepts.
• Explores where moral values, such as ‘personhood’
and ‘autonomy’, come from.
• Considers the difference between moral values and
other kinds of values.
• Examines the way in which moral claims are
justified.
Meta-ethics also poses questions of the following kind
 What do we mean by the claim, ‘life is sacred’?
 Are moral claims a matter of personal view, religious
belief or social standard, or, are they objective in
some sense?
 If they are objective, what make them so?
 Is there a link between human psychology and the
moral claims that humans make?
 Virtue Ethics

•“Virtue ethics” is a technical term in contemporary Western analytical

moral philosophy, used to distinguish a normative ethical theory focused on the
virtues, or moral character, from others such as deontology (or contractarianism)
and consequentialism.

•Imagine a case in which it is agreed by every sort of theorist that I should, say, help
someone in need.

•A deontologist will emphasize the fact that in offering help, I will be acting in
accordance with a moral rule or principle such as “Do unto others as you would be
done by”; a consequentialist will point out that the consequences of helping will
maximize well-being; and a virtue ethicist will emphasize the fact that providing
help would be charitable or benevolent – charity and benevolence being virtues.
 Cont---
• ለምሳሌ፡- የጓደኛዩ ሚስት ከሌላ ወንድ ጋር እንደምትማግጥ የሚያረጋግጥ መረጃ
ቢኖረኝ በአእምሮየ የሚመጣዉ የስነ ምገግባር ጥያቄ ይህንን ነገር ለጓደኛየ
ልንገረዉ ወይስ አልንገረዉ? በዚህ ዉስጥ ትክክለኛዉ ድርጊት ምንድን ነዉ፤
የሚለዉ ነዉ? ያየሁትን ለጓደኛየ ብነግረዉ ነዉ የሚሻለዉ ወይስ ጉዳዩን አይቼ
እንዳላየ ባልፈዉ ነዉ የሚሻለዉ? ይህነን የሞራግ ግርታ (Moral dilemma)
ለመፍታት ምን ማድደረግ አለብን?

• Virtue ethics የሚጠይቀዉ ምን ዓይነት ድርጊት ላድረግ ወይም ምን አይነት

እርምጃ ልዉሰድ ሳይሆን ምን አይነት ሰዉ መሆን አለብኝ? What kind of
person should I be? የሚለዉን ነዉ፡፡

• ከድርጊት ይልቅ ስብዕና ወይም ባህሪ ላይ የሚያተኩር እሳቤ ነዉ፡፡

 Aristotelian Ethics

•The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, (384-322 B.C.)

first wrote a detailed discussion of virtue morality in the
Nichomachean Ethics.

• ‘Virtue’ he understood as strength.

•Correspondingly, specific virtues are seen as strengths of

character.

•But, many years after Aristotle’s death, virtue theory came to

be over-shadowed by the development of utilitarianism and
deontology.
 Cont’d
•According to Aristotelian Ethics, Virtue (arête)
or excellence is defined as a mean between two
extremes of excess and defect.

•The mean is relative to the individual and

circumstances.

For example, consider the following traits:

Aristotelian Virtues And Vices Vice Of Deficiency Mean Or Virtue Vice Of Excess
Sphere Of Action

Fear Cowardice courage foolhardiness

Pleasure and Pain Insensibility temperance self-indulgence

Acquisition (minor) tight wad liberality spendthrift or

prodigality
Acquisition (major) undue humility pride or proper undue vanity
ambition
Anger unirascibility patience or good hotheadedness
temper
Self-Expression Self-deprecating truthfulness boastfulness

Conversation boorishness wittiness buffoonery

Social Conduct cantankerous friendliness obsequiousness

Exhibition shamelessness modesty shyness

Indignation spitefulness righteous indignation envy

 The End
Thank You!!!