Ethics

Ethics

Introduction

Ethics may be defined as the knowledge of moral values and duties or as the study of the ideal human character, actions, and ends. The term may also refer to a treatise on morals. Every religious tradition advocates high standards of human behavior, and in that sense, all religious communities have a moral component. The concept of “ethics,” however, emerges from the Western philosophic tradition. For this reason, this entry will first consider the development of this idea in Western philosophy and then explore the parallel forms of moral reasoning in the diverse religious traditions.

Discussion

Views on Ethics and Morals

The first of Kant's principles of morality may be called the universal law or maxim. Kant claims that the basic principle of morality should be that individuals should act in such a way that they could want their maxim (motivation for acting) to be universal. This led Kant to describe such a universal maxim as a "categorical imperative." This simply means that all individuals should act in such a way that they would wish all others to follow the same guiding principle. Hume argues that morality is based on how we feel.

So Mill asks how we should feel. He makes it as general as possible and says we want to feel happy. Therefore he concludes that we should act or make rules that give happiness to many people as achievable. He illustrates this notion in the Greatest Happiness Principle when he put in writing“…actions are right proportionate as they likely to endorse happiness, wrong as they intended to bring the overturn of happiness.”(Mill 5) Mill essentially picks up where Hume left off.

There are multiple instances where Hume toys with the central idea of Mill's argument but doesn't go into much depth. For example, Hume writes:“Taste, as it gives happiness or pain (and in that way comprise happiness or unhappiness) becomes a reason to action, and is the first jump or desire to wish and choice.” (Hume 113) Mill takes this idea in the conclusion of Hume's piece and expands on it.

There is even one point where Hume is considering the implications of utility in justice and he essentially states Mill's argument: “This feeling can be no other than a reaction for the happiness of mankind, and a anger of their unhappiness, since these are the different ends which virtue and vice have a propensity to promote.” (Hume 110) This is all that Hume says on the matter of utility but he would probably agree with most of Mill's points. They both also disagree that ethics is based on knowledge. Mill argues on the side of the inductive camp. He declares that we should make general results or rules that are based on partial knowledge. He believes that a posteriori is a more viable argument then a priori.

Hume also entails that knowledge is an essential condition in moral ruling as it changes the way we feel in a certain condition. One last commonality between the two is that the ...