PHIL 160 (and 490 online): Ethics
Short Outline of Reading Assignments
James Fieser
1/15/2011
Please note that this is an extremely abbreviated outline of the text material, and contains little more information than the contents list of headings and subheadings. Test questions will be based on more detailed information than appears here. You may wish to use this outline as the starting point for a more detailed one of your own devising.
UNIT 1: ETHICAL THEORY
1. Overview of Moral Philosophy
Introduction
Theoretical ethics: the systematic effort to understand moral concepts and justify moral principles and theories
Applied ethics: investigation of controversial moral problems, such as questions about the morality of abortion, premarital sex, capital punishment, euthanasia, and animal rights.
Metaphysics and Morality
Metaphysics: an investigation of higher realms of existence beyond the physical realm of things
Moral Objectivism and Relativism
Three features of moral objectivism
Plato’s theory of the forms
Three features of moral relativism
Two kinds of relativism
Individual relativism:
Cultural relativism:
God and Morality
Euthyphro problem (Plato): whether
(1) God endorses a previously existing standard of morality that is external to him
Criticism:
(2) God independently creates the standards of morality (divine command theory)
Two criticisms
Natural law theory
Definition of natural law
Aquinas’s theory
Moral Psychology
Egoism and Altruism
Psychological egoism:
Psychological altruism:
Hobbes’s views of pity and charity
Butler’s view: the case for altruism
Different self-oriented motives:
Instinctive benevolence:
Egoism and the Struggle for Survival
Kin selection:
Reciprocal altruism:
Reason and Emotion
Two principles of moral reasoning
Hume: morality is emotional, not rational
Hume’s criticisms of the two principles of moral reasoning
Cannot derive ought from is:
Ayer: moral utterances express feelings
Two kinds of utterances
Factual reports:
Nonfactual expressions:
Emotivism
Gender and Morality
Psychological distinction between men and women
Women and reason
Rousseau’s view
Wollstonecraft’s view
Women and care
Male and female ways of thinking about morality
Gilligan’s view:
Compatibility between male and female approaches to morality
Moral principles
Virtue theory
Virtue theory definition
Aristotle’s theory of the virtuous mean
Duty theory
Duty theory definition:
Kant
Difference between hypothetical and categorical imperatives:
Categorical Imperative, formula of the end itself:
Ross: prima facie duties
List of seven intuitive duties
Prima facie duties and actual duties
Consequentialism
Consequentialism definition
Three basic types:
Ethical Egoism:
Ethical Altruism:
Utilitarianism:
Unit of value
Hedonistic utilitarianism (Bentham)
Other units: goodness-badness, benefit-disbenefit
Acts or rules
Act-utilitarianism (Bentham):
Rule-utilitarianism:
Moral foundations of government
Social contract theory
Hobbes’s theory
The state of nature:
The social contract:
Criticisms of Hobbes’s theory
Task of governments: whether governments are justified in going beyond their basic function as protectors of peace
Libertarianism:
Welfare liberalism:
Rights theory
Right: a justified claim against another person's behavior
Two origins of rights
Legal rights:
Natural rights:
Three features of natural rights
Natural:
Universal:
Equal:
Locke’s theory
Locke’s four main rights
Declaration of independence
U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Governmental coercion
Four Justifications
Harm principle:
Offense principle:
Legal paternalism:
Legal moralism:
Mill
Mill’s principle of liberty:
Happy society argument for liberty:
Moral principles and moral controversies
Twenty (or so) principles
UNIT 2: SEX
1. Overview
Introduction
Traditional view of sexual practices
Non-traditional view of sexual practices
Background
Animal sexual behavior
Social monogamy
Genetic monogamy
Bonobo apes
Human sexual behavior
Rates of premarital sex, adultery, pornography use
Biological factors in homosexuality
(1) genetics, (2) fetal development where the mother’s physiology feminizes the brains of her male fetuses
Homosexual activity
Two biological factors:
Conversion therapies:
Ethical issues
Aquinas: Natural Law
General view: God implanted within human nature a set of instincts that define our purpose as human beings and establish what is morally right
The instinct to procreate tells us that sexual intercourse is for the purpose of having children
Body parts argument
Argument for monogamy:
Criticism: we regularly use parts of our bodies for purposes other than their naturally-intended function (e.g., ears to hold up glasses)
Aquinas’s response
Criticism: natural law prohibits many non-procreative sexual practices (e.g., oral sex, masturbation, sex with contraception use, sex when couples are infertile
Aquinas’s response
Other response
Kant: Respect for Humanity
General view: Sexual conduct outside of marriage degrades a person’s humanity by treating oneself and one’s lover as a mere instrument of sexual gratification
Criticism:
Bentham: Utilitarian Cost-Benefit
Bentham’s view of marriage
General view: marriage has utility, but society would benefit from more tolerant laws regarding non-traditional sexual practices
Criticism
De Sade: Unlimited Sexual Freedom
General view: Nature grants us the widest possible range of sexual freedom, which justifies premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, incest, and sadomasochism
Two criticisms
Personal freedom
General view: we have liberty rights to think, speak and act as we choose, and the only restriction is if one’s actions cause harm to another person
Non-traditional sexual practices are on a moral par with other activities, such as playing cards or tennis
Rejects means-end view of sex
Actual function of sexual desire
Limits to sexual activities
Public policy issues
Introduction
U.S. federal laws: govern distribution of obscene material, sex abuse, and sexual exploitation of children
State laws: govern typical non-traditional sexual practices (e.g., criminalizing adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, pornography and prostitution)
Supreme Court rulings: set some guidelines for the sex laws that states can or cannot enact
Contraception
Comstock Act:
Margaret Sanger:
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965):
Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972):
Contraception and sex education
Comprehensive sex education
Abstinence-only education:
Abstinence-plus:
Pornography
Miller v. California (1973): soft-core porn is constitutionally protected, hard core porn is not
Miller three-part test for obscenity:
Homosexuality and gay marriage
Homosexuality
Lawrence v. Texas (2003): decriminalized homosexual conduct, based on the growing sense that the rights of homosexuals should be protected
Gay marriage
Several states allow gay marriage, half prohibit it
Civil unions
Defense of Marriage Act (1996): two parts
Arguments pro and contra
The conservative position
Conservative view: sexual activity should take place only between a man and a woman in a monogamous marriage
Conservative arguments (and criticisms)
1. Natural law:
2. Family values:
3. Harm from STDs and pregnancy
The liberal position
Liberal view: any type of non-harmful or non-exploitive sexual conduct is morally permissible and should be legal, including premarital sex, homosexuality, adultery, and pornography.
Liberal arguments (and criticisms)
1. Freedom
2. Cultural relativism
3. Different Strokes
A Middle Ground
U.S. has already embraced compromise positions on many issues of sexual morality and legality
2. Is homosexuality harmful? Pro and contra – John Finnis and APA
Pro: John Finnis
Marital common good vs. instrumentalization
Sex as achieving a common good
Sex as an instrument
Homosexuality is a threat to real marriage
Homosexuality destructive of human character and relationships
Is hostile to those who commit themselves to real marriage and its responsibilities
Contra: American Psychological Association
Sexual orientation and homosexuality.
a. The nature of sexual orientation and its inherent link to intimate relationships.
b. Homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality
Sexual orientation and relationships.
a. Gay men and lesbians form stable, committed relationships that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential respects.
b. The institution of marriage offers social, psychological, and health benefits that are denied to same-sex couples.
3. Pornography: harmful yet legal -- Pamela Paul and Rodney A. Smolla
Pamela Paul: the harmful effects of pornography
Introduction
Pornography cuts across all segments of society: ethnically, geographically, socio-economically
Use of pornography has serious, negative effects
Pornography’s effects on men
Types of damage: wastes valuable time, interrupts work days, displaces hobbies, results in lost jobs and divorces
Pornography’s effects on women
Women are viewing more porn and are becoming more tolerant of it
Women still lag far behind men in their use of pornography
Pornography’s effects on relationships
Pornography affects men’s expectations of how women should look and act
Pornography’s effects on children
Most kids have easy access to pornography online
Rodney A. Smolla: harmful pornography and legal obscenity
Thesis: Harm alone is not sufficient grounds for making pornography illegal; for pornography to be illegal, it must meet the definition of obscenity established by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California
The Miller Standard of Legal Obscenity
Distinguishes between two types of explicitly sexual material
Ways of attacking porn protected by the Miller standard
Even if pornography has harmful effects on society, laws cannot be enacted against is unless such pornography meets the definition of obscenity established by Miller v. California
The rationale for such protection
Prosecuting Hard Core Pornography
Most of the harmful porn is currently prosecutable under Miller v. California
This would require doing so jurisdiction by jurisdiction (because of our federalist system)
If pornography is a serious public health problem, then should be treated as such with more resources (e.g., counseling, education, prosecution)
UNIT 3: DRUGS
1. Overview
Background
Definition of psychoactive drugs
Four groups of drugs: opiates, hallucinogenics, depressants, stimulants
Harms of drug use to user, others, and from the drug trade
Addiction
Physical vs. psychological addiction
Moral vs. disease model of addiction
Ethical issues
Drugs and pleasure: Epicurean and Stoic arguments
Epicurean view:
Stoic view:
Moderate Stoic view:
Harm to oneself: Pufendorf’s view
Harm to others
Traditional view:
Recent view:
Public policy issues
Balancing Freedom and Harm
Thought experiment: Buzzville and Overdoseville
Dutch policy of non-enforcement with “soft drugs”
U.S. Drug Laws
Federal anti-drug policies
Controlled Substances Act and the five schedules
Pro-drug efforts
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
Harm reduction
Medical marijuana
U.S. Alcohol Laws
Prohibition
Three-tiered system of alcohol distribution
Purpose
Criticism by small wineries
Consequences of deregulation in the UK
Arguments Pro and Contra
The Conservative position
The conservative view
Conservative arguments (and criticisms)
Harm to society
Harm to user’s health
Decrease in user’s motivation
The Liberal Position
The liberal view
Liberal arguments (and criticisms)
Autonomy
Pleasure
Cultural tradition
A Middle Ground
Reduce penalties for marijuana use
2. American Civil Liberties Union: An Argument For Drug Legalization
Thesis:
Recreational drug use should be decriminalized since more public harm is done through criminalization than would occur through a responsible system of decriminalization.
Against Drug Prohibition
Currently Illegal Drugs have not Always been Illegal
Decades of Drug Prohibition: a History of Failure
Drug Prohibition is a Public Health Menace
Drug Prohibition creates more Problems than it Solves
Prohibition is a Destructive Force in Inner City Communities
Drugs are Here to Stay -- Let's Reduce their Harm
Ending Prohibition Would not Necessarily Increase Drug Abuse
What the United States would Look Like after Repeal
Race and the War on Drugs
Who’s Who in the Criminal Justice System.
Blacks in prison
Women and Children
Collateral Consequences
3. Donnie R. Marshall: An Argument Against Drug Legalization
Thesis:
Thesis: legalization of drugs would create serious social problems; drug enforcement works and we should not back off on our current policies
Legalization Would Boost Drug Use
Problems with drug use in Holland
Legalization Would Contribute to a Rise in Crime
Problems in Baltimore
Legalization Would Have Consequences for Society
Legalization Would Present a Law Enforcement Nightmare
Problems with deciding what drugs to legalize
Problems with age requirements
Problems with restricting drug use among certain vocations
Drug Enforcement Works
Two eras of drug enforcement:
Goal of DEA
UNIT 4: CENSORSHIP
1. Overview
Background
Terminology
Free speech/expression: people have a legitimate expectation to articulate their ideas freely, without limitation or interference
Censorship:
Non-governmental challenges:
Self-regulated censorship:
Self-censorship:
Chilling effect:
Special Cases of Censorship
Book censorship: books are symbols of free expression because they have the capacity of recording our thoughts on every possible subject
Book burning
Censorship of school libraries: to keep material from students that is not appropriate for their maturity level
Hate speech:
Harm caused by hate speech
Film and music
Film production code: adopted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) from 1930-1968, later replaced with the MPAA rating system
Parent’s Music Resource Center (PMRC): lobbied Congress for a rating system on music lyrics that paralleled that in the film industry; resulted in the parental advisory labels by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture): a work is attacked or suppressed because of its controversial message, independently of its artistic merits
Flag desecration:
Speech codes:
Internet neutrality:
What people think
Public opinions differ based on the specific issue of censorship
Ethical issues
Arguments for free speech
Democratic government:
Athenian democracy
Modern democracies (Locke)
Legislative and public free speech
Search for truth:
Scientific and social truths
Milton:
Mill’s view of noncensorship of wrong ideas:
The free marketplace of ideas:
Personal autonomy:
Spinoza’s view of the government and free speech
Arguments for Censorship
Plato: we must censor harmful media that amount to mere brainwashing
Protect children:
Corrupt messages within religious scriptures
Homer’s and Hesiod’s view of the Gods:
Protection of society:
e.g., Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
Offense:
Test for censoring offensive expressions (Feinberg)
Magnitude of the offense: the offense must be a serious one, and not just a trivial nuisance (is more intense, lasts a longer time, and affects a wider range of people)
An offense to warrant censorship it must also be one that is difficult to avoid.
Exposure to the offense cannot have been something that I voluntarily brought on myself
Pay less regard to the reactions of people who are abnormally susceptible to offense
Public policy issues
Legally Protected Free Speech
British Licensing Order of 1643, which formalized a set of publishing restrictions that England had already been under for some time
English Bill of Rights (1689): granted free speech in Parliamentary debate
Free speech as protected by the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution
First amendment did not protect citizens against censorship from states (it only prevented the federal government from doing so)
Fourteenth amendment due process clause (states cannot “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”)
Stromberg v. California (1931): all of the rights listed in the First Amendment are incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment notion of “liberty,” including that of free speech
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression”
A statement of objectives towards which governments should strive
Legal Limitations of Free Speech
Clear and present danger:
Main doctrine:
“Time to answer” test:
Imminent lawless action test:
National security
Governments can restrict utterances which “by their very nature, involve danger to the public peace and to the security of the State” (Gitlow v. New York, 1925)
Fighting words
Main doctrine:
Defamation
Definition of defamation, libel, and slander:
Public figure doctrine:
Non-governmental public figures:
Obscenity
Miller v. California: obscenity is not constitutionally protected
Miller three-part test for obscenity
(a) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest [i.e., sexual desires],
(b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and
(c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
No national standard is needed
Arguments pro and contra
The conservative position
The Conservative view:
Arguments for the conservative view
1. Protecting children:
Criticism:
2. Governmental stability:
Criticism:
3. Traditional values and offense:
Criticism:
The Liberal position
The liberal view:
Arguments for the liberal view
1. Democracy:
Criticism:
2. Discovering truth:
Criticism:
3. Personal autonomy:
Criticism:
A Middle ground
2. Dee Snider and Barbara P. Wyatt: Music Lyrics And Censorship
Introduction
Parent’s Music Resource Center (PMRC): founded in 1985 by wives of several U.S. politicians and businessmen to educate parents about sexually explicit and violent music lyrics
Originally had a rating system
Record Industry Association of America (RIAA): key lobbying group of the record industry; agreed to record warning labels
September 19, 1985, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on record warning labels
Dee Snider: Against Music Censorship and Labeling
Snider prides himself in the fact that his music is consistent with his Christian beliefs
PMRC mischaracterized his lyrics
e.g. “Under the Blade” is about fear of medical operations, not sadomasochism
e.g., “We’re not going to take it is not about violence
Parents should listen to songs themselves to determine if they are appropriate for their children
The federal government doesn’t have the right or authority to make interpretive judgments about art
Exchange with Gore
It’s not a big leap to interpret “Under the Blade” as about sadomasochism
Judging lyrics by album covers and song titles isn’t sufficient
Barbara P. Wyatt: the need for more effective warning labels
Thesis: a new system of warning labels is needed; the current one is applied inconsistently, and does not adequately indicate the harmful content of music
Problems with the Current Warning Label System
Lyrics are not available to parents
Record industry is driven by two motives: (1) pushing the line of indecency to entice young people, (2) financial greed
Warning labels are applied inconsistently
Warning labels do not adequately indicate the harmful content of music.
The Impact of Violent Music Lyrics
The violence in music influences antisocial behavior of young listeners
The Need for Responsibility and Civility
The solution is not censorship, but a heightened sense of moral responsibility among record companies and more precise warning labels
UNIT 5: ABORTION
1. Overview
Background
Fetal Development (nine month, 40 weeks)
First trimester
Ovum/sperm
Zygote: day 3 about 16 cells
Embryo:
Week 1: attaches to uterus
Week 5: brain begins to form, heart beats, vertebrate form
Week 8: some motion, eyes form
Second trimester (fetus)
Week 13: an inch an a half
Week 16-20: quickening, i.e., feel movement
Third trimester
26 weeks: about 8 inches long, survives outside the womb
Miscarriage
Abortion Methods
Emergency contraception
Mifepristone (RU-486)
Vacuum aspiration
Dilation and curettage
Dilation and evacuation
Instillation
In vitro fertilization and stem cell research
In vitro fertilization
Stem cell research
What People Think
Ethical issues
Whether a Fetus has a Right to Life
Criteria of personhood
Potentiality argument
Criticisms
Biological continuity argument:
Traditional designations of personhood
Contemporary designations of personhood
Balancing the Fetus’s and Woman’s Rights
Thomson’s thought experiments
Public policy issues
Supreme Court Decisions on Abortion
Rowe v. Wade
Laws based on trimesters
Based of four points
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Scalia:
Blackman:
Anti-abortion strategies
Getting more conservative Supreme Court Justices
Human life amendment
TRAP laws
Fetal pain
Arguments pro and contra
The Conservative position
The conservative view
Conservative arguments (and criticisms)
The wrongness of intentional killing
Responsibility to protect the innocent
Religious tradition
Women need to take responsibility
The Liberal Positions
The liberal view
Liberal arguments (and criticisms)
The woman’s right to bodily autonomy
The psychological impact of unwanted pregnancies
The social impact of unwanted pregnancies
The danger of self-induced abortions
Possible middle-ground social policy: three points
2. The Right to Abortion: Roe v. Wade—Harry Blackman and Byron White
History of Anti-Abortion Laws
From Ancient Greece to the 20th Century
Ancient attitudes
The Hippocratic Oath
The common law
The English statutory law
The American law
The position of the American Medical Association
Reasons for Criminalization of Abortion in the 19th Century
Product of a Victorian social concern to discourage illicit sexual conduct
Mortality was high, and the laws aimed to restrain the woman from submitting to a procedure that placed her life in serious jeopardy
Duty in protecting prenatal life, which may be balanced against the life of the mother
Constitutional Issues
The Right to Privacy
The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy, but court decisions recognize that a right of personal privacy does exist under the Constitution
Personal privacy includes the abortion decision, but that this right is not unqualified and must be considered against important state interests in regulation
Legal Personhood and Fetuses
The word “person,” as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn
Differing Views of When Life Begins
Position of different traditions
No answer as to when human life begins (i.e., moral personhood)
Laws regarding fetuses: limited to viable or quickened fetuses
May be to protect parents’ interests, and may only depend on potential life (not actual life)
Court’s position: rejects the life-at-conception view of fetus, but accepts that the state’s interest in protecting the fetus becomes more compelling as pregnancy advances
Allowable Government Restrictions of Abortion
First and Second Trimester Abortions and the Mother’s Health
States cannot restrict abortion prior to the first trimester
Fetuses at this stage have no legal standing
The woman’s safety is not an issue
States can regulate abortions during the second trimester
Only to protect the woman’s safety
Fetuses at this stage still have no legal standing
Third Trimester Abortions and Viability
States can restrict abortion during third trimester
After viability protecting the potential life of a fetus is compelling
Abortions are permitted to protect the woman’s life or health
Three points of Conclusion and Summary
Justice Byron White: Dissenting Opinion
Implications of the court’s decision
Prior to viability, women can have an abortion for any reason (not simply to protect life or health)
Criticism: there is no constitutional justification for this right
Criticism: these are issues that should be left to states to decide
UNIT 6: EUTHANASIA
1. Overview
Background
Right-to-die situations: a person seeks death who (1) is terminally ill, (2) is in intense pain, and (3) voluntarily chooses to end his life
Distinctions
Suicide
Assisted death
Euthanasia: the third party that actually performs the death-causing act
Active and passive euthanasia
Voluntary and non-voluntary
Death
Neurological theory
Two deaths theory
Bodily integration theory
Palliative care (hospice programs)
Ethical issues
Suicide
Duties to God
Aquinas:
Criticism (Hume):
Duties to others
Aquinas:
Criticism (Hume):
Duties to oneself
Aquinas:
Kant:
Criticism (Hume):
The active-passive distinction (Rachels)
There is no moral distinction between passive and active euthanasia; since we accept passive euthanasia, we should also accept active (since it is more merciful)
Common defense of the distinction and Rachels’ criticism
Bad consequences of the distinction
The doctrine of double effect
An act of killing is justified if the death is only a side effect (or an unintended consequence that one could foresee), but is not the primary intended consequence of one’s act
Three conditions:
Criticism
Ordinary vs. Extraordinary care (Catholic distinction)
Ordinary care: medical procedures that offer a reasonable hope of benefit to the patient but do not involve excessive pain, expense, or other inconveniences (e.g., food tube)
Extraordinary care: procedures that are unusual, extremely difficult, dangerous, inordinately expensive, or have no reasonable hope of benefit to the patient (e.g., artificial heart
Criticisms
Public policy issues
The legal status of euthanasia
Oregon: “Death With Dignity Act”
Netherlands and active euthanasia
Related issues
Who decides in nonvoluntary situations: family, doctor, hospital, court
Living will (advance directive)
Deformed newborns: passive euthanasia hinges on projected quality of life
Arguments Pro and Contra
The conservative position
The conservative view
Conservative arguments (and criticisms)
1. The wrongness of intentional killing
2. Slippery slope
3. Possible recovery
4. No assurance of voluntariness
The liberal position
The liberal view
Liberal arguments (and criticisms)
1. Exercising Autonomy
2. Dying with Dignity
3. Showing Mercy
4. The Golden Rule
2. Kathryn Tucker: The Oregon Death With Dignity Act: A Success
Introduction
There is no evidence of abuse, coercion or misuse of the policy of physician assisted dying
Overview of Oregon law and experience with implementation:
A. Passage and challenges
B. Implementation of the Oregon law
The Dignity Act establishes tightly controlled procedures
Typical reasons for using the Dignity Act: decreased ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable, the loss of autonomy, and the loss of dignity
Overview of support for the option of physician aid in dying
There is nationwide support for assisted dying (60-70% in surveys)
The back alley, covert practice
Outside Oregon, thirty-percent of physicians received a request for assisted dying, and 20 percent of those had complied
“The question is not whether assisted dying will occur, but rather whether it will occur in a regulated and controlled fashion with safeguards and scrutiny, or whether it will occur covertly, in a random, dangerous and unregulated manner”
Conclusion
States are “laboratories” for social policy, and assisted suicide is a case in point
3. Wesley Smith: Dutch Decriminalizing Of Euthanasia: A Failure
Introduction
Two beliefs by advocates of assisted suicide
Radical individualism
Killing (ending life) is an acceptable answer to the problem of human suffering
Slippery slope
“once the premises of assisted suicide advocacy become accepted by a broad swath of the medical professions and the public, there is little chance eligibility for “permitted” suicide will remain limited to the terminally ill”
The Remmelink report
A practice beyond effective control
The voluntary nature of the request is compromised
Dutch guidelines do not protect and do not restrict because there are no meaningful penalties
Coercion from family members
Dr. Keizer
Dutch euthanasia leads to permitted infanticide
Infanticide is technically illegal, but such acts are not prosecuted
Groningen Protocol: infanticide guidelines for hospitals
Drawing conclusions
The slippery slope is very real: “Once we accept the killing of terminally ill patients, as did the Dutch, we will invariably, over time, accept the killing of chronically ill patients, depressed patients, and ultimately perhaps, even children”
Adopting killing as an acceptable answer to human suffering eventually changes popular outlooks
Euthanasia in the United States would be especially dangerous for marginalized populations
Euthanasia is becoming more acceptable elsewhere, e.g., Belgium
UNIT 7: DEATH PENALTY
1. Overview
Introduction
Most industrialized countries have abolished capital punishment
Background
Punishment in General
Definition of punishment
Different types of punishment
Beccaria: opposed torture and the death penalty
Social science view: criminals should be treated (reprogrammed), not punished
Aims of punishment
Retribution
Incapacitation
Rehabilitation
Deterrence
Revenge: difference between revenge and retribution
What People think
Most people in the U.S. today favor the death penalty
Ethical issues: moral justifications for the death penalty
Rights Forfeiture:
Locke’s view
Three criticisms
Retribution
Three criticisms
Kant’s retributive theory and criticism
Deterrence
Executing criminals does a better job at deterring others than sending them away for life
Common sense justification and criticism
Scientific studies and criticisms
Deterrence and frequency (Bedau)
Public policy issues
Proportionality: whether death penalty sentences are handed down uniformly in similar situations
Supreme Court cases on proportionality
Furman v. Georgia (1972): ruled that the death penalty unconstitutional because it was imposed capriciously and arbitrarily
Gregg v. Georgia (1976): reversed its 1972 decision, States had fixed the problem and the death penalty was no longer arbitrarily imposed
Coker v. Georgia (1977): death penalty for rape is unconstitutional
Proportionality review systems: determine whether a death sentence is consistent with the sentences imposed in factually similar cases
Two criticisms
Executing the innocent
The death penalty is unjust since people are wrongfully executed
Response 1: innocent people are not really executed (Mill, G.W. Bush); there is no decisive proof
Criticism
Response 2: comparison to accidental deaths in other public policies
Racial Bias
Convicts on death row are disproportionately racial minorities, which shows racial bias
McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
Baldus’s studies:
Criticism (McAdams)Arguments pro and contra
Conservative
Conservative view: death penalty is at least sometimes morally justifiable and it should be legal
Conservative arguments (and criticisms):
1. Retribution
2. Incapacitation
3. Deterrence
4. Financial Costs
Liberal
Liberal view: death penalty is never morally justifiable and it should be illegal
Liberal arguments (and criticisms):
1. Proportionality
2. Executing the innocent
3. Racial bias
4. International Standards
Middle position
2. Against The Death Penalty -- Stephen B. Bright
Introduction
Death penalty is still arbitrary, and many supreme court justice recognize this
Contrary to a conservative society that is wary of too much government power and skeptical of government's ability to do things well
The death penalty is arbitrary and unfair
Prosecutorial discretion and plea bargaining
Problems with prosecutors and juries
Representation for the accused
Problems with defense attorneys
The courts are fallible
Causes of wrongful convictions
Number of innocent people executed
Not all killers are beyond redemption
People who kill are not deterred
The death penalty is imposed in less than one percent of murder cases
Murderers are not the kind of people who assess risks
The cost is not justified
Appeals process costs too much, a sentence of life without parole brings quick closure for the families
3. Racial Bias And Executing The Innocent: No Real Problem -- John Mcadams
How many innocents on death row?
Death Penalty Information Center list and problems with that list
The presence of "reasonable doubt" does not make a person factually innocent
Have any innocents been executed?
Problem with evidence of innocent people executed
How many innocents on death row are acceptable?
Execution of innocent compared with accidental deaths from other public policies
Playing the race card
Racial bias is no reason to abolish the death penalty any more than racial bias with robbers is a reason to stop punishing robbers
Claims of racial bias against black defendants (mass market version)
Racial bias against black victims
The criminal justice system itself underpunishes those who kill blacks
Other areas in the criminal justice system in which there is racial bias against black victims
UNIT 8: WAR
1. Overview
Background
Introduction
Definition of war: an armed conflict between nations or between groups within a nation
Types of war
Conventional and nonconventional warfare:
Conventional and nonconventional weapons:
Limited vs. total war
Preemptive war:
Terrorism:
Ethical issues
Introduction
Just war theory: some wars are justifiable when they meet precise conditions
Just war Theory
Initially waging war (jus ad bellum)
Right Cause: the cause or purpose of the war must be a proper one, such as self-defense, resisting serious aggression, or redressing some wrong suffered
Right intention: there must be a proper underlying motive to declare war, such as the desire to return to the state of peace prior to an outside invasion
Proper authority: the war must be publicly announced by the legitimate authority and made known to the enemy
Last resort: all non-military options must be attempted before going to war, such as through diplomacy or economic sanctions
Reasonable success: : if the outcome of a war is unlikely, it is wrong to sacrifice human lives and squander economic resources
Conduct during war (jus in bello)
Discrimination: we must identify legitimate military targets and distinguish combatants from noncombatants
Proportionality: the military should only use the amount of force that is required to achieve its goal
Pacifism:
Absolute pacifism
Conditional pacifism
Reasons for pacifism:
Religious
Pragmatic
Free rider criticism: pacifist themselves enjoy the benefits of a protected society without participating in its defense
Responses to criticism
Weiss’s criticism:
Torture
Ticking time bomb scenario
Utilitarian justification of torture
Two criticisms
Rights theory criticism of torture:
Criticism
Public policy issues
International laws of war
International laws of war
Customary laws of war
Geneva Convention (1864)
Hague Conventions (1899)
League of Nations (1919)
United Nations (1945)
War crimes: especially egregious violations of warfare conventions that are punishable by some governing body
Nuremberg Principles
National security and civil liberties
Governments tend to restrict civil liberties in times of war
e.g., U.S. Japanese interment camps during World War II (Korematsu v. U.S.)
Arguments pro and contra
The conservative position
Conservative view: many wars are justified, and extreme measures can be taken in warfare.
Main arguments
1. Spreading democracy
2. Success at all costs
3. Sacrificing freedom for the greater good
Liberal position
Liberal view: few wars are justifiable, and warfare should be conducted with restraint and civility
Liberal arguments (and criticisms)
1. Questionable motives
2. Better alternatives
3. Evolving standards of decency
A middle ground
A strong military is important to deter an outside attack, but citizens should be suspicious of claim that a war is necessary, or that the military needs to develop unconventional weapons, or that national security requires restricting freedom
2. War and civil liberties: Korematsu v. U.S.
Hugo Black: Majority Opinion of the Court
Forced exclusion is constitutionally questionable, but is justified in situations of "emergency and peril"
Justification of curfew and exclusion
The military necessity outweighed the liberty of the detainees
Detainment was not racial prejudice: it was a security measure to block Japanese invasion from the West coast
Frank Murphy: Dissenting Opinion
In war time, consideration should be given both to military authorities and to the rights of the individual
The key issue: has the military overstepped the allowable limits of military discretion
The judicial test: whether the public danger is so 'immediate, imminent, and impending' that it necessitates depriving an individual’s constitutional rights
Why the exclusion order failed this test
Alleged sociological justification: evidence about strong ties of race, culture, custom and religion
Criticism
Alleged urgency justification: there was no time to separate the loyal from the disloyal
Criticisms
The exclusion order was a “legalization of racism” which is not justifiable in a democracy
Robert H. Jackson: Dissenting Opinion
Constitutional harm
Unconstitutional military orders are only temporary, and only last as long as the emergency
But court decisions do long term damage by “validating the principle of racial discrimination”, thus making it a doctrine of the constitution
“The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need.”
The alleged curfew precedent
The Hirabayashi curfew decision was seen as a precedent that justified the Korematsu decision
Criticism: the curfew ruling only validated “a discrimination of the basis of ancestry for mild and temporary deprivation of liberty”; detention is much more extreme
3. Tom Malinowski: Torture
Introduction
Recent US policies violate human rights of prisoners
Such policies undermined standards that defenders of human rights rely upon
They have diminished America's moral standing and influence in the world
They have hindered, not aided, the fight against terrorism
The US Program of Detention and Torture
The facts
US Justification
Setting a bad example
Other countries mimic the US policies and the arguments it uses to justify them
Harm to Counterterrorism
These policies do not have national security benefits that justify such costs
Torture is not a reliable method of interrogation:
To end their suffering they say whatever they think their interrogator wants to hear
Secret detention and military trials are less effective than open Federal trials
Results in more convictions, and creates no complaints of unjust treatment
UNIT 9: ANIMALS
1. Overview
Background
Introduction
Pain mechanisms
Factory Farming (Confined Animal Feeding Operations)
Problems associated with them
Animal Research
Three purposes of animal testing
Draize test
Three Rs of animal testing
Animal Advocacy Groups
Humane society, SPCA, PETA, Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics,
Great Ape Project
Animal enterprise terrorism groups: Animal Liberation Front
Ethical issues
Introduction
Three positions on the moral status of animals
The Clear Line Position
Equality Position
Sliding Scale Position
Possible Criteria of personhood
The Clear Line Position
Augustine’s view
Descartes’ view
Kant’s view
Criticisms of clear line position
Equality Position
Janism
Bentham’s view of sentience and utilitarianism
Singer’s view of sentience and speciesism
Regan’s view of being the “subject of a life”
Sliding Scale Position
Public policy issues
Introduction
Animal welfare
Animal rights
Federal animal laws
Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act (1958)
Animal Welfare Act (1966)
Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (2006)
State and international animal laws
Animal cruelty laws are devised by each state
British five freedoms
Arguments Pro and Contra
The conservative position
Conservative view
Arguments for conservative view (and criticisms)
1. Animals are here for our use
2. Animal use is necessary
3. Human interests have greater importance
The Liberal Position
The liberal view
Arguments for the liberal view
1. Some animals are self-aware
2. Many animals are sentient
3. Humans are traditionally speciesists
2. PETA: Animal Rights And Human Irresponsibility
Animal rights:
Animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, experimentation, or any other purpose and that causes them suffering
Animals should have the right to equal consideration of their interests, e.g., the right not to have pain unnecessarily inflicted
Animal welfare vs. animal rights
Animal Testing
No real benefits to animal testing
Morality of using drugs that were tested on animals
Alleged safeguards in animal testing
Sacrificing animals for the greater good (e.g., saving human lives through cures)
Animals Used for Clothing
Leather
Wool
Fur
Down
Companion Animals
Spaying or neutering animals
Animal shelters
Euthanization
Chained dogs
Outdoor cats
Caged birds
Entertainment
Zoos
Race horses:
Circuses
Rodeos
Wildlife
Hunting
Aboriginal cultures
Catch and release fishing
Vegetarianism and veganism
Meat eating promotes suffering
Economic benefits
Health benefits:
Veganinsm: (no animal products at all), issues with milk, eggs and fish
Milk: through growth hormones cows are forced to produce milk beyond their natural limit
Eggs: egg-laying hens are especially mistreated
Fish: feel fear and physical pain, which fishing causes; seafood is often unhealthy
UNIT 10: THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Overview
Background
Introduction
Natural environmental damage
Pre-industrial environmental damage: Easter Island
Post-industrial revolution
Environmental Problems
Types of problems
Aesthetic nuisance vs. environmental damage
Local vs. global problems
Waste disposal
Air and Water Pollution
Nuclear fallout
Habitat destruction and species extinction
Ozone depletion through release of chlorofluorocarbons gases
Global warming from CO2
Problems with alternative energy
Environmental movement
George Perkins Marsh
John Muir and Sierra Club
Greenpeace
Ecoterrorism
What people think
Ethical issues
Anthropocentrism vs. biocentrism
Anthropocentrism: all environmental responsibility is derived from human interests alone
Baxter
Biocentrism: we have direct moral obligations to things in the environment for their own sake, irrespective of their impact on human interests
Biocentric individualism
Paul Taylor
Biocentric holism (ecocentrism)
Leopold
Deep ecology
Gaia hypothesis
The environment and the profit motive
Good environmental practices result in good business
Criticism
Good business results in good environmental practices
Criticism
Public policy issues
Who should own the environment?
Community property environmentalism: environmental resources are publically owned and publically managed
Problem with open-access approach
Tragedy of the commons
Free-market environmentalism: environmental resources are privately owned and privately managed.
Radical free market environmentalism
Regulated free market environmentalism
Environmental laws
U.S. laws
Endangered Species Act of 1973
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), created in 1970
Sierra Club v. Morton (1971): William Douglas suggestion
International agreements
Kyoto protocol: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
Problem of poorer developing countries
Arguments Pro and Contra
The conservative position
Conservative view
Arguments for conservative view (and criticisms)
1. Nature is for people
2. Human interests are more important than environmental ones
3. Human interests produce good environmental policies
The Liberal Position
The liberal view
Arguments for the liberal view (and criticisms)
1. Ecosystems have an independent moral standing
2. Humans are part of a larger natural process
3. Environmental responsibility is best served through governmental regulation
2. Gore and Lomborg: Global Warming
Pro: Al Gore
Global warming is now a generally accepted fact, and it is human caused
Maybe wore than we thought (methane locked in melting permafrost)
New momentum for action to solve the climate crisis, city mayors, states
Should be a bipartisan political issue
U.S. needs to show leadership to get China and India to participate
Moral issue: “It is about who we are as human beings and our capacity to transcend our limitations and rise to meet this challenge”
e.g., Ozone layer treaty was first opposed by industry, but later the treaty was accepted and strengthened
Contra: Bjørn Lomborg
Al Gore presents worst-case scenarios, and this not a basis for a sound policy judgment, and following him will end up costing millions of lives
1. Global warming is real and man-made
Will increase about 2.6oC (4.7oF) over the next century
2. Consequences often vastly exaggerated
Heat and cold deaths
Sea level rise
Hurricanes
Malaria
3. Smarter policies: we need smart solutions rather than excessive efforts.
The current raft of policies that are either enacted or suggested are costly but have virtually no effect
Kyoto and EU protocols would delay global warming by only a few years
Nicholas Stern’s cost-benefit study of global warming proposes that we dramatic cut CO2
Criticisms of Stern
The costs radical CO2 cuts are very heavy for this generation, and the first actual benefits will be in the 24th century
Alternatives
Invest in solar cell technology, which will eventually be economically feasible in about 100 years
Lomborg’s proposal
4. Global warming only one of many issues
Other issues
Copenhagen Consensus
UNIT 11: SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER FOR PHIL 490 STUDENTS ONLY
1. Classic Philosophers On Sexual Morality
Aquinas: Sex Only For Reproduction
Thesis: God implanted within human nature a set of instincts that define our purpose as human beings and establish what is morally right; the instinct to procreate tells us that sexual intercourse is for the purpose of having children
Unnaturalness of Fornication
Possible defense of fornication:
Criticism: body parts argument:
The various parts of our bodies have precise purposes: “our study should be that every part of man and every act of his may attain its due end”
Semen has the clear function of facilitating reproduction
Every non-reproductive emission of semen is sinful if it is done purposefully; it is thereby a sin against nature
Sex with infertile couples:
Naturalness of Marriage
Men need to stay with the woman a long time to help raise the child
Possible Criticism
We regularly use parts of our bodies for purposes other than their naturally-intended function (e.g., using our hands to walk), so misuse of semen is only a slight sin
Response:
Against Divorce (four arguments)
Against Polygamy (four arguments)
Against incest (four arguments)
2. Classic Philosophers On Drunkenness
Kant: drunkenness an animalistic vice
Temperance regarding bodily pleasures
Duty to care for the body, which involves temperance regarding the pleasures of the body
Animalistic and satanic vices
Satanic vices (goes far beyond regular vices):
Animalistic (we lower ourselves to animals):
Drunkenness is not as bad as gluttony since drunkenness at least makes one sociable; but drunkenness in private is as bad as gluttony
John Stuart Mill: the liberty to be drunk
Drunkenness and duties to oneself
Violating duties to oneself can only be punishable when they violate duties to others
Criticisms of the liberty to be drunk
Criticism: no one is isolated, and private conduct spills over into the public arena
Criticism: misconduct injures personal happiness, and thus the law may prohibit “experiments in living” that are shown to have failed
Responses to criticisms
When private conduct causes public harm, it should be punished, but only for its public harm
Can’t punish someone for being drunk, but can for a soldier or policeman to be drunk on duty
Drunkenness can also be punished when it tends to make a person violent
3. Intellectual Diversity On Campus
Anne Neal: Faculty Ideology
Thesis: colleges and universities are increasingly bastions of political correctness, hostile to the free exchange of ideas
Eight Types of Threats
Recommendations to Trustees of universities
Recommendations to congress:
4. Animal Rights Extremism
Pro: Jerry Vlasak
Animal Liberation Press Office: seeks to clarify the motivation and philosophy behind these actions taken [by animal rights activists] in defense of our animal brothers and sisters
Huntingdon Life Sciences kills 500 animals a day “poisoning and torturing animals to death with household products, pesticides, drugs, herbicides, food colorings, sweeteners, oven cleaner and cosmetics”
“An estimated 12,800 animals died in the research of the sugar substitute, Splenda, including pregnant rabbits, beagle dogs and primates.”
Wastes “hundreds of millions of dollars doing unscientific drug testing and experimenting on animals”
Question and Answer
Humans and Animals Morally Equal
Current laws regarding experimentation of animals are like laws permitting slavery
Assassinating Animal Researchers
Vlasak’s position
Lautenberg’s criticisms
Experiments on Rats and Mice
Experimentation on rats and mice a hugely wasteful use of scarce resource dollars that we have in the medical industry
Xenotransplantation
Human organ transplants are difficult, and Xenotransplantation won’t work any time soon
Conclusion
Lautenberg:
HLS is trying to save human lives, even if they don’t do everything right
Inhofe:
“It's either going to be the lives of these animals or human life,” but “we have a witness who equates animals lives with human lives, then that takes away all the argument”
5. Supreme Court Cases On The Environment
Suing on Behalf of the Environment: Sierra Club v. Morton (1972)
Majority Opinion: Requirement to Show Personal Injury (Justice Stewart)
Issue: whether the Sierra Club has a legal standing
Aesthetic damage is a legitimate justification for suit
Sierra Club: special interest groups like themselves, which has a unique commitment to environmental protection, can sue as an interested party
Criticism: the Administrative Procedure Act, under which the Sierra Club was suing, requires that a person can sue on behalf of the environment if that person himself has been injured by aesthetic damage.
Criticism: this opens the door to any person or group trying to impose their convictions based solely on their special interest.
Dissenting Opinion: Legal Rights for the Environment (Justice Douglas)
If the environment was granted the status of legal personhood, then environmental advocates could sue companies like Disney based on the legal standing of the environment itself