Summary
Introduction
Approaches to ethical judgements:
1) Virtue Ethics: Examines character and intent of moral agent
2) Deontological Ethics: Assesses action in terms of adherence to set of rules
3) Consequentialist Ethics: Evaluates morality of action from its consequences
The book has 11 chapters, contains numerous facets of private and public life. Not a in-depth outline to moral philosophy, simply a beginning of an examination of ethics and social responsibility.
Chapter 1: Manners & Liberty
The only laws that could be imposed on free citizens by force were those that prevent harm to others (e.g. murder, theft, rape). Breaches to manners (e.g. indecency, indecent acts) does not necessarily constitute harm to others, even if the behavior is censurable.
Q: What would you do if you saw a couple behaving indecently? Contact authority, or keep mum?
Chapter 2: A moral duty to reduce poverty and alleviate its impact
If a small sacrifice could save a life , then isn't it morally indefensible to not assist people who are dying from poverty?
Q: Will you buy a pill to save a child's life? Will you save a drowning child if you're wearing an expensive suit and the water is filthy?
Chapter 3: Private Acts, Public Harm, 'Victimless' crimes
Getting drunk alone is not a fit subject for legislative interference, but if the drunkenness excites to do harm to others, it is a crime against others. Is legalisation or banning of certain substances beneficial or detrimental?
Private actions, even criminal actions, that do not involve the public realm are 'victimless crimes'. Are these actions (e.g. homosexual acts in Singapore) morally wrong if they don't cause harm to a third party?
Q: If you sell food, and someone chokes on it, is it your fault? If you grow drugs, and someone gets convulsions, is it your fault?
Chapter 4: Fair Trade or Free Trade? Heart strings or purse strings? \
Compromising own economic interests to make a difference for a better has always been a debatable issue. Is it faulty ethical reason by the party or is it an ethical choice based on the intent of the moral agent? Actually, is any trade fair if we interfere in it?
Chapter 5: Deadly choices - Euthanasia
Is suicide/assisted suicide morally right to avoid personal pain (physical, psychological, etc.)?What if it doesn't qualify for exemptions? What if it harms an innocent bystander in the process? What if the individual botches the attempt and ends up in an incapacitated state, thereby becoming a societal burden? Is suicide an exercise of freedom, or a self-contradiction: a free act that, by destroying life, removes freedom? /
Q: Should people get the right to decide when/how to die? If people do get the rights, is it morally right? Is individual's right to die equal to individual's right to practise birth control?
Chapter 6: Are we morally culpable for situations outside our control? 'Moral Luck' concept
Two men were driving along a road, one behind the other. Suddenly, their brakes fail to function, and they go through the red light. The one in front unfortunately hits and kills a pedestrian, while the one behind hits the back of the front car. The front driver is arrested on a charge of reckless driving and is indicted for manslaughter, the back driver is issued only with a infringement for passing through the red light.
Both drivers had the same situation by sheer coincidence, resulting in the passing through of the red light. But if the two men are found negligent, the front driver is significantly more morally culpable than the back driver, even though it is only down to 'moral luck' that they were in such an order.
'Moral luck' is an oxymoron, as we believe 'moral' to be decisions made with our ability to choose, but luck is not within the realms of our control. For example, Gaugin's gamble: Gaugin abandons his home and family in a bid to become a world-famous artist. He either succeeds or fails abysmally. But our moral assessment of him will depend on the outcome, and we will only give them moral credit if the outcome is the former.
Chapter 7: Chasing happiness, but is there happiness in being miserable? The pleasure paradox
Q: Does being miserable give us meaning and purpose?
Chapter 8: Polished deceit - White lies
Santa? Tooth fairy? Moral because they provide immense happiness albeit the lying, since the consequences had already been calculated?
Vocabulary Section
savant: person of profound or extensive learning; a scholar
abstruse: hard to understand; recondite; esoteric
cavil: to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault unnecessarily; a trivial and annoying objection
culpability: guilt or blame that is deserved
indictment: charge
oxymoron: refers to a conjunction of two contradictory terms that would usually render both meaningless
plaintive: expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful
placid: pleasantly calm or peaceful; unruffled; tranquil; serenely quiet or undisturbed
litany: a prolonged or tedious account; a recitation or recital; a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession
invocations: calling in the presence of a deity/supplication
Conclusion
Overall, it was a great read. Should attempted murder have the same consequences as real murder? Should 'moral luck' be taken into account when analysing and handing out sentences to similar cases? Some questions are hard to be answered, and understandably so. If it was so easy, we wouldn't need a book about it!
Conclusion
Overall, it was a great read. Should attempted murder have the same consequences as real murder? Should 'moral luck' be taken into account when analysing and handing out sentences to similar cases? Some questions are hard to be answered, and understandably so. If it was so easy, we wouldn't need a book about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment