Lesson 9

Lesson 9: Ethics, Part II

Introduction

 

A continuation of our consideration of ethics, this lesson provides a brief overview of some of the major ethical schools of thought within philosophy.

 

Hedonism

            There are three major branches of hedonism: Cyrenaicism, Epicureanism, and Utilitarianism. Each school holds to an ethical standard that regards pleasure as the greatest human good. That is, a person's actions are considered ethical and good if it brings about pleasure rather than pain. Thus, hedonism generally looks only at the results of actions to determine their moral value.

            Cyrenaicism was the earliest codified form of hedonism, founded in the 4th century BC by Aristippus of Cyrene. Founded as one of the first Socratic schools, Aristippus taught that pleasure was not just the avoidance of pain, but could be found only in truly enjoyable sensations, primarily from physical gratification (food, wine, sex, etc.). This form of ultra-hedonism strongly encouraged indulgences in physical pleasure, claiming it was the only good in the world, and that pain was the only evil.

            Epicureanism was a later philosophy based on the hedonistic ethic of pleasure versus pain, which all but replaced the Cyrenaic school. Epicurus, the founder of the school, believed that

"…the only thing that is intrinsically valuable is one's own pleasure; anything else that has value is valuable merely as a means to securing pleasure for oneself. However, Epicurus has a sophisticated and idiosyncratic view of the nature of pleasure, which leads him to recommend a virtuous, moderately ascetic life as the best means to securing pleasure (IEP 2011)."

            That is, Epicurus valued pleasure as the only good, but he believed that too much pleasure could bring about pain (too much drinking brings on hangovers, too much food leads to discomfort or illness, etc.), which would be evil. Thus, achieving moderation (what he called "ataraxia") was the key to a truly moral life--acquire just enough pleasures to be content, but do not self-indulge to the point that pain results. This distinction put him at great odds with the teachings of Aristippus and the Cyranaics.

            Utilitarianism is a modern hedonistic principle, created by Jeremy Bentham and later John Stewart Mill in the late 18th and early 19th centuries AD. Building on the thought of Epicurus, Bentham developed a way of measuring the value of pleasure, creating a graduated scale by which each experience could be measured (since some pleasures are greater and more valuable than others). Where Bentham and Mill really advanced hedonism was the concept of making it social in nature.

            The defining moral code for utilitarians is "one's actions should bring about the most good (pleasure) for the greatest number of people". This tempered the wanton selfishness of the Cyrenaics still further and applied Epicurus' life of moderation principles to the society at large. Basically, if more people benefit or experience pleasure from an action, then it is a moral act.

 

Stoicism

            Stoicism had its roots in classical dualism, that is, a belief that the universe is comprised of a physical component (matter) and an intangible one (mind). The original stoic school was founded by Zeno of Citium around 335 BCE. None of the writings of Zeno, Cleanthes, or Chrysippus, exist, but are quoted in fragmentary form in the works of later stoic philosophers, such as Epictetus (55-135 AD). Whether or not such quotations are accurate is a matter of scholarly debate, however.

            What we have of the teachings of Epictetus comes to us through the writings of his pupil, Flavius Arrian. According to the writings, the stoics believed moral philosophy (ethics) to have a beneficial impact on the everyday lives of  people. "The aim was to live well, to secure for oneself eudaimonia (‘happiness' or ‘a flourishing life'), and the different schools and philosophers of the period offered differing solutions as to how the eudaimôn life was to be won (IEP, 2011)."

            Stoics believed ethics to be a small component part of the world as a whole and held reason (or the mind) to be of paramount importance in both human behavior and the cosmos at large (Honderich 1995). The physical world was believed to be beyond our control (or at least, under the control of divine providence). Human beings' bodies are a part of this world and thus, efforts to change the physical world of our own accord will ultimately be futile. Stoics believed only the mind was free to reflect on the happenings of the world and this was the basis of their ethics.

            Individual acts, crimes, or even everyday occurrences within the physical world are not considered good or bad in and of themselves. However, people'sattitudes regarding those events forms the basis of moral evaluation. Therefore, if a man tried to change things, failed, and accepted the result without sadness, anger, or pity, he was considered virtuous and wise. If the end result could not be accepted and a man harbored resentment about the way of the world, he was deemed unwise and wicked. Thus, only wise and virtuous men could find peace and happiness (eudaimonia) in the Stoics' worldview.

 

Cynicism

            Another "school" of ethical thought were the Cynics, as their primary emphasis was on ethics. Precursors to the Stoics, the Cynics believed that there were no other-worldly moral absolutes that would determine good or bad behavior. Rather, a moral life was one lived in harmony with nature, opposing accepted conventions (nomos) of the day. As such, the Cynics posed a direct assault on the "civilized values" of the ancient world (Honderich 1995), rejecting the norms of society and living wild in nature.

            The central tenant among the practitioners of Cynacism was the concept ofask�sis, or "practice", over abstract theories and social mores "... as the means to free oneself from convention, promote self-sufficiency, and live in accord with nature. Such ask�sis leads the Cynic to live in poverty, embrace hardship and toil, and permits the Cynic to speak freely about the silly, and often vicious, way life is lived by his or her contemporaries (IEP 2011)."  

 

Teleological Ethics

            Beginning with Aristotle, this school of ethical thought emphasized the end result (telos), or whether a given thing fulfilled its purpose, to determine whether or not an action was to be considered good or moral. The intent and the act itself were considered of secondary or no importance for ethical determinations. St. Thomas Aquinas later adopted Aristotelian ethics and infused them with Christian doctrines, forming an ethical system for Christianity that lasted centuries.

Deontological Ethics

            The deontological y stresses the notion of acting on principle. This is one of the few ethical systems that stresses the motive over the act or the end result, which were considered secondary. A popular summation of this type of ethics would "his heart's in the right place", relegating undesirable consequences or misdeeds to secondary importance as long as the actor was behaving in congruence with principle. As opposed to end-results-based ethical systems, deontology claims certain deeds are right or wrong in and of themselves (Honderich 1995). This form of ethics was developed further and defended in modern times by the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant.