ETHCS 205 week 1
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ETHCS 205: week 1
Now that you have learned about competing ethical theories, and have gained a better
understanding of the biblical foundations for various views on Christian ethics, write a thread
that compares and contrasts three different ethical theories presented in your reading, and
then argue for which one of the three listed you believe to be the most objectively compelling
ethical system. Don't view this as a way to say which one most other people would choose, but
rather which one do you believe is true and good. You may choose any metaethical theory
covered in Ken Magnuson's Christian Ethics book, except Ethical Relativism, which is not really
an metaethical system at all. Seek to answer the following questions for each of the three
ethical systems reviewed:
How does the system define “the good" or ethically right?”
How does the system situationally calculate a right ethical decision?
What are a few perceived strengths and weaknesses of the ethical theory?
While reading the textbook I came across 3 different ethical theories, Deontology,
Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics.
Deontology: “
deontology falls within the domain of moral theories that guide and assess our
choices of what we ought to do (deontic theories), in contrast to those that guide and assess
what kind of person we are and should be” (Alexander, 2020). One example that helped me out
was thinking about a situation in the healthcare field. Lets say you have a terminally ill patient
and they ask if they'll be ok after a surgery they're unlikely to survive, a deontological approach
would suggest you don't lie to comfort them. No matter how hard the truth is, it needs to be said
with no sugar coating.
Consequentialism:
There are a few forms of consequentialism that the textbook mentioned.
“The most prominent form of consequentialism is utilitarianism, which is broad in scope, seeking
to act so as to bring about the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”(Magnuson,
2020). Utilitarianism seeks to calculate the right ethical decision by determining how much good
or happiness a particular action will bring to the greatest number of people. This theory is how
the system defines “good” or “ethically right”
Virtue Ethics: “
The emphasis on the agent in virtue ethics means that moral reasoning is not
focused so much on decision-making as on the nature of virtue, reflection on what makes for the
good life, the values and priorities of a community, and so on.”(Magnuson, 2020). The best
example for this theory is good actions as ones that display embody virtuous character traits, like
courage, loyalty, or wisdom
“In utilitarian ethics, outcomes justify the means or ways to achieve it, whereas in deontological
ethics, duties/obligations are of prime importance (i.e., end/outcomes may not justify the
means).” (Mandal, 2016). Whereas deontology and consequentialism are based on rules that try
to give us the right action, virtue ethics makes central use of the concept of character. The
answer to “How should one live?” is that one should live virtuously, that is, have a virtuous
character. Deontology and consequentialism are based on rules to give us “right of action”
whereas virtue of ethics shows your character or how you are as a human being.
Deontology strengths is that we use reason all the time and the weakness is we don’t agree on
normal duties. Consequentialism strengths is that it is a natural way for people to reason about
morality and a weakness is that it can be difficult to predict all the consequences. Virtue Ethics
strengths is that it encourages high levels of moral behavior and a weakness is that virtues can
conflict with one another.
When you are just learning about the theories it seems like virtue ethics should be the most
“compelling ethical system” because we all want to be perfect and that is what virtue ethics is,
but the more research or the more I learn about the theories it is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is
based on simple, universal goal or increasing happiness and decreasing suffering. Utilitarianism is
sometimes criticism for failing to match human moral instincts in certain specific circumstances
(eg. the infamous ‘trolley problem’). However, if we accept that the fear that such a situation
would produce is a type of widespread suffering, then we could make some apparent exceptions
while an overarching, indirect utilitarianism still applies.
Alexander, L., & Moore, M. (2020, October 30).
Deontological ethics
. Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-
deontological/
Athanassoulis, N. (n.d.).
Virtue Ethics
. Internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
https://iep.utm.edu/virtue/#:~:text=Whereas%20deontology%20and%20conseque
ntialism%20are,is%2C%20have%20a%20virtuous%20character.
Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D. K., & Parija, S. C. (2016). Utilitarian and deontological ethics
in medicine. Tropical parasitology, 6(1), 5–7.
https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-
5070.175024
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