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November 8 2009 00:21 EST

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Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry

ReadMe 3

Abstract: Study for Philosophical Ethics is briefly discussed.

Welcome to the Philosophical Ethics!

In this, the third and final part of the course …

  1. Begin with the Introduction to Philosohical Ethics for a general orientation to the our approach to the question, as Aristotle put it, "living well and doing well in the affairs of the world."
  2. Notice that in philosophy, the important aspect of ethics is not a question of feelings, rules to be followed, intuitions, governmental laws, or religious tenets. Instead, ethics is about giving good reasons for what one ought to do in order to have a life of excellence.
  3. It's really important to see that one acts ethically, not because if one does not do so one will be punished, but because, as Socrates noted in our first edited reading, it is in our interest to do so.
  4. When persons act unethically in an attempt to seek their own advantage, we should see that in a fundamental sense Socrates was right, they are establishing habits or states of mind which will probably produce harmful results over a lifetime. Consider this: how many selfish people do you know who are genuinely happy, have peace of mind, and are insightfully aware?
  5. Some persons fear governmental and religious laws because they fear the consequences of breaking the laws; others act in accordance with what they know to be right because they recognize that freedom from greed, avarice, jealously, and so forth leads to an authentic and centered life.
  6. But all this remains to be proven in this section of your course.
  7. Continue to post critical comments on the reading assignments to the Philosophy Forum

Again, please continue to study daily. Philosophy takes a while to "sink in" because we are questioning many things we took for granted since early childhood.

If you have any problems, email me at larchie@philosophy.lander.edu at your first opportunity.

Further Reading:
  • Ethics. A quick summary of many aspects of ethics including definitions of meta-ethics, normative ethics, descriptive ethics, and applied ethics from the Wikipedia. The short article is useful in providing a brief overview of the different sectors of the field.
  • Ethics. An overview of meta-ethics, normative ethics, descriptive ethics, and applied ethics from a philosophical point of view provided by James Fieser in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Right and Good. A discussion of moral philosophy from a law-like and a teleological point of view in history, value theory, analysis, and pragmatism provided by Abraham Edel in The Dictionary of the History of Ideas.
Top of Page

I intend to use "Ethics" to cover … an enquiry for which, at all events, there is no other word: the general inquiry into what is good. … This, then, is our first question: What is good? and What is bad?" G.E. Moore, Principia Ethica (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 59.

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