Doing Ethics In A Diverse World

Robert Traer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429980572
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Nothing is more difficult today than deciding what to do about abortion, gay marriage, economic injustice, war, torture, global warming, euthanasia, capital punishment, and a host of other controversies, particularly in a world in which people of varying religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds commonly live side by side. Can we draw on the wisdom of the past to address these contemporary ethical dilemmas? Can we see more clearly how we should consider what is right and wrong, and good and bad, and then work through these divisive problems toward decisions that make sense to us?

While challenging moral relativism, Doing Ethics in a Diverse World uses a pluralist approach that draws on religious as well as secular positions and on Eastern as well as Western traditions. The book's approach reasons by analogy from the rule of law, including international human rights law, as a means to constructing ethical presumptions about duty, character, relationships, and rights. These presumptions are weighed against the predicted consequences of acting on them, which either confirm the presumptions or support alternative actions.

PART I
Learning from Experience

We hope to clarify what is right, good, and fair by considering our experience, as people living in societies with diverse cultural and religious traditions.

We begin in chapter 1 by resisting claims to ethical certainty and rejecting arguments for cultural relativism. We accept that our knowledge is always incomplete, but nonetheless affirm that we may aspire to articulate moral presumptions that are, or may become, universal standards. For example, human rights and the rule of law are affirmed worldwide as moral presumptions, and we propose to rely on these presumptions in doing ethics.

Our approach to moral philosophy involves constructing presumptions that identify our duty and express our concern for building character, sustaining relationships, and protecting human rights. We recommend acting on these presumptions unless the predicted consequences are so negative that another choice seems more justifiable.

In chapter 2 we consider reasoning and the limitations of our knowledge. We distinguish deductive from inductive reasoning and suggest a largely inductive approach to doing ethics, which is analogous to the scientific quest for greater knowledge and understanding. As both religious and secular teachings reflect the human quest for greater understanding and meaning, our approach to doing ethics involves thinking critically about both.

We construct ethical hypotheses, “test” these presumptions by our reason and experience, and revise our presumptions as seems best by considering the likely consequences of acting on them. We acknowledge that we cannot predict all the consequences of our actions, because our knowledge and experience is limited. Therefore, how well we reason will depend on how and with whom we reason.

In chapter 3 we use the rule of law as a model for asserting ethical presumptions. When there is wrongdoing, we presume it is right to punish those who have done wrong, even by severely restricting their freedom. When no one has done anything wrong but a choice must be made as to how benefits or burdens are best to be allocated, we presume that the distribution should be fair.

The rule of law also clarifies a number of other moral presumptions. We must ensure procedural as well as substantive justice, and also apply the principle of proportionality in seeking a just result. In addition, we must clarify what evidence of adverse consequences is required in order to overcome a moral presumption and thus justify an alternative course of action.

1
Our Challenge

Doing Ethics in a Pluralistic Society

Doing what is right, being a good person, trying to achieve results that are fair—these are the main concerns of ethics. Making ethical decisions is not always easy, as you well know. Life is complicated. Yet, all of us have a great deal of experience in deciding what is right and wrong, in trying to be a good person, and in predicting how our choices may lead to the best possible consequences.

Therefore, we are asking for your assistance in considering some of the moral issues of our time. Our goal is to clarify our thinking so we might act more responsibly.

Making moral decisions can be difficult, but all of us have been training for this challenge since we were young. Doing ethics is built into us, as social beings, in our human development and in our language. We may well act unjustly and be selfish. Yet, we cannot live together without some sense of what is right and wrong, good and bad, fair and unfair. It is human nature to be ethical, to be concerned about acting morally, to want to be a good person, to resist wrongdoing, and to try to be fair in our relations with others.

Certainly, ethics is different than some of the other lessons we learned as children. It is not simply a skill that can be acquired like riding a bike, which involves repeating the attempt until our muscles and sense of balance enable us to ride without having to think about what we are doing. In doing ethics, we need to think carefully and clearly.

To improve our critical thinking, we will consider what a few leading moral philosophers have written about making ethical decisions. We will also reflect on the lives of those we most admire for being virtuous persons. Contemplating the thoughtful arguments of ethical writers as well as the exemplary character of outstanding individuals may help us see more clearly what ethical choices we should make.

Yet, there is more to ethics than learning from others, for we must also learn more fully who we are. Doing ethics involves a quest for greater self-knowledge. We not only study and draw on the moral wisdom of the past, but also discover and create new ways of taking the right actions and being good persons.

Embracing this challenge will involve asking questions, pondering alternatives, trying what seems best, admitting mistakes, seeing what works and what doesn’t, evaluating our assumptions, and asking new questions. Moreover, it will mean doing this with others, who want as much as we do to act more responsibly.¹

We assume that you come to this discussion with strong convictions, with experience in facing and making moral decisions, and with ways of explaining your judgments. You probably have some questions about ethical reasoning, as we do, and perhaps you share with us some misgivings about the relevance of moral philosophy for our daily lives.

The authors of this book have had moral conflicts with parents, children, and friends, and these conflicts have led us to question some of our moral presumptions and also our ways of reasoning. We assume this is true as well for many of you. We hope you have discovered as we have that these experiences may teach us important lessons and help us deepen our self-understanding.

We assume, moreover, that you are concerned about many of the significant moral issues that divide our society. Should public officials always tell the truth? Is our tax system fair? Do people suspected of terrorism have a moral right to due process of law? What is a fair wage or salary? Should same-sex marriage be permitted? Is capital punishment right or wrong? Who should receive the benefits of welfare? Is abortion always wrong? Should federal funds be used for stem cell research? Who should have to pay for our public education system? And so forth.

It may seem that there is no way to reconcile those who disagree about the many issues of public morality, yet history reveals that divisive issues have at times been “resolved.” A century ago, for example, women did not have the right to vote. For decades against stiff opposition, a few women argued for changing the law. Eventually, enough men who could vote were persuaded that it was morally wrong to withhold the right to vote from women, and the law was rewritten to reflect a new moral presumption for our society.

Much of our concern in this book will be with issues of public morality, such as the right to vote, and in chapter 10 we will look more explicitly at what public morality means for us and requires of us. Issues of morality concerning only our private lives are no less important for all of us. Yet, we will say less about private morality, as our public morality today leaves most of these issues to individuals and their families.

There is controversy, however, in deciding which moral questions should be public and which should be private. For example, sexual intercourse is a very private matter, but is also the subject of considerable public debate. Laws in many societies prohibit prostitution, incest, and polygamy, so these sexual issues are matters of public policy. With these exceptions, however, contemporary Western societies have generally repealed statutes that in the past restricted the private sexual activity of consenting adults.

Conflict over abortion also raises questions as to where we draw the line between private and public morality. On this as well as many other moral issues, even having a civil discussion may require a great deal of self-discipline. We have done our best to be clear and forthright, and we trust that you will enter into this discussion in the same spirit.

Diversity, Freedom, and Rapid Change

Many believe that making ethical choices is more difficult now than in previous generations. Some say that the following words of William Butler Yeats apply to our time, although he wrote them at the beginning of the twentieth century:

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.²

How do you see the changes that make our time particularly difficult for making ethical decisions? Here are some of our thoughts.

First, the vast migrations of people in the twentieth century, which continue to define the beginning of the twenty-first century, have created more diverse societies all over the world. In the past there was greater consensus within communities about morals, especially when most people lived in smaller cities and towns. In our multicultural cities, however, people with various religious and ethnic traditions live side by side. If there is to be a new and more compelling consensus about public morality in our pluralistic society, we will have to work hard to achieve it.

Second, most of us enjoy a great deal of personal freedom. In traditional societies individual choice is more restricted by cultural and social traditions. Today, some urge that our moral standards should be more fully defined by the law, as in the past. Yet, in pluralistic societies the law continues to protect our individual autonomy. The debate over gay rights is only one prominent example of the struggle today between those who want to protect personal freedom and those who would impose greater restrictions on personal conduct in order to uphold a particular moral standard.

Third, moral issues and disputes over personal freedom now divide our religious communities. Many Catholics use birth control measures prohibited as illicit by church teachings. Protestant denominations are split over whether or not gay persons or women should be ordained. Jews argue as to whether their moral obligations to other Jews apply also to Gentiles. Some Muslims disagree with Islamic teachings that explicitly justify social restrictions for women. Hindus dispute whether India ought to have a secular government, as it now does, or a government that supports Hindu teachings and rituals.

Fourth, technological advances have created a large number of new ethical dilemmas. Breakthroughs in biology have led to fierce debates about genetically modified food, the cloning of animals, stem cell research, and many other choices that are now available to us. Computers bring pornographic pictures into our homes via the Internet, and millions of people download music and videos illegally. New technology offers more sophisticated medical treatments, but has also increased the cost of health care, raising difficult moral questions about the allocation of scarce resources.

Fifth, the role of women has changed dramatically. Women have been elected to head the governments of several nations and have attained positions of leadership in business, law, and medicine. Female scholars have studied and revealed the patriarchal bias that has shaped not only our social relations, but also the way we have understood both human culture and the natural world. This feminist insight has been much resisted, yet has powerfully altered many areas of study, including the disciplines of developmental psychology and moral philosophy.

Sixth, the sexual revolution that has accompanied the evolution of pluralistic society is unprecedented. The ability to prevent conception has enabled women to have sex without having children, and sexual relationships outside of marriage have become common at least in the West. People wear more revealing clothing in public, and nudity is legal in many societies on designated beaches or in private clubs. These “liberating” changes have not, however, freed women from the trade in sex, which today enslaves hundreds of thousands of young women, or from pornographic displays of the human body. Nor has freer sex necessarily led to healthier sex, as sexually transmitted diseases including HIV are rampant and AIDS is the cause of millions of deaths each year.

Seventh, economic globalization has made food and many commodities available to more consumers at lower prices, but has also meant a loss of livelihoods for millions of farmers and workers. Multinational corporations and institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, now exert greater control over trade than nation-states. Moreover, economic globalization has meant, in general, that the rich have become richer while the poor have (at least in relative terms) become poorer.

Eighth, terrorism has become a global reality, and the support of terrorist acts by some Muslims now affects international politics as well domestic policies in Western nations with respect to Muslim immigrants. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, there was an outpouring of sympathy and support for the United States. Subsequently, however, the war against terrorism waged by the United States in response to this attack has alienated much of the world.

Ninth, the threat of global warming now reveals that the human experiment on earth can no longer continue without taking into account the ecosystems of the earth on which all life depends. A more industrialized way of life and a growing world population make ethical choices about the use of our natural resources and the recycling of wastes absolutely essential, if human society is to avoid a catastrophic collapse.

We live in a diverse and rapidly changing world that allows us great personal freedom, but we do not always agree on how best to make use of our freedom. Moreover, we face ethical issues of enormous complexity and importance, and there is little agreement among us as to how to resolve the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1 Learning from Experience
• Part 2 Creating an Ethical Presumption
• Part 3 Overcoming an Ethical Presumption
• Part 4 Applying the Approach
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index