1.4 Overview of The Ethics Workshop
This textbook is organized in two clusters of chapters. The first group develops and explains the main theories guiding thought in applied ethics. The goals are to clarify the theoretical tools that may be used to make decisions and to display how arguments can be built in favor of one stance and against others. The questions driving the chapters include:
Are there fundamental rules for action that directly tell us what we ought to do? If so, are the imperatives very specific, including dictates like “Don’t lie”? Or are they more flexible, more like rules broadly requiring fairness and beneficence to others?
Are fundamental rights—especially the conviction that we’re all free to pursue the destinies we choose—the key to thinking about ethics? If we have these rights, what happens when my free pursuit of happiness conflicts with yours?
Could it be that what we do doesn’t matter so much as the effects of what’s done? How can a framework for decisions be constructed around the idea that we ought to undertake whatever action is necessary (even lying or stealing) in order to bring about a positive end, something like the greater happiness of society overall?
To what extent are perspectives on right and wrong only expressions of the particular culture we live in? Does it makes sense to say that certain acts—say bribery—are OK in some countries but wrong in others?
The second cluster of chapters investigates ethics for us as individuals and as members of society. The goal is to show how the tools of ethical reasoning may be applied to personal dilemmas, and to more collective decisions about the kind of world we want to live in and leave behind for those coming after us. The questions driving the chapters include:
Are there limits to freedom of speech?
Why should anyone else get to decide what I smoke, swallow, or drink?
Is sex ever immoral?
What’s worth more, my religion or the law?
What is the purpose of prisons?
Should we have the death penalty?
Is it OK to secretly film other people?
Should abortion be legal? What about physician-assisted suicide?
What counts as condemnable discrimination, and what remedies ought to be tried?
How high should taxes be, who should get welfare, how much?
Can war be just, can terrorism be justified, can torture be defended?
What values come into play when a career path is selected; what do I want from my 9-to-5 life?
Do corporations hold ethical responsibilities to the larger community in which they operate?
Who is responsible for the planet’s environmental health?
What relationships should companies form with their consumers?
Should society be structured to enable individually successful stars, or to protect the welfare of the collective?