Ethics

Ethics Study Guide merit, but that everyone, regardless of socio-economic position, has a reasonable opportunity to develop the skills which are assessed to determine merit. Rawls argued that the two principles would be used by representative parties in the original position , a utopic state where everything was fair and equitable. In this state, it would appear easy for parties to decide what was or was not fair and just. To prevent each party from making choices that benefitted only themselves, Rawls devised the veil of ignorance that deprived them of information about particular characteristics such as age, race, wealth, and natural abilities. 6.4 William David Ross WilliamDavid Ross, a 20th century philosopher, has been said to hold a position that is representative of pluralistic deontology. His theories reflect moral realism and intuitionism. While mostly deontological, Ross’s theory is somewhat in between stricter deontological theories, like Kant’s, and teleological theories like utilitarianism. This means that he held there are several distinct moral considerations that bear on the rightness of an action. Ross argued that utilitarianism was an inadequate moral theory because it failed to appropriately account for primary moral concerns of interpersonal relationships. He saw problems with Kant’s absolute rules, which had the potential to result in conflicting obligations. Ross thought that when obligations conflict we should look for the greatest balance of right over wrong. According to Ross, there are several prima facie, or conditional, duties that we can use to determine what we ought to do. A prima facie duty is a duty that is obligatory, unless it is overridden by another duty. In other words, where there is a prima facie duty to do something, there is at least a fairly strong presumption in favor of doing it. Ross’s prima facie duties include: 1. Duty of ben f cence : A duty to help other people increase pleasure and improve character 2. Duty of non-malfeasance : A duty to avoid harming other people 3. Duty of justice : A duty to ensure people get what they deserve 4. Duty of self-improvement : A duty to improve ourselves 5. Duty of reparation : A duty to recompense someone if you have acted wrongly towards him/her 6. Duty of gratitude : A duty to benefit people who have benefited us 7. Duty of promise-keeping : A duty to act according to explicit and implicit promises, including the implicit promise to tell the truth Each of these duties needs to be taken into consideration when deciding which duty should be acted upon. When more than one of these duties applies to a person in a situation, only one should be acted upon. Ross does not provide a principle upon which to determine what our actual duty is in any circumstance. However, he does seem to show preference to non-malfeasance over beneficence. ©2018 Achieve Page 47 of 116