Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

William James, another philosopher with a viewpoint similar to Stace’s, states that humans use their intellectual abilities to create concepts and develop theories to help them understand and give meaning to their lived experience. James believed that we should endorse those theories that provide the most rational, complete, and persuasive understanding of our lived experience. Stace argued that we live our lives based on the assumption that there are no absolute moral standards that are independent of individual or group preferences and it is our belief in absolute moral standards that we believe we are justified in making moral judgments. If ethical relativism were true, they argue that we would not be able to make these judgments of moral evaluation. They both argue that because we believe that we are justified in making moral evaluations and comparisons of other cultures, a belief in ethical absolutism is going to provide us with more subjective satisfaction and will provide a more rational explanation of the world. Although ethical absolutism acknowledges through descriptive ethics that different moral and ethical principles exist, the ethical absolutist does not then hold those beliefs as normative (meaning applicable to all people everywhere). There is no universal code toward which ethical absolutists can point in support of their perspective. They argue based on their own lived experience, and that most people conduct themselves as though there were such a universal code. For example, most people believe that murder is wrong and that coming to the aide of someone in distress is right. Every day of your life, you make moral choices and decisions that reflect your own internal moral compass. Often, we are not aware of the deeper moral values that drive our choices, and we may even be oblivious to the fact that the choices we are making have a moral component. Philosophy plays a uniquely central role in helping us to develop enlightened values, use informal reasoning, and make well-supported conclusions. Although most areas of human study are developed to describing the world and how people behave, philosophy is concerned with helping people evaluate how the world ought to be and what courses of action people should take. Egoism as a Universal Principle Within the general framework of ethical absolutism are many possible theories the first that we will discuss is ethical egoism. Ethical egoism is the belief that the highest moral value for all humans is to pursue their own happiness. It continues by mentioning that we act morally when we pursue our own self-interest. When our needs and interests are in conflict or competition with those of others, it is our moral obligation to take care of our own needs and interest first. The ethical egoists recognize that such a view runs counter to the prevailing moral values of many cultures, in which the respected moral values include altruism, self-sacrifice, empathy, communal responsibility, love, social responsibility to those in need, and a willingness to sacrifice our own needs for the good of the group. Ethical egoists are convinced that these traditional moral values represent a skewed and unhealthy perspective on how humans ought to think and behave.

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