Topics Ethics

Question This question is vague. Possibly too vague. You decide. Interpret the question as you will, I have not narrowly defined each word. I recently decided to live the ethical life. I want to hold myself up to the standard of doing the best I can. My automatic interpretation of this is utilitarianism. In fact, this seems like the obvious answer to me. But as I can see, no one ethical system is completely accepted, not utilitarianism either. As someone who knows more than I do, do you think the first step to the ethical life for me is to study ethics, or to follow my gut instinct and use my basic understanding of utilitarianism or "as much happiness generated as possible" to guide me?

Accepted:
December 29, 2011

Comments

Good for you for taking what's right so seriously!

As for general advice, a few quick thoughts. First, though utilitarianism undoubtedly provides useful insights, it's not really clear that utilitarianism always gives the best answers. A quick example: the fact that a mafia leg breaker gets satisfaction and enjoyment from his work arguably carries no weight at all in deciding what's morally best. Perhaps the utilitarian can explain this, but only perhaps.

And that leads to the second point. It may be that the study of ethics tends to lead people to better moral decisions, but that's very doubtful. (Don't be so sure that the people on this panel know more than you do.) In any case, it's hard to believe studying ethics necessary for being good. Whether I'd turn to someone for moral advice and whether they've studied ethics don't have much to do with one another. But simply trusting one's gut isn't always best either; gut feelings are often wrong.

So what's the positive advice? A good deal of the time it's not hard to know how we ought to act. Don't be cruel; don't be inconsiderate; don't be dishonest; treat people fairly; try to put yourself in other's shoes. All those are mere rules of thumb, but for a good deal of daily life, they'll do. For harder problems, try to make sure you've got good information; remember that you have blind spots; do what you can to see things from more than one perspective; find out what thoughtful peope who've been in similar situations have to say.

There's no royal road here but often the problem is more a matter of motivation than of recognizing what's actually right. The fact that you're motivated to do what's right is surely a hopeful sign!