Ethical Theories: A Brief But Incomplete Summary

(1) Revelationism (Moses, David Berkowitz): Ethical rules come from a higher source and hence must be absolute commands.

(2) Ethics of Excellence (Aristotle & his student Alexander the Great, personified by Odysseus in The Odyssey): A rational person seeks happiness, and happiness comes from winning (achieving what you desire). Therefore, a person should do whatever it takes to win in the long run.

(3) Rationalism (Immanuel Kant, St. Thomas Aquinas): Ethical rules can be deduced using reason, and once figured out, they should be followed in all cases. Kant thought the most rational rule was the categorical imperative: Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.

(4) Natural Law Empiricism (John Locke, the U.S. Constitution): We discover ethical rules through experience just like we discover the law of gravity through experience. Once we encounter them, they are self-evident truths such as the rights to life, liberty, and property (or the “pursuit of happiness”). These rules should be broken only when they come into conflict with each other (your freedom of action ends at my nose).

(5) Emotivism (David Hume): We learn ethical rules from experience, so they are relative to our culture, family, etc., rather than being demonstrably “right” or “wrong.” Conscience is just a conflict between our actions and the emotions churned up by learned behaviors.

(6) Utilitarianism (John Mill, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Mr. Spock): The consequences of our actions matters. Right = the greatest good for the greatest number. We should choose the action which maximizes benefits and/or minimizes harm to the group as a whole.

(7) Existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre): We have free will and hence should feel responsible for our actions, both direct consequences and the example we set for others. If I do X, I am saying that anybody can do X. I can choose any ethics (or more precisely, ethos, since no rules can always hold—sometimes it might even be right to kill to preserve life). However, I must not blame others, fate, God, the environment, etc., for my choices.

(8) Egoism (Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman): All of us should choose according to our own real best interests. If we do, it will turn out for the good of all. That is, if I have freedom of action, I will be more productive, and that will in turn produce more goods, jobs, and freedom for you.

(9) Ethics of Traditional Times (Ross): Societies existing iu small, isolated groups will likely develop some of the characteristics laid out in Dancing with a Ghost by Rupert Ross. These may include Non-interference, Stoicism (no emotional displays), No display of praise/gratitude, Conservation/withdrawal tactics (to preserve resources and options), and so on.

(10) Ethics of Care (Carol Gilligan): Like Existential Ethics, E of C starts with a descriptive claim—that we advance through different stages of moral development, the main ones being Self-Preservation, Self-Sacrifice (Virtue of Altruism), and Non-Violence Towards Self and Others—and moves from there to a prescriptive claim that we owe greater moral duties to those in “special” relationships to us either by ties of family and friendship or ties of dependence (inability to act in self-defense the very often evidenced in the very young and the very old) or BOTH (OUR child, OUR elderly parents, etc.).