Why Should I Be Moral?

Why Should I Be Moral? is a module in the AQA AS Unit 2 Philosophy course.

Course Outline

This unit examines the nature of moral motivation and introduces students to three contrasting approaches which try to make sense of the relation between self-interest, practical reason and morality. The issues to be covered are listed below.

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Issues to be covered

Why should I be moral?
- Morality as a social contract
  - It is reasonable to conform to the expectations of morality because morality is a conventional agreement for our mutual advantage. Exactly what kind of agreement could it be?
  - Whether morality can be the product of a contract. Can morality be identified with whatever is advantageous to us? Will it always be true that it is in our interests to honour a contractual agreement? Are all moral interests covered by the contractual approach?
- Morality as constitutive of self-interest
  - It is reasonable to conform to the expectations of morality because self-interest can only be realised in the context of a virtuous life. So what does self-interest involve and how might virtues promote happiness and flourishing?
  - Does 'being moral' demand virtuous character, or merely require conformity with moral rules? Is it realistic to suppose we could achieve stable and harmonious selves? Could a genuinely 'virtuous' action ever be motivated by any kind of self interest? Is altruism virtuous?
- Morality as overcoming self-interest
  - It is reasonable to conform to the expectations of morality and these expectations disregard self-interest as morally relevant. Moral motivations as universal imperatives.
  - Does eschewing self-interest leave us without any motivating reasons to act morally? Are universal principles too abstract to guide actions? What do we do if principles conflict? Is this approach too rigid and insensitive to circumstances?

Mel's Resources

Morality as a Social Contract:

Morality as a social contract argues that we are fundamentally selfish creatures and we only agree to be moral as it ultimately is for our own benefit. If we lived without morality we would be in a permanent 'state of nature' whereby we would always be in fear of being murdered, attacked or stolen from. As such by acting morally we are acting in our own self-interest.

Resources:

Morality as Constitutive of Self-Interest:

Morality as constitutive of self-interest looks at the idea that in order to achieve our full potential and find the ultimate happiness of eudaimonia we must lead virtuous lives.

Resources:

Morality as Over-Coming Self-Interest:

Morality as over-coming self-interest argues that we should act morally for reasons other than our own interest. For example we should act of duty or compassion. We should act morally in situations independent of what we may personally want to do.

Resources:

Steve's Resources

Aristotle happiness and virtue.doc

Aristotle on Moral Virtue and Happiness.doc

Aristotle, happiness, virtue.doc

Debates in Moral Philosophy Relevant to Hume.doc

Human Aims and Human Goodness.doc

Humean Sympathy and the Implications for Ethics.doc

Intro.doc

Kant and freedom.doc

Kant and Universalisation.doc

Kant on Aristotle.doc

Kant_synopsis[1].doc

Kantian Ethics.doc

Kantian Imperatives.doc

Kantian Intuitions.doc

Morality and Self interest.doc

Motivation.doc

Prisoner's dilemma.doc

Problems with Hume.doc

Problems with Kant.doc

Rawls Social Contract.doc

Revision Questions on Kant.doc

Social Contract Theory.doc

Strengths and Weaknesses of Rawls.doc

Strengths in Kant.doc

Strengths in Rawls.doc

The Motives of the Moral Agent (Kant).doc