DAY 69 May 19 Philosopher's Declaration of Human Rights

Today we'll start our exploration of Ethics and Human Rights.

Step 1: In your Green Philosophy Bites Folder, please spend two minutes on each of these four basic Ethical Questions, answering them for yourself.

1. Are Moral Choices Possible?
2. Why Do the Right Thing?
3. Can People Be Good Without Religion?
4. How Should the Rightness and Wrongness of an Action Be Determined?



Step 2:  Please complete the chart below: most philosophers address all the questions, some do not.
How Philosophers Answer the Main Ethical Questions

Are Moral Choices Possible?
Socrates: 
Epicurus: 
Thomas Aquinas:
Søren Kierkegaard:
Friedrich Nietzsche:
Jean Paul Sartre:
Jeremy Bentham:
John Stuart Mill:
Immanuel Kant:
Ayn Rand:


Why Do the Right Thing?
Socrates:
Epicurus:
Thomas Aquinas:
Søren Kierkegaard:
Friedrich Nietzsche: 
Jean Paul Sartre:
Jeremy Bentham:
John Stuart Mill:
Immanuel Kant:
Ayn Rand:

Can People Be Good Without Religion?
Socrates:
Epicurus:
Thomas Aquinas:
Søren Kierkegaard: 
Friedrich Nietzsche:
Jean Paul Sartre: 
Jeremy Bentham:
John Stuart Mill: 
Immanuel Kant: 
Ayn Rand:

How Should the Rightness or Wrongness of Actions be Determined?
Socrates: 
Epicurus:
Thomas Aquinas: 
Søren Kierkegaard: 
Friedrich Nietzsche:
Jean Paul Sartre: 
Jeremy Bentham: 
John Stuart Mill: 
Immanuel Kant: 
Ayn Rand: 

How Philosophers Answer the Main Ethical Questions

Are Moral Choices Possible?

Socrates: Yes moral choices are possible.
Epicurus: Yes moral choices are possible, doing the right thing paves the way for ataraxia.
Thomas Aquinas: Yes moral choices are
Søren Kierkegaard: Yes moral choices are possible. Everyone is responsible for his/her own actions.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Yes moral choices are possible. Everyone is responsible for his/her own actions.
Jean Paul Sartre: Yes moral choices are possible. Everyone is responsible for his/her own actions.
Jeremy Bentham: Yes moral choices are possible. The moral choice is the one which brings the most good to the most people. (consequentalist theory)
John Stuart Mill: Yes moral choices are possible. A moral choice is one that brings the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest amount of people.
Immanuel Kant: Yes moral choices are possible. A moral choice is one that has a moral intent.
Ayn Rand: Yes moral choices are possible. A moral choice is one that has the best interests of the self at heart.



Why Do the Right Thing?

Socrates: Because doing the right/ethical thing is the cornerstone to living "the good life".
Epicurus: Doing the right thing paves the way for ataraxia/serenity which is the greatest pleasure of the mind.
Thomas Aquinas: God deemed it right, and Aquinas is condemned to a perpetual life of follwing gods word without fail.
Søren Kierkegaard: Because going against your authenticity feels wrong.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Because moral actions lead society towards the cultivating the overman, the advent of whom benefits all.
Jean Paul Sartre-----------------
Jeremy Bentham: ---------------
John Stuart Mill:--------------
Immanuel Kant:----------------
Ayn Rand: Because you wouldnt want "wrong" things done to yourself, so do not do them to others.


Can People Be Good Without Religion?

Socrates: Probably, but it doesn't specify.
Epicurus: Probably, but it doesn't specify.
Thomas Aquinas: No, conforming to God's rules is "good" to Aquinas.
Søren Kierkegaard: No, people must move beyond judging their actions according to reason or the standards of society, and become only accountable to god.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Yes people can be good without religion. "Faith in god is disappearing, and with it the universal values provided by that faith. 
Jean Paul Sartre: Yes people can be good without religion.
Jeremy Bentham: Not specified, but yes considering he believes that the greatest good to the greatest number of people is equivalent to right.
John Stuart Mill: Utilitarian, so probably.
Immanuel Kant: Probably, but it doesn't specify.
Ayn Rand: Probably, but it doesn't specify.


How Should the Rightness or Wrongness of Actions be Determined?

Socrates: Actions that go against the society made up of family and friends (laws) is wrong. Anything that conforms is right.
Epicurus: Right actions pave the way for ataraxia/serenity, wrong actions do the opposite.
Thomas Aquinas: What god deems right is right and what he deems wrong is wrong.
Søren Kierkegaard: What god deems right is right and what he deems wrong is wrong.
Friedrich Nietzsche: People determine their own values.
Jean Paul Sartre: Each person defines right and wrong themselves and acts accordingly.
Jeremy Bentham: An action that brings the greatest good to the greatest number of people is the right one. (Hitler believed by eliminating the jews he was doing a great good for germany, there were far more aryans than jews in germany so was he doing the "right" thing for germans?)
John Stuart Mill: An action that brings the greatest good to the greatest number of people is the right one.
Immanuel Kant: The rightness of actions can be determined by the intent of the actions themselves (non-consequentialist)
Ayn Rand: Right actions are those which are in the selfs best interest.