Denver’s Philosophies

    Ethics has been a large question through the history of civilization, with one of the first moral theories being formed by the immortal philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle's book Nicomachean Ethics, also called Virtue Ethics, focuses on the notion of life in moderation, rather than living a life of excess or deprivation.          Before getting into the core of virtue ethics, we must first look at Aristotle's  teleology. For Aristotle, everything in existence, manmade or natural, has a characteristic function, which is that which it alone can do or do best. For example, a knife's function is to cut things. Virtues are those attributes which help the object perform its function well. In the example of a knife, virtues of it would be to be sharp or durable, as that would help it cut well. To find the function and those virtues of humans, however, Aristotle looked into his view of the soul, which Aristotle considered a tripartite soul, with thr...

      Utilitarianism is a common moral theory, used by government's and others who oversee a population of people such that their community might thrive. However, in a moral system purposed towards the pleasure of the majority, there are bound to be problems found within the system that need to be acknowledged before ruin.     Robert Nozick is one of the most notable objectors to hedonistic utilitarianism, though more of an opponent to the hedonism part than the utilitarianism part (though it is important to note that Nozick didn't necessarily believe pleasure wasn't of intrinsic value, just that it wasn't the only intrinsically valuable thing). Nozick was the creator of one of the most difficult challenges hedonism faces today: the Experience Machine. In Nozick's Experience Machine, imagine that a machine exists that, when activated, will give the user all the experience they could want, meaning if they want all...

      For the next moral theory we look at in the ethics series, we will now look at utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a very popular and well-known moral theory because it is applied almost every day in our lives. Where other theories such as categorical imperative are used occasionally in our lives, utilitarianism is used the rest of the time when making moral  decisions, almost guaranteed.       Utilitarianism tends to have different offshoots, which we will discern later, but for now we will focus on the same overall idea between every form of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, meaning that, alternatively to Kant's categorical imperative, the rightness and wrongness of an action can only be determined by the consequences of that action. Utilitarianism is a combination of three theses: hedonism, maximalism, and universalism. Hedonism is the idea that pleasure is the highest good, and as such is the only thing...

      The categorical imperative is a well-known and well-discussed part of philosophy, with many considering it to be an impressively done moral theory. However, this is not to say that the theory comes without its problems. Many philosophers throughout the 20th century found fault with Kant's categorical imperative.     One of the perhaps simplest objections is of the nature of the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative explains that moral actions should be done out of moral duty, but many feel that to only perform moral actions according to duty is a no better option than to perform moral actions out of appeal to emotion or sympathy, as it leads to the question of whether there can even be a value placed upon the action if we merely follow rules on how to act rather than acting out of our good-natured desires. However, this can alternatively be considered a good thing. To act our of our desires or emotions can lead to a biased action or an action ...

     In the early modern period of western philosophy, one of the most important philosophers of the time was the man Immanuel Kant. Kant introduced a plurality of different ideas, but one of his most prominent theories actively taught today is his ethical theory, the categorical imperative.      The categorical imperative is considered in moral philosophy to be a deontological theory, meaning that the consequences of moral decisions are irrelevant in the rightness or wrongness of the action, and only the fulfillment of our moral duty constitutes an act as morally right or morally wrong. The categorical imperative also disregards the desires or circumstances of the individual or individuals involved.       A large underlying part of the categorical imperative is the idea of respect and fairness. This is seen in the universalizability principle, the first formulation of Kant's categorical imperatives. The universalizability principle defi...