By going to live in groups, early man developed systems for basic balance that would harmonize this coexistence. To defend himself, it was necessary that man would create moral rules of conduct inherent in the society they live. Thus, religious values, rules of morals, in the eternal human contradiction in clarifying the differences negligible between good and evil, right and wrong, permissible and forbidden, making each culture establish a morale. Or more moral, the more complex the cultures and societies affiliated to them. Our training morality is tied to the mores of society in which we were created. It is time to renew or destroy certain moral culture, when they no longer respond to the changing society in which it was inserted. It is up to study this evolution moral ethics, taking care to not to lose the thread that separates good from evil. Ethical awareness is itself a rebellion against the injustices of a moral decay, making it evolve. How
moral philosophy, ethics has its beginning in the West in ancient Greece, which formally started with Aristotle, but I find the ethical reflections on Socrates and Plato.
We can define the bases of ethical concepts of Western society in Greek and Judeo-Christian. With Aristotle had the Virtue Ethics of eudaimonia, or Old Ethics, focused on the welfare and the pleasures of the man who manages to be tied to the virtues and virtuous. With the Christianization of the West, there were moral precepts of a religion monotheistic. Ethics Virtue Ethics gave way to modern, dedicated primarily to the duties, constructing the Ethics of Ethics.
this article we will go to Modern Ethics, its main lines, not directed to the individual values of man, but for the collective good, where the fair is the priority of morality, ethics the main goal.
Ethics and Christianity
When ancient Greco-Roman culture went into decline, rose Christianity, Religion stuck on the Jewish morals and its laws. The ancient gods give way to one God, whom man owes obedience and service to its laws. The will of God is superior to man, only to realize it he could feel the happiness. Ethics Aristotle, or Virtue Ethics, which has its foundations in political life and organized in urban societies, is losing ground to religious ethics, a principle which unites the medieval man fragmented into fiefdoms and small towns. The principles of morality are to be grounded in God. Ethics is harnessed the religious content.
In Christian ethics, the Greek philosophical principles of ethics are not abandoned, the doctrine of the virtues and their rankings are placed almost in its entirety. Saint Augustine (354-430) reflects on his philosophy of Plato's ethical principles. St. Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274) of Aristotle.
With the end of the Middle Ages, various philosophies will build the foundations of Ethics Modern. In the Renaissance moral philosophy one begins to distance itself from theological principles and religious reasons, designing duties as the essence of ethics. Trends emerged in the sixteenth century, which will stretch until the nineteenth century, will be what we call Modern Ethics.
Ethics and Their Modern Lines
With the end of feudalism and the strengthening of the Modern State, Western society has advanced politically, economically and scientifically. Moral philosophy leaves the religious foundation, so that the Ethics is performed according to the rules imposed by duty. Christian morality explains that we are born endowed with purity beneficial and of great kindness to our neighbor. This purity of the character's soul is corrupted by the society we live in, so we need to have the idea of duty and intention. The duty imposed by God causes degeneration polished we are moral subjects before the expansion of character and society. The idea of duty is a Christian, comes to solve the ethical problems through a safe path, which must comply with the eternal dilemma between good and evil. If we follow the duty of the divine laws, we are following ourselves. If the Ethics
Old man asked himself how it should live within the moral context for attaining happiness, as summarized in eudaimonia in Modern Ethics duty overlaps, and the question is what should do to respect and play ethical and moral values? Justice becomes the fundamental principle. The fulfillment of duty and the law is unconditional, above personal interests.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) codified the ethics of desire, which is based on individual egoism, men who decide to live in society are no better or less selfish than the wild. Hobbes recognizes the social contract as an effective means of preventing war of all against all.
The ethics rules clear and specific, which are inherent to each individual. The duty is above pleasure individual.
Grounded in the ethical principle of morality, ethics Modern can be divided into four main lines: Kantian Ethics, Utilitarianism and Consequentialism, Contractualism and Relativism.
Consequentialism or Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism, Consequentialism also called, is a great chain of tradition Ethics, essentially Anglo-Saxon style. It is based on the ideas of the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). To Jeremy Bentham, the foundation is the consequentialist calculus of utility. For John Stuart Mill, happiness is the pursuit of maximum pleasure and minimum pain. The well is the greatest happiness and virtue is a means to the achievement of this happiness.
In Utilitarianism, the interaction with the real situations to be considered in all its possible outcomes, focusing on decisions that produce the greatest good, avoiding as much damage. His moral purpose is to provide maximum happiness to the greatest number people.
Utilitarianism is not focused on the concern of human nature. Be useful to society is more important. His pragmatic variant does not recognize absolute and universal moral laws, so little abstract values. Highlighted are the actions that encourage social interaction and optimize the relationship between ends and means. The morality of the act is his main field of application. The truth is what is useful. This is a strain widely used in the United States and England.
The Kantian
Kantian Ethics coincides with the rise and rise of industrial society and capitalism. It is considered the ethics of human enterprise, which is based on rational autonomy. For Kant it is necessary to fulfill the universal validity of moral principles, avoiding the contradictions and injustice. Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804), German philosopher, is generally considered the most influential thinker of the Modern Ethics. Kant was opposed to the moral heart of Jean Jacques Rousseau, his contemporary. The philosopher affirmed the principle of reason in ethics. The man, being autonomous, is devoid of natural goodness. By nature is not perfect, is selfish, greedy, destructive, dual, aggressive. The human essence is eager desire for the pleasures that are never filled, by which it steals, kills and mind. With so much imperfection
in character, the man needs the duty to become a moral being. A frustrated person hurt themselves to those around you. His freedom in the positive direction is to do as he sees what is best, the most rational. The man has no price, but dignity is a member or subject to duties because it obeys its own right if you formula. In Kantian
, the acts are legitimate only when governed by universal and equal for everyone in every circumstance. There are places great value on the enjoyment of pleasures, privileging duties.
Kant refers to happiness as the consciousness of duty done, we can not achieve prosperity at any price. In his actions, man must always respect as an end, never as means. Kantian Ethics is purely deontological.
The Kantian Ethics is a line of very modern, that trust in man, in his manner for the purposes of their liberty.
contractualism and relativism
contractualism and relativism are two theories of Modern Ethics suffer most criticism. According to the most austere and puritanical scholars of the philosophy of ethics, they can be used to justify actions that are not compatible with the design of collective morality. The Contractualism based on the ideas of English philosopher John Locke (1632 - 1704), and the Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).
For John Locke, the concept of ethics is grounded in the social contract, although the individual also have inalienable rights. He links the trend to conservaçãoe satisfaction with the design of a public happiness.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, in his moral heart, says the man is good by nature, its spirit can suffer an enhancement ratio of almost unlimited. Kant rejected all these theories.
Contractualism In line with the human being with his fellow assumes the obligation to behave according to moral rules, so that way, can live in society, establishing a kind of social contract.
In Relativism, any doctrinal absolutism and universalism are formally refused. It consists of cultural relativism. Each situation must be considered as particular reasons for situational ethics. The man brings a characteristically inevitable tendency to be conflicting, which underlies the ethical conflicts. Also in the field of narrative ethics, lies the need to understand and cope with the multiplicity of aspects involved moral decisions. The Relativism
advocates tolerance, accepting ethical stances contradict each other. Gave way to the naturalistic fallacy, which seeks to define ethics in naturalistic terms. It's a chain that has been harshly criticized and opposed by Catholic and Protestant churches, by advocating ethics in moral issues like abortion and homosexuality.
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