Ethical Traditions

We begin our overview of the main traditions of thought in moral philosophy by noting an early fork in the path between teleological and deontological ethics.33

The word teleological comes from the Greek word telos, meaning purpose or goal, and logos, referring to science or study. Moral philosophers identify the ethical thinking of Aristotle (384–322 BCE) as teleological, because he argued that we discover our human nature and what it means to be good persons by discerning in nature that our purpose is to seek happiness and the civic virtues it requires.

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274 CE) adapted this view to a Christian perspective, and today this theory of ethics is known as the natural law tradition.34

Five hundred years later, after Isaac Newton (1642–1727) proposed mathematical laws to explain nature (and thereby displaced its “purpose” with physics), philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) argued that ethics is simply doing what yields the greatest benefits. This form of reasoning (concerning utility, so it is called utilitarian) is also teleological, but in a different sense.

Philosophers in the natural law tradition hold that doing what is intrinsically right leads to happiness, whereas utilitarian philosophers (in what is now often called the consequential tradition of ethics) argue that actions resulting in greater happiness are “right” because they achieve the best possible results.  These different forms of teleological reasoning identify two of the main theories in moral philosophy.

A third way of reasoning is characterized as deontological, an adjective derived from the Greek word deon, meaning “duty.”35 Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argued persuasively for this tradition of moral philosophy. He asserted that human beings have the rational capacity to discern and do their duty, and rejected consequential arguments that we should rely on the likely results of taking an action to determine what is right.

Kant believed that we could act rationally with a good will, but accepted the view of Newtonian mechanics that overturned the science of Aristotle and thus made it irrational to look for any purpose in the laws of nature.

These three main traditions of thought are the context for doing environmental ethics.36

analogy to rule of law 
constructing presumptions
critical reasoning
faith and reason
environmental ethics 
feelings
ethical relativism
right and good 
testing presumptions

33.  Teleological ethics refers to a “theory of morality that derives duty or moral obligation from what is good or desirable as an end to be achieved. It is opposed to deontological ethics . . .  which holds that the basic standards for an action’s being morally right are independent of the good or evil generated.” “Teleological Ethics,” Encyclopedia Britannica, online at http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9071587/teleological-ethics.

34.  “The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, online at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-law-ethics.

35.  “Deontological Ethics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, online at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological. “In contrast to consequentialist theories, deontological theories judge the morality of choices by criteria different than the states of affairs those choices bring about. Roughly speaking, deontologists of all stripes hold that some choices cannot be justified by their effects—that no matter how morally good their consequences, some choices are morally forbidden.”

36.  Moral philosophers often identify social contract theory as a fourth main ethical approach.

  Exceptional Thinkers...

Philosophy in the West begins with the Greeks, and moral philosophy relies largely on the writings of Aristotle that have survived. Aristotle studied under Plato and taught Alexander the Great. In addition to moral philosophy, Aristotle wrote extensively about aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.

The thinking of Thomas Aquinas has had an enormous impact not only on Catholic teaching, but also on moral philosophy in the West. The recent emphasis in ethics on virtues is only one example. Aquinas argued that, "Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a power. Now a thing's perfection is considered chiefly in regard to its end. But the end of power is act."

Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and social reformer. He supported freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the abolition of slavery, ending the use of corporeal punishment, the right to divorce, and the decriminalization of homosexual acts.

John Stuart Mill argued that a person has the right to act as he chooses so long as he doesn't harm others. He refused to attend Cambridge or Oxford, because he was unwilling to take Anglican orders, as was then required. He loved Harriet Taylor for twenty years before marrying her, after her husband's death.

Immanuel Kant disagreed with the teleological tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas. His emphasis on the autonomy of human reason continues to undermine the moral authority of both church and state. And his moral philosophy supports the contemporary defense of human rights.