Secular ethics
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Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from supernatural revelation or guidance (which is the source of religious ethics). Secular ethics can be seen as a wide variety of moral and ethical systems drawing heavily on Humanism, Secularism and Freethinking.
The majority of secular moral concepts consist, on the grand scale of the acceptance of social contracts, and on a more individual scale of either some form of attribution of intrinsic value to things, Ethical intuitionism[1], or of a logical deduction that establishes a preference for one thing over another, as with Occam's Razor. Approaches like Utilitarianism and Ethical egoism are considered rather more radical.
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[edit] Tenets of secular ethics
Despite the width and diversity of their philosophical views, secular ethicists generally share one or more principles:
- Human beings, through their ability to empathise, are capable of determining ethical grounds.
- Human beings, through logic and reason, are capable of deriving normative principles of behaviour.
- This may lead to a behaviour morally preferable to that propagated or condoned based on religious texts.
[edit] Humanist ethics
Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of human nature, and that knowledge of right and wrong is based on our best understanding of our individual and joint interests, rather than stemming from a transcendental or arbitrarily local source, therefore rejecting faith completely as a basis for action. The humanist ethics goal is a search for viable individual, social and political principles of conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility, ultimately eliminating human suffering.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the world-wide umbrella organization for those adhering to the Humanist life stance.
"Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality."
Humanism is known to adopt principles of the Golden Rule, as in the quote by Oscar Wilde: "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live." This emphasizes the respect for others' identity and ideals.
[edit] Secular ethics and religion
Nearly all atheists, agnostics and other irreligious people adhere to some form of ethical code. Contradictory to claims that morality would be impossible without religion, many state that religion is not necessary for moral behavior at all.[2]. The Dalai Lama has said that compassion and affection are human values independent of religion: "We need these human values. I call these secular ethics, secular beliefs. There’s no relationship with any particular religion. Even without religion, even as nonbelievers, we have the capacity to promote these things." [3]
Those who are unhappy with the negative orientation of traditional religious ethics believe that prohibitions can only set the absolute limits of what a society is willing to tolerate from people at their worst, not guide them towards achieving their best. In other words, someone who follows all these prohibitions has just barely avoided being a criminal, not acted as a positive influence on the world. They conclude that rational ethics can lead to a fully expressed ethical life, while religious prohibitions are insufficient.
That does not mean secular ethics and religion are mutually exclusive. In fact, many principles, such as the Golden Rule, are present in both systems, and some religious people, as well as some Deists, prefer to adopt a rational approach to ethics.
[edit] Key Philosophers and Philosophical Texts
[edit] Holyoake
George Jacob Holyoake's 1896 publication English Secularism defines secularism thus:
- Secularism is a code of duty pertaining to this life, founded on considerations purely human, and intended mainly for those who find theology indefinite or inadequate, unreliable or unbelievable. Its essential principles are three: (1) The improvement of this life by material means. (2) That science is the available Providence of man. (3) That it is good to do good. Whether there be other good or not, the good of the present life is good, and it is good to seek that good.
Holyoake held that secularism should take no interest at all in religious questions (as they were irrelevant), and was thus to be distinguished from strong freethought and atheism. In this he disagreed with Charles Bradlaugh, and the disagreement split the secularist movement between those who argued that anti-religious movements and activism was not necessary or desirable and those who argued that it was.
[edit] Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche based his work on ethics on the rejection of Christianity and authority in general, or moral nihilism. Nietzsche's many works spoke of a Master-Slave Morality, The Will to Power, or something stronger that overcomes the weaker and darwinistic adaptation and will to live. Nietzsche expressed his moral philosophy throughout his collection of works; the most important of these to secular ethics being The Gay Science (in which the infamous God is dead phrase was first used), Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil and On The Genealogy of Morals.
[edit] Kant
On ethics, Kant wrote works that both described the nature of universal principles and also sought to demonstrate the procedure of their application. Kant maintained that only a "good will" is morally praiseworthy, so that doing what appears to be ethical for the wrong reasons is not a morally good act. Kant's emphasis on one's intent or reasons for acting is usually contrasted with the utilitarian tenet that the goodness of an action is to be judged by its results. Utilitarianism is a hypothetical imperative, if one wants _____ , they must do ______. Contrast this with the Kantian ethic of the categorical imperative, where the moral act is done for its own sake, and is framed: One must do ______ or alternatively, one must not do ______.
For instance, under Kantian ethics, if a person were to give money to charity because it was their religious duty (and failure to do so would result in some sort of punishment from a God or Supreme Being) then the charitable donation would not be a morally good act.
[edit] Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism (from the Latin utilis, useful) is a theory of ethics that prescribes the quantitative maximization of good consequences for a population. It is a form of consequentialism. This good to be maximized is usually happiness, pleasure, or preference satisfaction. Though some utilitarian theories might seek to maximize other consequences, these consequences generally have something to do with the welfare of people (or of people and nonhuman animals). For this reason, utilitarianism is often associated with the term welfarist consequentialism.
It is worth mentioning that Utilitarianism is compatible with both secular and religious ethics, since under Utilitarianism it is the "end result" which is fundamental (as opposed to Kantian ethics discussed above). Thus using the same scenario as above, it would be irrelevant whether the person giving money to charity was doing so out of personal or religious conviction, the mere fact that the charitable donation is being is made is sufficient for it to be classified as morally good.
[edit] Further reading
- Secular humanism
- Anthropocentrism
- Environmentalism
- Cognitivism with subcategories Ethical naturalism & Ethical non-naturalism, and opponent Non-cognitivism
- Ethical subjectivism
- Moral realism
- Moral skepticism
- Hedonism
- Normative ethics
- Utilitarian bioethics
- Peter Singer
[edit] References
- ^ Matters of life and death: a course in secular ethics, University of Maryland
- ^ | Is Atheism Consistent With Morality?, paper (2001) by Mark I. Vuletic
- ^ Interview with the Dalai Lama, magazine The Progressive (January 2006), scroll to Question: Apart from Buddhism, what are your sources of inspiration? The Dalai Lama: Human values.
