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Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies

Richard Startup

Open Journal of Philosophy, Volume: 14, Issue: 4, Pages: 941 - 966

Swansea University Author: Richard Startup

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DOI (Published version): 10.4236/ojpp.2024.144062

Abstract

There are three main moral theories: virtue ethics, the deontological approach and utilitarianism. The concern here is how they interrelate, why they come into focus at different times and places, and how they are configured in their application to a modern democratic society. Person-oriented virtue...

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Published in: Open Journal of Philosophy
ISSN: 2163-9434 2163-9442
Published: Scientific Research Publishing Inc. 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68220
first_indexed 2024-11-25T14:21:41Z
last_indexed 2024-11-25T14:21:41Z
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spelling 2024-11-08T11:07:34.7488641 v2 68220 2024-11-08 Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4 Richard Startup Richard Startup true false 2024-11-08 There are three main moral theories: virtue ethics, the deontological approach and utilitarianism. The concern here is how they interrelate, why they come into focus at different times and places, and how they are configured in their application to a modern democratic society. Person-oriented virtue ethics was the dominant understanding in Ancient Greece but within the Western tradition this was later subordinated to the monotheism of Ancient Judaism as modified by Christianity. Of growing importance by the eighteenth century was rights theory which was often still situated religiously. Kant’s principle of the categorical imperative has been highly influential but was challenged by the emerging nature of industrial and capitalist society. Utilitarianism, within which the moral rightness of activity resides in its tendency to promote happiness or unhappiness, represented the decisive move from the transcendental to the immanent approach. Although all three approaches to moral theory continue to be relevant to identifiable situations and aspects of modern society, there has been a substantial turn towards a heavily modified utilitarianism associated with parliamentary democracy and market economies founded on property ownership. The root cause of this is the ability of utilitarianism, as opposed to the other approaches, to handle considerations of number and probability. The concept of utility is fundamental in economics but the idea has evolved away from its origins to mean “preference”. There is a sense in which the straightforward appeal of basic utilitarianism has been “leased out” in modified form to a set of institutional arrangements. Certain “pressure points” in a modern society are noted which pose particular problems pertinent to moral theory. Bernard Williams argues persuasively for an appropriately modified form of virtue ethics. Journal Article Open Journal of Philosophy 14 4 941 966 Scientific Research Publishing Inc. 2163-9434 2163-9442 Virtue Ethics, Deontological Approach, Utilitarianism, Rights Theory, Kant’s Categorical Imperative, Transcendental and Immanent Approaches, Utility as Preference, Bernard Williams 7 11 2024 2024-11-07 10.4236/ojpp.2024.144062 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Other 2024-11-08T11:07:34.7488641 2024-11-08T10:56:59.8455668 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Richard Startup 1 68220__32896__613dc7eaf2fa45478c9f7b83745e1189.pdf 68220.VOR.pdf 2024-11-08T11:05:20.0176582 Output 378784 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
spellingShingle Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
Richard Startup
title_short Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
title_full Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
title_fullStr Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
title_full_unstemmed Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
title_sort Moral Theory in the Western Tradition and Its Application within Modern Democratic Societies
author_id_str_mv d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4
author_id_fullname_str_mv d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4_***_Richard Startup
author Richard Startup
author2 Richard Startup
format Journal article
container_title Open Journal of Philosophy
container_volume 14
container_issue 4
container_start_page 941
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 2163-9434
2163-9442
doi_str_mv 10.4236/ojpp.2024.144062
publisher Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description There are three main moral theories: virtue ethics, the deontological approach and utilitarianism. The concern here is how they interrelate, why they come into focus at different times and places, and how they are configured in their application to a modern democratic society. Person-oriented virtue ethics was the dominant understanding in Ancient Greece but within the Western tradition this was later subordinated to the monotheism of Ancient Judaism as modified by Christianity. Of growing importance by the eighteenth century was rights theory which was often still situated religiously. Kant’s principle of the categorical imperative has been highly influential but was challenged by the emerging nature of industrial and capitalist society. Utilitarianism, within which the moral rightness of activity resides in its tendency to promote happiness or unhappiness, represented the decisive move from the transcendental to the immanent approach. Although all three approaches to moral theory continue to be relevant to identifiable situations and aspects of modern society, there has been a substantial turn towards a heavily modified utilitarianism associated with parliamentary democracy and market economies founded on property ownership. The root cause of this is the ability of utilitarianism, as opposed to the other approaches, to handle considerations of number and probability. The concept of utility is fundamental in economics but the idea has evolved away from its origins to mean “preference”. There is a sense in which the straightforward appeal of basic utilitarianism has been “leased out” in modified form to a set of institutional arrangements. Certain “pressure points” in a modern society are noted which pose particular problems pertinent to moral theory. Bernard Williams argues persuasively for an appropriately modified form of virtue ethics.
published_date 2024-11-07T08:36:13Z
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