Moral Theories

Moral theories are .. theories. Theories try to explain something; they try to help us understand something. The 'something' that moral theories try to explain is what it is for an action to be wrong, or permissible or obligatory: they try to state necessary and sufficient conditions for any of those: e.g., an action is wrong if, and only if, _____; an action is morally permissible if, and only if ____. Moral theories offer ways to fill in those blanks. 

A moral principle is often related to a moral theory, but states either a sufficient condition(s) for an action having some "moral status" or a necessary condition(s) for some action having some moral status: 

• Sufficient condition(s): "If an action is ___, then it is wrong," or "If an action is ___, then it is morally permissible," or "If an action is ___, then it is obligatory."
• Necessary condition(s): "An action is permissible only if ____," (="If an action is permissible, then it's ______") or, e.g., "Something is a person only if ______" (= "If something is a person, then ________"

Moral theories and principles are often premises in moral arguments. 

Here are some questions:

• How do you develop a moral theory?
• How to test a moral theory, to try to figure out if it is true or false (or closer to the truth, or likely false)?
• What are some of the most popular moral theories, and popular because they are widely believed (and with good reason, we hope) to be closest to the truth?

Before looking at influential theories developed and refined by philosophers, it is useful to start by developing your own moral theory (or theories). Here is one method to do that:

Make a chart with three columns. In the left column, make a long list of actions (and we can use character traits too, if you’d like) that you think most people would think are obviously wrong or bad. In the right column, make a long list of actions or character traits that you think most people would think are obviously morally permissible, obligatory or otherwise good. In the middle, list any actions that come to mind but don’t fall into either category. Share your list with others to compare, change, revise, etc. 

Now ask, what is it about the wrong actions on your list that makes them wrong? Why are they on the “wrong” list? What is it about the right/good actions that makes them right or good? Why do they belong on that list? What moral hypotheses best explains this? Your answers here could result in your revising your initial judgments, if you see that some emerging moral principles are inconsistent with any initial judgment.

Here are a few brief readings from 1000 Word Philosophy on some moral theories. 

Some arguably better theories:

• Introduction to Consequentialism by Shane Gronholz
• Introduction to Deontology: Kantian Ethics by Andrew Chapman
• John Rawls's theory of justice (that can modified to be an ethical theory)

Some arguably worse theories:

• Because God Says So: On Divine Command Theory by Spencer Case
• Moral Relativism ("The culture approves of doing X, so doing X is not wrong.")
• Moral Subjectivism ("I'm OK with doing Y, so my doing Y is not wrong," etc.)
• Egoism

And on whether there are any truths or facts in ethics, general or particular, some writings on "meta-ethics":

• Ethical Realism by Thomas Metcalf
• Moral Error Theory by Ian Tully