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Single Idea 5153

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory ]

Full Idea

Questions of conduct do not fall under any art or professional tradition, but the agents are compelled at every step to think out for themselves what the circumstances demand, just as happens in the arts of medicine and navigation.

Gist of Idea

There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1104a08)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.93

A Reaction

It is interesting that some areas of medicine, and a lot of navigation, have become much more precise in modern times. His thought sounds pessimistic, but it is a lynchpin of virtue theory. 'Have the right disposition, then attend to the details'.

The 28 ideas with the same theme [the need for, and value of, formal ethical systems]:

302 What knowledge is required to live well? [Plato]
45 We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good [Aristotle]
46 We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle [Aristotle]
5153 There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation [Aristotle]
7407 Good and evil are what please us; goodness and badness the powers causing them [Hobbes]
4130 There couldn't be a moral rule of which a man could not justly demand a reason [Locke]
21374 We should no more expect ethical theory to produce good people than aesthetics to produce artists [Schopenhauer]
20230 The very idea of a critique of morality is regarded as immoral! [Nietzsche]
21740 I doubt whether ethics is part of philosophy [Russell]
6973 Moral theories are all meta-ethical, and are neutral as regards actual conduct [Ayer]
6974 Moral judgements cannot be the logical consequence of a moral philosophy [Ayer]
9250 Discussing ethics is pointless; moral people behave badly, and integrity doesn't need rules [Camus]
5310 Philosophers study the consequences of ethics instead of its origins [Wilson,EO]
9228 Ranking order of desires reveals nothing, because none of them may be considered important [Frankfurt]
5078 Kant and Mill both try to explain right and wrong, without a divine lawgiver [Taylor,R]
5067 Morality based on 'forbid', 'permit' and 'require' implies someone who does these things [Taylor,R]
4114 Philosophers try to produce ethical theories because they falsely assume that ethics can be simple [Williams,B]
6997 Moral functionalism says moral terms get their meaning from their role in folk morality [Jackson]
7000 Which are prior - thin concepts like right, good, ought; or thick concepts like kindness, equity etc.? [Jackson]
3284 There is no one theory of how to act (or what to believe) [Nagel]
23564 Deep ethical theory is very controversial, but we have to live with higher ethical practice [Walzer]
8034 We still have the appearance and language of morality, but we no longer understand it [MacIntyre]
8036 Unlike expressions of personal preference, evaluative expressions do not depend on context [MacIntyre]
8049 Moral judgements now are anachronisms from a theistic age [MacIntyre]
11911 Some philosophers always want more from morality; for others, nature is enough [Blackburn]
20216 Modern moral theory concerns settling conflicts, rather than human fulfilment [Zagzebski]
20447 The problems is not justifying ethics, but motivating it. Why should a self seek its good? [Critchley]
7098 There is a new sort of moral scepticism, about the possibility of moral theories [Statman]