We all make ethical judgments. We believe some things are wrong and others are right, and we can get very upset when we see unethical behaviour cause harm and distress. We have no doubt that Adolf Hitler was wrong in his "final solution" and in World War II, or that the behaviour of pedophiles, serial killers and rapists is utterly wrong. But what makes such things wrong?
Ethics are more than just descriptions of behaviour, but are an agreed standard against which behaviour can be measured. The St James Ethics Centre in Sydney answers the question What is ethics? this way: "Ethics is about answering the question “What ought I to do?” Whenever you are faced with this question, you are dealing with ethics". Behaviour is about what is, ethics are about what ought to be.
One view is that ethics arise naturally within human society for quite pragmatic reasons (communities work best if there are some controls on aggressive or harmful behaviours), and thus ethics will vary from place to place and at different times. This basic premise can take several different forms:
Evolutionary ethics - there is no objective basis for what we call ethics, as biologist Professor William Provine said: "Naturalistic evolution has clear consequences .... no ultimate foundation for ethics exists...". Our behaviours are a result of evolution, so that what is successful is 'good'. Cooperation and altruism will sometimes be the most successful, sometimes not.
Subjective ethics - good actions are those which are based on some guiding principle, for example:
Pragmatic ethics - our communities have evolved sanctions against behaviour that is harmful to the common good. Hugh Mackay: ".... morality is a social construction. At its core is the idea of mutual obligation .... willingness to take the rights, needs and welfare of others into account, on the assumption that they will do the same for us."
But while this view can explain why societies develop standards of behaviour, it seems in the end to be unsatisfactory, for two reasons.
I do not myself think very well of what I have said on ethics. I have suffered a violent conflict between what I felt and what I found myself compelled to believe .... I could not bring myself to think that Auschwitz was wicked only because Hitler was defeated ....
In the long run, I don't think we can live with such a view of ethics, nor do I think most of us actually believe it deep down. And, if more and more people accept this view of ethics, it seems likely that their motivation to behave ethically will be diminished if they see advantage to 'break the rules'.
The alternative view of ethics is that right and wrong are as fundamental to the truth of the universe as is gravity, except we have a choice whether we obey the ethics or not. There are two basic views here.
The most common explanation is that right and wrong originate with God, which makes moral standards objective. But this still leaves questions: Which god and which set of ethics? Does God command things because they are right (in which case the standard exists independently of God), or are they right because he commands them (in which case they are arbitrary)? (This is known as Euthyphro's Dilemma.) The common christian respone is that ethics are based on God's character, but I don't think this fully answers the question.
Nevertheless, believing in God does appear to provide an objective basis for right and wrong, and this has been the view of most cultures throughout history. Theists argue that only the existence of a moral God provides ethics with the authority we instinctively give them.
Some modern atheists hold the view that ethics are true without any need for God, just like mathematics is true. Michael Martin says:
Atheists and theists both agree that prima facie this is a moral universe with objective moral values. Atheists who are moral realists attempt to show how this appearance is not deceptive and that such a universe is possible without God.
But this seems to imply that the universe and truth are more than physical, and there is something metaphysical 'out there', something many unbelievers would be unwilling to say. It is also difficult to see how these objective ethics can be known, and known to be true.
So the objective view of ethics also has its problems, but it does seem to correspond better with what we experience and innately know about right and wrong. It works better in practice, but raises some philosophical issues.
One thing is for sure. We will continue to make ethical judgments, but on what basis? Perhaps we can draw the following conclusions:
Those who believe that ethical statements are true and should be followed by everyone have to seriously consider whether this implies that God exists. Perhaps this is a point at which proponents and opponents of moral arguments for God's existence might agree on. Moral considerations give all a reason to examine the proposition that there is a God very seriously. For if there is no God, morality is a more perilous enterprise than if there is.
Comment on this topic in the discussion section
Dear Bertrand Russell, B Feinberg & R Kasrils (editors). George Allen & Unwin, 1969. Letters to and from philosopher Bertrand Russell.
The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis. Demonstrates a wide range of ethical beliefs common to such diverse cultures as Ancient Egyptian, Old Norse, Ancient jewish, Babylonian, Hindu, Ancient Chinese, Roman, Native American, Ancient Greek and Christian. Lewis's book 'Mere Christianity' includes an extended version of the discussion in this topic.
Turning Point, Hugh Mackay. Pan MacMillan. A study by a social researcher into attitudes of Australians.