Ethics, Kant, Nietzsche and International Human Rights Covenants

Ethical Materials and Formal Ethics

Ethics materials: Bad acts, heterogeneous good acts, and formal ethics with an emphasis on freedom.

Aristotelian Ethics

Aristotelian ethics: All human beings by nature form habits that lead to happiness (felicidad). Two classes: Positive: achieving happiness; Negative: the absence of virtue and happiness. Aristotle says virtue is a mean between extremes; reason identifies the mean and the prudent person (prudente) chooses it. Virtue as a mean is a point between extremes. Aristotle also says a person is happy when they have good behavior and some luck (suerte). Contemplation is the highest virtue and the fullest exercise of the mind.

Scholastic Ethics

Scholastic ethics: Moral ideas developed in Christian schools. Scholastics defend the existence of objective and unchanging ethical principles and moral standards about what one should do and avoid. We know these through our intellectual faculties. This inherited the Aristotelian worldview: both agree that humans tend toward happiness, but Scholastics, influenced by religion, say that happiness is achieved fully only after death.

Formal Ethics: Kantian Ethics

Immanuel Kant is considered the father of formal ethics. Kant says our moral duties cannot arise from any particular purpose or desired outcome, nor from any specific content. Because humans are intelligent and free, we must govern ourselves by reason. Reason tells us how to decide. We must act from pure duty and respect. According to this position, inclinations may move us toward or away from duty; if our actions are not done from duty they are not truly moral, but if we act from duty they are moral.

Nietzsche and Nihilism

Nietzsche: He sought to break with Western tradition and reassess the world. According to his thought, our civilization can be inconsistent and vain. He famously declared that "God is dead." Nietzsche urged that we confront nihilism: recognize that human life can be seen as meaningless and face our destiny. He proposed a revaluation of values and offered a critical formal ethics that questions existing moral content rather than prescribing fixed moral contents.

International Covenants and Human Rights

Aims: Integrate human rights into state law. Approved: In 1966 by the United Nations General Assembly. Entry into force and effect: Since 1976, many countries have incorporated the International Covenants into domestic law.

Generations of Rights

• 1st Generation Rights: Formulated alongside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Individual and civil rights: freedom of thought, freedom of religion, civil rights and personal integrity. Political rights include freedom of association and political participation (libertad de partidos).
• 2nd Generation Rights: Economic, social and cultural rights developed after the Universal Declaration: economic rights, social rights and cultural rights (derechos económicos, derechos sociales, derechos culturales).
• 3rd Generation Rights: Rights that appear in later documents, agreements and treaties. These collective or solidarity rights include access to cultural goods and materials and other rights recognized subsequently.

Note: This document preserves key terms and multilingual references (Spanish terms such as felicidad, prudente and suerte) while correcting spelling, grammar and capitalization for clarity.