Understanding Action, Ethics, and Political Philosophy

What is Meant by Action?

We often perform actions without fully realizing it. An action is a conscious decision we make. It's our intentional behavior.

Involuntary Actions

These actions can be forced upon us, often performed with strength and ignorance due to circumstances.

Voluntary Actions

These actions originate from within the person. They are carried out jointly, sometimes to avoid a greater evil. Strictly speaking, they are conscious and voluntary, though some may be performed out of culpable ignorance.

Elements of Action

Intent

Intent is when we realize something we do routinely.

This can be spontaneous, like hunger, or consciously assumed, like buying a book.

Intentions are consciously accepted inclinations.

Ends and Means

The ends are the desires we consciously and explicitly propose to fulfill, and the means are prerequisites to understanding.

Consequences

An action has different phases, with the result being the end of the process. Consequences can be predictable or unpredictable.

Sense

Sense allows us to understand why an action happens and why it develops in a particular manner.

Practical Philosophy

Practical philosophy includes ethics or moral philosophy, political thought, economics, law, and religion.

Philosophical reflection focuses on activities in everyday life.

Human action implies freedom.

Practical philosophy redefines terms and concepts to understand this reality, distinguishing itself from other fields by its rules.

Morality and Ethics

Ethics

From the Greek, ethics refers to character or mode of being. It's a philosophical reflection on morality, situated in the realm of thought.

Morality

From the Latin, morality refers to customary ways of life and character. It's a dimension of human life related to freedom of choice and the ability to recognize better ways of being and living.

Moral, Immoral, and Amoral

Moral vs. Immoral

Moral is opposed to immoral in relation to content considered morally right.

Moral vs. Amoral

Moral opposes amoral, which lacks a moral structure. Morality necessitates choosing between possibilities and justifying those choices.

Universal Moral Values

As we mature, we realize that moral content changes with time.

Moral Relativism

Moral relativism claims that principles of right and goodness are specific to each group and intended only for them. Good and bad are always relative, encompassing cultural relativism, contextualism, and ethnocentrism.

Skepticism

Skepticism suggests we cannot find criteria for choosing options or distinguishing between right and wrong.

Subjectivism

Subjectivism has spread in the modern world through rationalization, using reason as an instrument to adapt our facilities but not to fix ultimate values.

Emotivism

Emotivism expresses emotions and feelings. David Hume argued that goodness and evil are perceived by the feelings we experience. They express a dual role and influence.

The Field of Political Philosophy

Political sociology and political science describe political activity and structure.

Political philosophers should be familiar with political philosophy traditions.

Political philosophy understands social and political reality by capturing the rationale concepts that set it.