Readings on Ethics

We begin the last month of classes looking at ethics and politics. The whole purpose of the course is to let you see how these more familiar aspects of politics and social behavior are the logical results of the fundamental conceptions that we have already studied: ontology, epistemology, and anthropology. You will notice that several of the readings in this section include past readings or suggest that you review past readings, particularly on anthropology. This indicates the close relationship between these two conceptions. When we turn to politics, the readings on anthropology and ethics will clearly be relevant. We will reverse the usual order of traditions and begin with the Esoteric tradition (#4 below), and with gnosticism in particular..

We will use the terms “ethics” and “morals” as synonyms, completely interchangeable with one another. The authors’ views on what is right and wrong, good and bad—that is, on what is ethical and unethical, moral and immoral—is the central question of the unit. Pay close attention to the (1) basis or source ultimate ethical authority and (2) the relation of ethical authority to the nature of man—to the philosophic anthropology of the tradition. The concept of happiness or felicity (they are synonyms), discussed in excerpts here and in the readings for philosophical anthropology, is an important clue to both of these elements.

1. Epicurean ethics.

a. Epicurus's Principal Doctrines. Let Epicurus himself (if, indeed, he wrote this) explain the ethical consequences of his ontological, epistemological, and anthropological ideas. What is the proper standard of right and wrong? What is the true basis of justice? What is good and what is evil? Epicurus’s Letter to Menoeceus also presents his ethical doctrines.

b. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, V. 925-1028. Review this reading from the section previously assigned on anthropology. What ethical standards governed man in his pre-social condition?

c. Hobbes, chapters 14 and 15 (excerpts) (review the discussion of good and evil in chapter 6, previously assigned, and the last two paragraphs of chapter 13, previously assigned). In chapters 14 and 15, Hobbes explains the nineteen laws of nature. Check them out. Where do all of these laws come from? What is their purpose? What is their ontological foundation; that is, why are they true, according to Hobbes? Some additional questions are here. Chapter 6 of Leviathan offers a completely different set of definitions for the basic moral virtues, some of which are defined in Aristotle’s Book Two of the Nicomachean Ethics.

Here are Hobbes's nineteen natural laws from chapters 14 and 15 of Leviathan.

d. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, various paragraphs describing man’s moral situation before and after the rise of primitive societies. As with Lucretius’s historical myth, what ethical standards govern man in his pre-social condition?

e. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, §§ or ¶¶ 4-8, and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II, chapter 20 (XX), "Of Modes of Pleasure and Pain." Compare this chapter from John Locke to the aforementioned chapter 6 of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan.

f. Jeremy Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, chapters one and four. This is the prelude to John Stuart Mill’s more sophisticated Epicurean ethics, which he also calls “utilitarianism.” See Utilitarianism, chapter 2.

2. Classical ethics.

a. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, Book Two, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, & 9. This is Aristotle’s basic theory of moral virtue or moral excellence.

b. Plato, Republic, Book III, 395b-c to 414b. In Book III, Plato first criticizes the poets’ portrayal of the gods as immoral and unworthy of reverence. In the passage indicated here, he outlines the education in music and gymnastics that the children must undergo if they are to become proper guardians of the city. Compare this to the inculcation of moral habits suggested by Aristotle in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics.

c. Plato, Republic, Book IV, 443b-445a. After outlining his “city in speech” for the purpose of determining the nature of the four human virtues—wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice—Socrates identifies “justice,” the highest ethical virtue, translated better, perhaps, as “righteousness.” Note the assumptions that Plato makes here in defining “justice”: what is the nature of the soul? What analogy for justice does Socrates suggest? (Compare Plato’s characterization of justice to St. Augustine’s in the opening paragraph of Book XIX, chapter 13, of the City of God: “The peace of the body then consists in the duly proportioned arrangement of its parts. The peace of the irrational soul is the harmonious repose of the appetites, and that of the rational soul is the well-ordered and harmonious life and health of the living creature. Peace between man and God is the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law. . . . The peace of all things is the tranquility of order. Order is the distribution which allots things equal and unequal, each to their own place.”)

d. Alternate or additional reading: (1) Nicomachean Ethics, Book Ten, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9. Book Ten begins with a discussion of pleasure. These chapters of Book Ten provide Aristotle’s Classical critique of hedonism (chapters 4 to 6), the integration of Aristotle's moral and intellectual virtues (chapters 7 & 8), and the connection between Classical ethics and politics (chapter 9). Recall that in Book One of the Nicomachean Ethics (chapter 2), at the outset of his study of human excellence—moral and intellectual—Aristotle asserted that politics is the master science and is inclusive of ethics. Chapter 9 of Book Ten closes the discussion of human excellence or virtue with his account of the necessary connection between ethics and the science of the polis—politics.

(2) Excerpts from Epictetus's Enchiridion, or "Manual" or "Handbook," §§1-14, 21-22, 26, 29-31, 33, 41, and 48. This amounts to about three-to-four pages of reading in total. Enchiridions were codes of personal conduct in the ancient world. Epictetus, a Roman slave, was a famous Stoic sage. Since the Stoics followed the broad outlines of classical philosophy, this is an example of classical ethics as it developed under the later Stoic sages. Complete Enchiridion (MIT) available here. Compare it to Epicurus’s Principal Doctrines, linked above in #1.

3. Classical-Christian ethics.

(1) St. Augustine's On the Free Choice of the Will (trans. Pontifex), pp. 38-49. Why are sinful acts sometimes moral acts?

(2) St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Question 91, Articles 3 (Whether there is a human law?) and 4 (Whether there is a Divine Law?).

(3) St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Question 94 Natural law.

The scholastic format of the Summa Theologica or Summary of Theology (or, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Christian Theology but were Afraid to Ask") of St. Thomas takes some getting used to. He divides the treatise up into numbered Questions. Each numbered question is then divided up into Articles. Each Article is divided into a series of Objections, which turn out to be criticisms of the point that Aquinas ultimately wishes to make, followed by a section headed "On the contrary," which marks the beginning of the argument for St. Thomas's position. Then follows the "I answer that" section, which is the key to St. Thomas's argument, and a series of replies to the initial objections. Focus on the "I answer that" paragraphs and then look at the Objections and their Replies. We will go over this and a few other Questions from the Summa in class.

4. Esoteric conceptions of ethics.

Excerpts from Hans Jonas, Norman Cohn, Ronald Knox, and Jean-Pierre Mahé in a handout. “Antinomian” means “against law” (nomos is Greek for law) or “against norms.” Antinomianism reflects the view or attitude that existing laws or norms have no authority: they have no binding force. They cannot create duty or obligation. Laws and norms may or, perhaps, should be ignored or flouted.

1. Jonas, Cohn, and Knox each have an expression (or two) for the antinomianism that they describe. What are these phrases?

2. Mahé describes a much different view of the gnostic attitude towards existing authority. What is Mahé’s point?