Comments on Hinman's Moral Checklist
1. What is right depends on the culture you are in.
2. No one has the right to judge what is right or wrong for another person
3. No one has the right to intervene when he or she thinks someone else has done something morally wrong.
4. It is hopeless to try to arrive at a final answer to ethical questions.
5. Ultimately, there is one and only one right standard of moral evaluation.
If you find yourself agreeing or strongly agreeing with statement 1, your initial position is most compatible with ethical relativism.
A corollary of ethical relativism is the belief that we ought not to judge others. Statement 2 indicates your position on that issue.
Relativists also often maintain that one cannot intervene in the affairs of others, an issue dealt with in statement 3.
If you strongly agree or agree with statement 4 you will be very sympathetic to moral skepticism.
Statement 5 deals with ethical monism - whether there is some single standard of moral value. If you disagree or strongly disagree with statement 5 you will be very sympathetic to ethical pluralism.
6. What is right depends on what God says is right.
7. There is only one true religion.
8. What my religion says (in the Bible, the Qur'an, or whatever its sacred text is) is literally true.
9. All major religions have something important to tell us about what is right and what is wrong.
10. We do not need to depend on religion in order to have a solid foundation for our moral lives.
Your response to statement 6 gives a partial indication on where you stand on the relationship between religion and moral values. Those who agree with statement 6 are called divine command theorists.
Fundamentalists hold that their religious beliefs are the only truth ( statement 7) and that their interpretation of their religious texts is the only interpretation (statement 8).
Others maintain that the truths of their religion are better understood as metaphorical. Those who see religious truth as metaphorical are more likely to see all major religions as being sources of religious truth (statement 9).
Those who hold that questions of ethics should be resolved independently of any religious beliefs (statement 10) ascribe to the autonomy of ethics theory.
11. Everyone is just out for himself or herself.
12. Some people think they are genuinely concerned about the welfare of others, but are just deceiving themselves.
13. People are not really free. They are just products of their environment, upbringing and other factors.
14. All persons should watch out just for themselves.
Some thinkers have maintained that the only thing that matters in the moral life is the self. This position, called egoism, encompasses two distinct beliefs.
Psychological egoists maintain that we all act selfishly all of the time (statement 11) and those who think they don't are just deceiving themselves (statement 12).
Often, to support their beliefs, psychological egoists invoke some version of determinism - the claim that human behavior is causally determined rather than freely chosen (statement 13).
Other egoists - called ethical egoists - admit that people can act altruistically, but argue that people ought to act selfishly. Statement 14 indicates the degree to which you agree with this position. Perhaps the best known advocate of ethical egoism is Ayn Rand.
15. I do not care what motivates other people; I judge them solely on the basis of what they do.
16. When I am trying to decide what the right thing to do is, I look at the consequences of the various alternatives open to me.
17. The right thing to do is whatever is best for everyone.
18. We should look at the overall consequences of our actions in each and every case.
19. If people try to do the right thing, but it works out badly, they have not acted morally.
20. Pleasure is the most important thing in life.
21. Happiness is the most important thing in life.
When we address moral issues, many of us are particularly concerned with the consequences of specific actions or rules. Both ethical egoists and utilitarians are consequentialists, but there is a critical difference between the two.
The ethical egoist is concerned only with the consequences for the individual agent; the utilitarian is concerned with the consequences for some group.
The extent to which you agree with statements 15 and 16 indicates to what degree you are a consequentialist.
If you agree or strongly agree with statement 17, this indicates that utilitarian considerations are a significant part of your moral theory.
Your agreement with statement 18 is an indication that you will be more favorably disposed to act utilitarianism than rule utilitarianism.
If you disagree with statement 19 you will find that Kantian criticisms of utilitarianism are appealing to you.
Statements 20 and 21 deal with the standard that utilitarians use to judge consequences.
Hedonistic utilitarians (statement 20) say that consequences must be judged in terms of their ability to produce pleasure,
whereas eudaimonistic utilitarians (statement 21) maintain that happiness is the proper standard by which consequences should be judged.
22. If people try to do the right thing, but it works out badly, they still deserve credit for trying.
23. It is important to do the right thing for the right reason.
24. Morality is primarily a matter of doing your duty.
25. What is fair for one is fair for all.
26. People should always be treated with respect.
27. We should never use other people merely as a means to our own goals
Whereas utilitarians concentrate on consequences, many ethical theorists- Immanuel Kant is the most famous- claim that intentions are what really count in the moral life.
If you found yourself agreeing with statements 22 and 23 you will probably find the Kantian viewpoint of deontology attractive.
Kant held that everyday life is too unpredictable to allow the moral worth of an action to depend on consequences. After we have performed an action, it is out of our control; anything might happen as a result. The only thing for which we are truly responsible, and the only thing for which we can take moral credit, is the intention behind our action.
Kant used several criteria in evaluating intentions, and your responses to statements 24-26 indicate how you view those criteria. For Kant, rules must be applied impartially to everyone. Your response to statement 25 indicates the extent to which you agree with Kant on this issue.
In addition to duty and fairness, Kant emphasized the importance of respect. Statements 26 and 27 indicate the degree to which you agree with Kant that we should always treat people with respect and never use them merely as a means to our goals.
28. Morality is basically a matter of respecting people's rights.
29. Some rights are absolute.
30. I have a right to do whatever I want as long as it does not impinge on other people's rights.
31. People have a right to health care, even if they can't afford to pay for it.
32. Sentient or sapient animals have rights.
33. In personal relationships, rights usually are very important.
During the last fifty years, philosophers and political leaders have come to see rights as occupying an increasingly important place in the moral life.
Your response to statement 28 indicates the degree to which you agree with this trend; if you strongly agree with this statement, you will be among those thinkers who hold that morality is only a matter of rights.
Statement 29 highlights a central issue for rights theorists; Are there any rights that are absolute, that can never legitimately be violated?
Some thinkers- in the political realm these are often libertarians- hold that the only restriction on our actions should be the rights of others to noninterference; statement 30 shows the extent to which you initially agree with this claim.
A difficulty faced by rights theorists is how far the notion of rights should be extended:
34. We should always strive to do what is best, not just the moral minimum.
35. Morality applies to your friends in just the same way as it applies to strangers.
In recent years, ethicists have indicated reservations about moral theories.
Some have complained that the notion of moral perfection implicit in most theories does not apply very well to personal relationships. Your responses to statements 34 and 35 indicate the extent to which you are sympathetic to those criticism.
36. Morality is a matter of what kind of person you are.
37. Sometimes courage seems to go too far.
38. Compassion for the suffering of others is an important character trait.
39. It is important to care about yourself.
Although much of ethical theory centers on the evaluation of actions (in terms of intentions, consequences or both), ever since Aristotle there has been another tradition in ethics that concentrates on the development of character.
If you agree with statement 36, you will probably find this tradition compatible with your own ideas.
Your responses to statements 37, 38, and 39 indicate on where you stand on several specific virtues (courage, compassion and self-love)
40. Men and women often view morality differently.
41. Emotions have no place in morality.
42. Morality is primarily a matter of following the rules.
During the past two decades there has been a rapidly growing literature on the relationship between morality and gender.
Some thinkers, such as Carol Gilligan, have argued that males and females view morality differently. Statement 40 measures your position on that issue
Statements 41 and 42 indicate your position on the place of emotions and rules in the moral life.
43. Morality should reflect an individual's ethnic and cultural background.
44. Moral disagreement is a good thing in society.
45. Compromise on issues of morality is bad.
46. Minorities have special rights by virtue of their status as minorities.
Many ethicists argue that race and ethnicity not only do, but should play an important role in ethical theory. Statement 43 indicates your position on this issue.
Diversity often brings disagreements and statements 44 and 45 gage your attitude toward disagreements and how they should be resolved.
Statement 46 indicates your position on the question of whether minorities should have special rights. This is particularly an issue for indigenous people, for whom special protection (i.e. special rights) may be necessary to preserve their cultural identity.