A CRITIQUE OF NORMATIVE ETHICS

TOWARDS A METAETHIC OF

SUPEREROGATION

JERAHMEEL C. CLERIGO Department of Philosophy, Aquinas University, Philippines

Virtue Ethics

- The basis for ethical behavior is the moral character

of the person how one should live his life in this world

- Everyone is called to become virtuous

- Inculcation of good habits and character formation

- To live in virtues would assure one to have a good and happy life

- If everyone is virtuous, then we shall have a good

and harmonious society

Strength: Character Formation

Weakness: Character is built the entire lifetime

Scholastic Ethics

- Man is good and he is bound to do moral acts

- Moral acts are directed by law and applied by conscience

- Primarily centered on the nature of the act itself

- Secondarily on the intention of the moral agent

- Human acts are all directed to their last end

Strength: Highly Systematic

Weakness: Rigorous

Deontology

- The nature of the act is determined based on the categorical imperative

(act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will as universal law)

- It should be an act from and based on duty

- One must act purely only from what is required of him

Strength: Universalizability

Weakness: Conflict of Values

Utilitarianism

- ‘Actions are right in proportion, as they tend to promote happiness;

wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness’

- To say if an act is a moral act, it should be able to maximize utility

- To maximize utility, it should promote ‘the greatest good of the greatest

number’

- What matters for the utilitarian then are the consequences

Strength: Greatest Good is measured by Greatest Number

(i.e. moral rights)

Weakness: Relative Values

Supererogation

- Saintly actions and heroic acts as those which lie far beyond the

limits of one’s duty

- By duty is meant as a minimum requirement for living

- Everyone must be able to perform supererogatory acts and at the

same time not making supererogatory obligatory

Strength: Not morally obligatory; not duty-bound

Weakness: Only for Saintly, Heroic, Martyrly Acts

Method Qualitative research

Specifically, it is a philosophical research

using constructivist approach in order to arrive at a metaethic of supererogation

To articulate such metaethic, critiquing, reconstruction, and synthesis shall be

devised

The main texts Virtue Ethics (Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics)

Scholasticism (Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae)

Deontology (Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals)

Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill’s On Utilitarianism)

Supererogation (James Urmson’s Saints and Heroes)

Tools of analysis Documentary analysis (main texts)

Secondary data analysis (related literature and past studies)

1. The four major ethical systems (virtue ethics, scholastic ethics, deontology,

utilitarianism) , which are truly basis for good human life and living, do not

promote in a higher sense the meaning of better life

2. Supererogation is a concept that can be taken as an alternative, not to

replace, the four ethical systems in terms of realizing ideal but realizable good (better) human life.

Martyrdom, sainthood and heroism, though supererogatory, are highly ideal and

not simply accessible to everyone

3. Friendship and love are the two principles for ideal but realizable

supererogatory life

4. Sacrifice is the highest supererogatory act that can be performed in everyday

human life

Objectives

Discussion and Analysis

A View On Supererogation

Acts that are praiseworthy but not fundamentally obligatory

Arguments:

1. It promotes and focuses on Human Actions that are beyond the call of duty

2. It promotes Virtues that are realized in time

3. It Considers Ethics not solely centered on human actions but on the Ethical

Subject.

4. It is Elitist (only for exemplars)

5. it is not commonly realized by the population

6. It is taken as Moral Generally

It promotes and focuses on Human Actions that are beyond the call of duty

Since Supererogation is done out of utmost volition with pure intention, it is

not demanded, imposed, obliged, and made compulsory

It is always to be taken as something out of Human Person’s natural

goodness for these acts are primarily intended for doing something higher than the usual good and right human actions

It is out of human conscience that one performs Supererogation

Supererogation is not Normative; it is Transformative

It promotes Virtues that are realized in time

Everyone has the capacity to inculcate a virtue in him as long as his act is

consistent, stable, and compatible to other virtues

Everyone would seek consistency in his virtuous actions as a form of habit

establishing a certain form of stability for the right reasons seeing some

compatibility with other virtuous actions

It Considers Ethics not solely centered on human actions but on the Ethical

Subject

It is the Human Person himself doing the act must be given credit

Supererogation Highlights knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness of the

Ethical Subject

The Ethical Subject decides to opt for good and right action transcending it as Supererogatory Actions

It is Elitist (only for exemplars)

it is not commonly realized by the population

It is taken as Moral Generally

It seems that almost all who have lived Supererogatory are those who

have lived a moral life. Moral Life demands rigorous religious living

Not Everyone can live and intend to live a moral holy life but are capable

of doing good to others

Supererogation has to present itself not only for people who live a religious

life

Supererogation is only confined to such moral standards

A New Supererogation

Arguments for reconstructing Supererogation:

1. Still taking Supererogation as Ideal but it should also be at the same

time as realizable 2. Supererogation has to show that Supererogatory Acts can be

performed by everyone in everyday ordinary human life

3. Supererogation has to be taken as Ethical in essence; not in moral or religious sense

Arguments for Synthesis:

1. It aims at higher Ideals but beyond Kantian Duty and Millian common good

2. It transcends egoism , law, and culture

3. Disposition on the part of the Ethical Subject is required

4. Virtuous character traits, ethical ideals, or the goal of promoting human

happiness can in principle be always improved and be further realized in

the context of moral identity, autonomy, and authority of reflection

5. Supererogatory Acts commonly reflected in everyone’s everyday ordinary

human life are friendship, love, and sacrifice

It aims at higher Ideals but beyond Kantian Duty and Millian common

good

Such Ethical Conception promotes Human Flourishing, Excellence, and

Ideal Human living

It is not a Moral Obligation and Social Responsibility; it is the act of full

deliberation to perform Supererogation

It calls for higher reflection; to see and act beyond what is expected

They simply flow from our values

It is the Ethical Subject that takes full responsibility for supererogation; not

even the collective good

It transcends Egoism , Law, and Culture

It goes beyond Egoism for it Affirms and Confirms one’s capabilty to

do something good higher in valuation in such a way that it becomes

a selfless act

It goes beyond what law requires

It is not confined to common beliefs, tradition, and practices

There is a need then to affirm the central role of the Ethical Subject of

having the beneficent intention and altruistic motive clarifying

therefore the merit or demerit and the manifest or hidden nature of

the act in order for us to have it as Supererogatory or not

Disposition on the part of the Ethical Subject is required

Virtuous character traits, ethical ideals, or the goal of promoting

human happiness can in principle be always improved and be further

realized in the context of moral identity, autonomy, and authority of

reflection.

The Ethical Subject does Supererogatory Acts as a

product of his reflection and Autonomy

Supererogatory Acts commonly reflected in everyone’s everyday ordinary human life are friendship, love, and sacrifice.

The Greatest Union is between friends

The Greatest Human Experience is Love

The Greatest Love is Selfless in form and content

Supererogation is not reserved only for exemplars but is

realizable to all human individuals. Every Human Person has

to learn how to form and discover his moral identity in the

light of his final end through the exercise of his autonomy.

This would lead him to do good- specific motives, value-

guided dispositions, and virtue-based actions

Live one day at a time emphasizing

Ethics rather than Rules.

- Wayne Dyer