Logic and Moral Dilemmas

Logic and Moral Dilemmas

ABSTRACT: Logic is of great importance for the philosophy of education. In particular, logic provides a rational and critical approach in ethics, helping us understand the nature of moral dilemmas. Some suggest that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. Unsolvable moral situations simply reflect implicit inconsistencies in our existing moral code. If we are to remain moral as well as logical, then we must restore consistency to our code. This is accomplished by adding exception clauses to current principles, and giving priorities to some principles over others, or by some other device. I argue that we must accept moral dilemmas as an essential part of real-life reality on the grounds that some moral statements concern values. According to Moore's "axiological thesis," whether these statements are true depends on two factors: the set of alternatives from which we make an evaluation, and the scale of values with which we rate them. Also, it is possible that a given alternative is no better than another in some respect. Furthermore, there is no respect in which they are equally good or equally bad (the so-called "Condorcet's effect"). Thus, we must accept moral dilemmas as real rather than apparent.

Among all the spheres of philosophy of education logic is of great importance. In particular it is logic that provides the rational and critical approach in ethics. So logic help us to understand the nature of moral dilemmas. It has been suggested that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. So our being faced with unsolvable moral situation merely reflected an implicit inconsistency in our existing moral code and that we forced...

... middle of paper ...

...sibus perplexis// Th. Hobbes. A dialogue between a philosopher and a student for the common laws of England. Leibniz G.W. Specimen difficultatis in jure seu dissertatio de casibus perplexis. Doctrina conditiorum. De legum interpretatione/ Ed. by T.Ascarelli. Milano: Giuffre, 1960.P.267-302.

5. Lemmon E.J. Moral Dilemmas// Moral Dilemmas/ Ed. by Christopher W. Gowans. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.P.101-114.

6. Lemmon E.J. Deontic Logic and the Logic of Imperatives// Logique et Analyse. 1965. Vol. VII. No.2. P.39-61.

7. Moore G.E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press, 1960.

8. Rescher N. Ethical Idealism: An Inquiry into the Nature and Function of Ideals. Berkeley,etc.:University of California Press, 1987.

9. Schlesinger G.N. The Sweep of Probability. Notre Dame & London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.