Applied ethics as the be all and end all of ethics is stupid.

Ethics of Care as the be all and end all of ethics is stupid.

Why?

This is VERY simple. Both effectively resist any sense of responsibility.

If we take the Trolly Problem and side with applied ethics then we veer towards some isolated scenario and such an isolated scenario cannot be applied across numerous other instances. It is an avoidance rather than some useful means to approach any given problem.

If we take the Trolley Problem again and use the Ethics of Care then we dismiss the scenario as ‘unrealistic’ voicing concerns over the lack of human relationships and viewing humans as quantifiable items. If the scenario is skewed and we have vested emotional attachment to the people tied to the track then there is at least a flicker of a reaction. There is still no responsibility taken as many represent the Care as ‘doing whatever they can to avoid responsibility for actions’.

My point here is that ‘justification’ for an action is a postmortem not reason for taking the action. Humans are very, very good at convincing themselves that they acted in some manner after the fact. Most if the time we actually ‘act before thinking’ and then shirk responsibility to varying degrees depending on whether or not the outcome of said action is satisfactory or otherwise.

You may ask ‘if we act without thinking then how can we be responsible?’ Should we be forever stuck in a state of paralysis and decide nothing?

No. Yet this is a common feature too often enough.

‘How should we live?’ Is directly at the heart of philosophical thought and therefore ethics too. It is with this questioning that we can employ such hypotheticals to pick apart our actions and imagine scenarios where we are confused and stressed. By taking the Trolley Problem seriously we can adjust it and move towards a hypothetical act that we would be most happiest with seeing ourselves carry out. Although such scenarios will never play out in real life it aids our sense of action to direct more or less towards how we would act without thinking - even if in reality our action turns out to be against our will. It is precise where we fail to act as we would have wished to that the strength of this view lies. Without this view we are more likely to ‘justify’ our action rather than analyse it and improve upon our possible future actions.

In short, Ethics of Care can too easily be viewed as ‘justification’ and ‘Applied Ethics’ as pure unabated relativism in disguise where any form of ‘justification’ can be readily applied.

The biggest hurdle I have found when approaching the question ‘how should I live?’ is in how I can recover from the ‘justifications’ I invent after acts and in how to use both the Ethics of Care (the interpersonal) and the Applied Ethics (the variety of life) without holding fast to either.

A justification you can live with is still just a lie told to placate yourself and others (herein lies the problem with Care Ethics). How we relate is clearly important, yet within our communication and relation we form false judgement to navigate the spectre of the public world and how it imposes upon us through some imagined body.

In a unique situation (which all situations are) one should probably have a touch stone to refer to (herein lies the problem with Applied Ethics). In an ever shifting scheme of ethical problems we are instantly forgiven due to the diversity of experience; justification is a soothing balm that leaves a scar deep within. If we truly wish to act as we would like to act then failure is essential and facing failures in thought puts us in good stead to perhaps fail in a more manageable way. Without assessing some set hypothetical problem with a serious head we miss the opportunity to hone our future behaviour.

The readiness for humans to avoid the uncomfortable is understandable but I see no ‘Justification’ for doing so other than as a means to slowly destroy yourself and others around you. One possible solution here is to view the ‘uncomfortable’ as a challenge and chip away at it bit by bit … but beware that such an action allows you to ‘justify’ any future actions you take.

Thanks for reading :)