Moral Responsability and Ethics

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In 'Ethical Studies', F.H Bradley bases his theory of morality, also known as functions and duties on the fact that each member can not find the function which makes himself, apart from the 'whole' to which he belongs. After Hegel, he believes that each member is part of a bigger 'whole', and that he has a function. Moreover, one can realise himself only through the function he has as a whole. The word 'whole' designates his family, the community and the state to which he belongs. Hegel and his followers, such as Bradley, therefore infer that his functions indicate his moral duties. What does he mean and what does it imply in moral terms? Does it allow any autonomy of judgement? Is it possible to consider the human being as a self-conscious entity, a free man? Can the ethics of social relations be extended, so as to incorporate the idea of one's moral responsibility towards all other human beings?

Extraits

[...] He leaves no room for the cultivation of the individual conscience W.H Walsh, Hegelian Ethics, Thoemmes Press, Bristol p.18. This statement is controversial and some philosophers such as Walsh tries to rehabilitate Hegel, by showing that it is not that the right of the free moral judgment does not exist, but rather that it needs to be exercised on rare occasions W.H Walsh, Hegelian Ethics, Thoemmes Press, Bristol p.19. However, the individual is not at the centre of Hegel's reflection, for he thinks individualism is a danger for the individual for the latter no longer define his identity principally by the public experience. [...]

[...] Moreover, what if I found myself caught into my duties? What about a particular case where my stations and duties conflict? Let us imagine my boss asks me to stay later every day for the firm to be more competitive. My moral duty is to do my best for my firm to be efficient, so I should accept, however, if I do, I won't be able to take care of my children in the evening, which is also part of my duty as a parent. [...]

[...] Webb, T.Schirato, Understanding Boudieu, Sage publication, London p.11. Therefore, he shows for instance that if your mother is a teacher, you are very likely to become a teacher yourself. Each member is determined by the whole to which he belongs. Therefore my duties in the inside answer to my functions in the outside F.H Bradley, Ethical Studies, Calendron Press, Glasgow p.178 By stressing the social character of the individual, Bradley finds the content of moral life in the actions that derive from particular social relations and functions. [...]

[...] Norman, The Moral Philosophers: an Introduction to Ethics, Oxford University Press, New York, 1983p.125/126. Therefore a good or a moral action is an action which permits to reach a greater level of satisfaction compared to before. Utilitarianism focuses exclusively on the overall maximization of benefits, attaches no ethical significance to the nature of the relations between the persons involved R. Norman, The Moral Philosophers: an Introduction to Ethics, Oxford University Press, New York p.134/135 According to Hegel, it is impossible to attain a morality of one's own for the human essence is above all social. [...]

[...] While the English people were brought up in a nation made of communities, that accept to recognize the differences of everybody, you can be Buddhist and English, the French have been socialized in the Republican ideas that there was no difference to be recognized between two French citizens: you are French before being Muslim or Jewish. Therefore our social background, what Bradley calls in a more generic way our ‘station and duties' give us a good guide to moral life. However, is the assumption of a social being a mere opposition to individualism and utilitarianism? This view has been elaborated and should be understood as the rejection of individualism. Philosophers such as Bentham or Mill claim that the society is made up by the addition of individuals. [...]