By Curt Collier
This fall, I was offered an adjunct faculty teaching position at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck. It’s been a while since I last taught in a formal classroom—my previous teaching stint was at Hofstra University from 2000 to 2001. Over the past 17 years, I’ve focused on developing career pipelines and job-training opportunities for youth, collaborating with organizations such as the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Historic Preservation Training Center, NASA, Yonkers Public Schools, Long Island University, and, most recently, Mather High School in New York City.
This fall, I’m teaching a course in Ethics, and it feels both wonderful and nostalgic to return to the field of Philosophy, where my academic journey began. “Ethics” in a Philosophy Department is quite distinct from the term’s everyday usage. As I noted in my class syllabus: Ethics is a branch of philosophy focused on the systematic examination of moral principles and values that guide human behavior and decision-making. It involves critically analyzing concepts such as right and wrong, virtue and vice, and developing normative guidelines to inform conduct in various contexts.
Ethical framework vs. personal opinion
Teaching ethics to both young (and older) adults involves emphasizing that ethics is a systematic framework of thought rather than just personal opinion. Opinions are often standalone beliefs that lack an underlying ethical framework. What is sometimes presented as “ethics” is actually just personal belief or preference, which we can accept or disregard without deeper analysis.
Ethics can be categorized into several schools of thought, but they generally fall into three main groups: normative ethics, virtue ethics, and meta-ethics. Normative ethics, as its name suggests, focuses on rules and decision-making. It deals with determining the appropriate actions in various situations. For instance, Utilitarianism, founded by Jeremy Bentham, uses a method known as the “hedonic calculus” to evaluate actions based on their ability to produce the greatest happiness, primarily for oneself but sometimes for others, as well. John Stuart Mill later developed “rule utilitarianism,” which simplifies this by creating general rules that guide behavior without requiring a detailed cost/benefit analysis for each individual action.
‘What kind of person should I be?’
Another form of normative ethics is deontological ethics, which emphasizes the morality of the action itself rather than its consequences. For example, a utilitarian might argue that killing is wrong because it can lead to cycles of revenge and widespread chaos. In contrast, deontologists maintain that certain actions, such as killing, are inherently wrong regardless of their outcomes.
Virtue ethics focuses on how our choices affect our character. Instead of asking, “What should I do?” it asks, “What kind of person should I be?” It emphasizes cultivating virtues such as courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. A virtuous person consistently embodies these traits in their actions and decisions. The approach is less concerned with whether one desires these virtues and more with how they are practiced. This leads to critiques, such as questioning whether a person who avoids cheating and lying, and fulfills their duties, but works at a chemical weapons plant in Nazi Germany, can truly be considered ethical.
Questioning concepts such as ‘good’ and ‘evil’
This brings me to the final branch of ethics, which I find the most intriguing: meta-ethics. Unlike other branches, meta-ethics examines why certain norms and virtues are considered good in the first place. As a nontheist, I’m indifferent to whether our actions please a deity. Additionally, as a gay man raised in an oppressive environment, I recognize that many so-called norms are merely prejudices and fears disguised as moral principles. Like Nietzsche, I question the foundations of concepts like “good” and “evil” and instead seek to understand how we should live as an evolved species on a life-supporting planet in a galaxy that is just one among countless others in the universe.
Is America an ethical nation?
This fall, the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County is embarking on an ambitious project to answer the question: “Is America an ethical nation?” As an ethicist, I recognize that our first step will be to explore this question using various ethical approaches, such as those mentioned earlier. As a pragmatist, I understand that to address this question for a nation deeply rooted in normative utilitarian and deontological ethics, we need to clearly define what we mean by “ethical” and develop a method to test and question these definitions, likely using data. My commitment to meta and systemic ethics means we will also scrutinize our own assumptions. The goal of this yearlong project is to create a straightforward visualization of this question, which I hope we can promote nationwide. I believe it’s possible to develop an algorithm to track whether we are trending toward being more or less ethical, and to use this tool to spark a national dialogue.
Undoubtedly, this project will present numerous challenges—challenges that I’m eagerly anticipating. At this pivotal moment in our nation’s history, I believe creating such a tool is not only feasible but essential. As a community dedicated to an “ethical culture,” we have a responsibility to define what that means and to stand by our principles. Regardless of the obstacles, this is an exciting and worthwhile adventure that we are poised to explore. I hope you’ll join me for this project, as I welcome your input!
Curt Collier is leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County.
See upcoming dates for our National Ethical Indicators Working Group.