Moral particularism

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Moral particularism is the philosophical doctrine that moral principles are inefficient or contradictory, and that the only way to be a moral person is to look at each moral situation on its own. Particularists reject any view of morality that has commandments or a list of principles, and any view of ethics which holds that there is a highest good or an intrinsic good. This directly contradicts rule-utilitarianism, consequentialism, Kantian ethics, religion and Aristotelian ethics, which naturally pisses off a lot of people.

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[edit] Definition

Particularism is holistic about reasons, which is to say that a reason for doing an action in one case, may be a reason against doing an action in another case. When faced with a moral dilemma, people usually fall back on what they've done before, so if you're faced with a decision on whether to punch someone in the face, you might think back to whether it worked out last time you did a sucker-punch, or whether your principles tell you that violence is just always wrong. Particularists tell you to forget all of those considerations, and figure out whether you have a sufficient and justifiable reason to sucker-punch the unsuspecting victim in this case and only this case.

Most particularists adhere to a contributory definition of reasons, which means that they think certain moral considerations add or subtract to the rightness/wrongness of an action, rather than being the deciding vote. If an action breaks a promise but helps a lot of people, a contributory definition of reasons will judge the action as overall good, since the promise breaking is outweighed by helping others (unless your personal moral judgement tells you that keeping promises is more important than helping people).

In short, particularists think that just because an action sucked in one case, doesn't mean it will suck in other cases.

[edit] Jonathan Dancy

Perhaps the most famous particularist is Jonathan Dancy, who has written two books on the subject. In them, Dancy explains that principled ethics don't work because they incorrectly judge an action as wrong where it is right, and vice versa. He proposes that if you take "do not lie" as a moral principle, you're going to come into trouble because lying doesn't always count against the rightness of an action. Actions can actually be good because they involve lying, for example if the SS come to your door and demand to know if you're hiding Jewish refugees. Telling the truth doesn't seem like the right thing to do in this case, and so "do not lie" cannot be a universally working moral principle. Dancy expands this example to prove how "do not kill" and "do not steal" cannot be a moral principle for the same reason - there are situations where both acts are at least morally permissible.

Dancy also tells us how not being a particularist is boring and no fun. Since many board games and card games involve lying, one either has to be a particularist to know that lying is okay in the context of board games, or they have to slap themselves on the wrist every time they put on their poker face. To be a particularist is to be fun at parties, apparently.

[edit] Anti-particularism

Those who oppose particularism include just about every moral doctrine since the birth of early civilization. All religions employ moral principles as part of their world view, such as the Biblical Ten Commandments or Islam's Five Pillars, and the predominant Western conception of ethics, from the Ancient Greeks past the Enlightenment, have included some principles as part of their world-view. Christian fundamentalists frequently denigrate particularism, as "situation ethics," though they also apply this term to utilitarianism and pretty much any moral thinking that doesn't include purportedly absolute commandments.

A philosophical objection to particularism is called generalism. Brad Hooker in Moral Particularism - Wrong and Bad argues that you cannot trust people who are particularists, because you never know if they will keep their promises.

[edit] Application in law

Particularism, when practically applied, doesn't seem to be particularly useful in the judicial system, since judges often cite other past cases as precedent and justification for the decision that they're about to make. To be a particularist judge is to legislate from the bench, something that most people think contradicts the role of the judicial system.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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