Introduction to Moral Philosophy

Hi all,

While our committee isn’t about philosophy, the topics we explore and their implications are highly
philosophical. Specifically, they deal with moral philosophy. You don’t need to be an expert in
moral philosophy for this committee, by any means, but an understanding of larger moral
philosophical ideas can help you in debate. If you are struggling to articulate a moral position your
country has on controversial ideas, you can shape your argument and support it with a specific
moral philosophy. Adding structure can be particularly useful if you are having trouble supporting
your country’s position because you personally disagree with it. Additionally, an understanding of
moral philosophy can help you in debate; each moral philosophy has weaknesses which can be
exploited in debate if you see that a country’s position tends to follow a moral philosophical
framework. I’ll start with my own introduction of moral philosophy(admittedly a bare-bones one),
then share with you a number of links about branches of moral philosophy that I think might be
applicable to debate.

Disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert in philosophy, so it’s possible some of you reading this
could be more knowledgeable than I am. This is just for delegates to read and consider, especially
if they are struggling with such broad issues and how to defend their country’s stance.

Overview:

Moral philosophy is the segment of philosophy that deals with morality and the difference between
right and wrong. Different moral philosophical frameworks defend their positions differently and
recommend different courses of action in different circumstances, though.

There are three main branches of moral philosophy that look at it on different levels: metaphysics,
normative ethics, and applied ethics(each of which can be split into many different sub branches, but
I’ll only give you resources to those I think are most likely to be applicable).

Metaphysics(or metaethics in our case) is the broadest and, I think, least applicable branch in our
committee. It questions how we know about right and wrong, as well as what we mean when we talk
about them. Questions in metaphysics are likely to be broad and multi-applicable; they are more
questions of how we think about the world than about real-world circumstances. A classic
metaphysical question is “Is it ever possible to have secure knowledge of what is right and wrong?”
The question forces the reader to consider the world in the largest scope possible and doesn’t relate
to a specific circumstance, but rather how we would consider and understand any possible ethical
dilemma we possibly can face. In case you want to read more about metaphysics or find my
explanation confusing or unclear, here's a helpful like to more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOoffXFpAlU

Normative ethics attempts to create a moral framework that works in real-world situations. An example
of this is the Golden Rule; do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Less detached than
metaphysics, normative ethics is used in the real world and actively considers the world we live in, but
creates a framework for considering all possible moral dilemmas you could consider, rather than just
one. Many of the follow up links I provide will deal with sub branches of normative ethics, as it allows
you to construct arguments in support of many of your country’s positions rather than just one
position related to one specific issue, but in case you want to know more about normative ethics or
didn’t understand my explanation, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C1eTBnhF7U

And lastly, there’s applied ethics(most likely bioethics in our case). The least broad and “philosophical”
of the three main branches, applied ethics questions what is right and wrong under very specific
circumstances. However, I would recommend first looking into metaphysics and normative ethics
before jumping to applied ethics, as their principles are used in applied ethics and can help you in
coming up with a solution to specific moral dilemmas. Many of my follow up links will be related to
applied ethics, but in case you want more of an explanation of the branch overall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-QooWSU9nQ

Moral realism vs antirealism(more or less the same as universalism vs relativism):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krOBdYnWKNk

• Cultural relativism, often used in politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nUn2DyORqk
• Specifically about moral universalism vs relativism(but extremeley long):
  http://www.revue-klesis.org/pdf/Klesis-philosophie-experimentale-8-Katinka-J.P.-Quintelier-Delp

hine-De-Smet-Daniel-M.T.-Fessler-The-moral-universalism-relativism-debate.pdf

• The moral realism vs antirealism or universalism vs relativism is also very similar to the cognitivism vs non-cognitivism debate, to the point that they can nearly be considered the same thing. For simplicity sake, don’t get confused with herminology. The first video is really about the extent of what you should know.

Utilitarianism(especially important to bioethics, and a common form of consequentialism):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a739VjqdSI

• Mohism or state consequentialism, an interesting version of utilitarianism:
  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mohism/#doctrines(another long read for those interested)

• Another interesting version, negative utilitarianism:

https://www.utilitarianism.com/karl-popper.html

Naturalism(important to bioethics):
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/131/Naturalistic-Fallacy

• This idea is extremely important to debates in bioethics because arguments against biotechnology
  because it is “unnatural” is basically a naturalist argument; here’s how you could debate against such a point.

Bioethics:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-wTjH5M-gc
• http://www.bioethics.net/news

I’ve provided a link to a talk about bioethics as well as a site with news about bioethics, but I’m not going
to go further than this for the sake of not being overly reductionist. Whole courses on bioethics are taught
in every university throughout the world and I can’t possibly do it justice with a few links. That being
said, you also don’t have time to take a course on bioethics before the conference. While I would
encourage you to take the time to read a bit about bioethics, I think some understanding of the other
links I’ve provided will help you understand the principles of bioethics; the only difference is that bioethics
will be applying it to specific technologies. The links I’ve given you are meant to be additional things for
you to consider, and I’m afraid I’ll have to leave researching bioethics up to you as delegates to do as
much or as little of as you choose.

Last note: feel free to comment asking clarifying questions if you feel that you have questions that you
couldn’t find the answer to. I will try my best to answer questions when I see them, or other delegate
might answer them.

Also, did you find this helpful?