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As you know, ethics is the part of philosophy that tries to answer questions about morality.

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Ethics tries to give an explanation about how we should behave, what is right and what

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is wrong.

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In order to give us an explanation, ethics creates theories.

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An ethical theory is a particular explanation, a vision, about what is right, what is wrong,

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what we should do, how we should behave.

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Maybe you remember that in previous years we have studied the ethical theories of Epicurus,

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Aristotle and John Stuart Mill.

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Let's briefly revise them.

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Epicurus had a hedonistic theory because he thought that what is good produces pleasure

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and what is bad is what creates pain, suffering.

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So we should behave trying to create as much pleasure as possible.

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Remember though that Epicurus didn't think about pleasures like eating or sleeping all

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day.

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He was thinking about avoiding suffering, for example, avoiding fear and living in peace.

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Aristotle, on the other hand, had a eudaimonic theory.

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This means that the main goal of life for Aristotle was to achieve happiness.

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Aristotle thought that happiness could be achieved practicing virtue, which consists

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in always choosing the middle ground between two extremes.

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Extremes are bad, Aristotle thought, they are vices, they won't make you happy.

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You have to find the middle ground between an excess and a defect.

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Not too much, not too little, the middle point, that is virtue.

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If you get used to practicing virtue, you will become a virtuous person, your character

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will change, and you will be happy, that's what Aristotle thought.

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John Stuart Mill created the utilitarian ethical theory.

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Utilitarianism says that an action is good when it produces pleasure, like Epicurus thought,

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but Mill considered that pleasure should be calculated, taking into account what each

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person feels.

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So it's not about my personal pleasure, it is about everybody.

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So whenever you are going to do something, Mill says, you should take into account how

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much pleasure is that action going to produce in other people, and how much pain.

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Are people going to be happy or unhappy with your action?

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Your action is morally correct if it maximizes happiness, or, as Mill said, if it maximizes

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utility.

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This brief revision of Epicurean hedonism, Aristotelian eudaimonism, and utilitarianism

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could be a good starting point to talk about the difference between material ethical theories

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and formal ethical theories.

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Not all ethical theories are equal.

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Some ethical theories give you an objective in life, they tell you what to do.

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They consider that human life has a supreme goal, a very important thing, that we should

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strive to achieve.

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If we achieve it, then that is correct and that is moral.

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So good actions, actions that we should do, are those that take us closer to this basic

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human objective.

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As you would probably have guessed, the three theories that I previously explained, they

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are all of them material, because they give you an objective in life.

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For Epicurus, the objective is pleasure, individual pleasure.

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For Aristotle, it is happiness.

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For Mill, it is utility, social happiness.

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So they are material ethical theories.

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They are also material because they have a content, they tell you the rules.

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As you would probably remember, Epicurus gave you the rules.

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He thought that if you want to be happy with a lot of pleasure, you should behave in a

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certain way.

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You should, for example, avoid extremes.

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You should avoid eating too much or drinking too much, because in the long run that will

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make you suffer, for example, if you don't have money to buy that.

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So he thought that a simple, moderate life would make you happier, would give you more

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pleasure in the long run.

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So he is giving you the rule that you should follow if you want to achieve the great goal

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of achieving pleasure.

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For Aristotle, it is the same.

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He said, practice virtue, choose the middle point if you want to be happy, because that's

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the great goal of human life.

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Mill has the same theory.

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He gave you the rules because he thought that you should always choose what makes the

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maximum number of people happy.

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Now what is the problem with material ethical theories?

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Remember, material ethical theories have an objective.

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So what happens if I don't agree with the objective?

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Then the rules they give me are not valid for me.

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They make no sense.

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If I am not interested in achieving happiness, the theory of Aristotle is not for me, because

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he is giving me rules to achieve an objective that is not relevant to me.

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That's why we say that material theories are hypothetical, because they are only valid

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if you accept the final goal that the philosopher is proposing.

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And these material theories have another problem.

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The problem is that, as they give you the rules, they are heteronymous.

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The word heteronymous means that you don't make the rules by yourself.

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The rules are already made.

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They depend on the objective.

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That's why some philosophers criticize material ethical theories and try to create a different

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way to explain what is right, what is wrong, what we should do.

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These different theories are called formal ethical theories.

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Formal ethical theories don't give you an objective.

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They don't have a content.

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They don't give you the rules.

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They place the focus on autonomy.

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So for these theories, it is very important that you make your own rules and that you

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choose your own goals.

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They are called formal ethical theories because these theories are not telling you the material

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content of what is right or wrong.

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They are only putting emphasis on how the rules that you autonomously create, how these

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rules should be created.

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For a formal ethical theory, the key point is how should we make, autonomously, the moral

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rules so that they are valid.

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In a formal ethical theory, you make your own rules.

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But not all rules are okay.

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There are some rules that are valid, others that are not.

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Well, the formal ethical theory tells you how to create these rules of your own so that

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they are moral, they are valid, they are acceptable.