Trump and Modern Ethical Theory

Last updated on: August 15, 2016 at 1:32 am by Thomas Albert Howard

Trump and Modern Ethical Theory 2016-08-13T14:33:39-04:00 Thomas Albert Howard

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

We are still many weeks away from early November and I’m already wondering if there is anything left to say about this election, which the Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse memorably described as a “dumpster fire.” (I confess that I didn’t know that this was a phrase until I looked it up and learned that it has the meaning of “a complete disaster” or “something very difficult that nobody wants to deal with.”)

Recently, however, I’ve found one small glimmer of light in the larger darkness: this election cycle offers a welcome opportunity for teaching about modern ethical theory. If I may generalize: modern ethics has been dominated by two major schools of thought: the so-called Kantian or deontological (or “rule based”) school and that of consequentialism. The former seeks to define rationally defensible rules of moral action, irrespective of the moral agent’s time, place, and historical circumstance. The latter weighs the rightness or wrongness of actions on the basis of their perceived outcomes and effects on society.

If a Republican reasons that under no circumstances will she vote for Trump, she likely falls in the Kantian category. Some things—like throwing babies from skyscrapers–are simply wrong, pure and simple, irrespective of the consequences–even if, say, a mass murderer promised you that he would spare ten adult lives for every baby thrown. From this standpoint, not voting for Trump is a refusal to throw the baby no matter what. Period. But if one reasons—as many have—that a vote for Trump, however repugnant, is still better than the consequences of (another) Clinton presidency, then one falls in the utilitarian camp. In this camp, clear-cut choices often do not exist, and one must frequently choose the lesser of two evils. If you can’t maximize the good, you can at least minimize the bad. Both of these theories command respect among ethical theorists, but, sadly, when flesh-and-blood exponents of the two theories come into conversation, they usually end up talking past one another, because they begin from largely incommensurate premises.

There is, however, another school of thought that has gained salience in recent years: that of “virtue ethics,” the best known representative of which is probably the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, although its modern genealogy goes back to the British philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe and its deeper roots lead back to Aristotle. In contrast to the other two camps, virtue ethics places particular stress on the inner state of the moral actor, the predisposition of the individual or the community to act in virtuous patterns on the basis of cultivated knowledge about what constitutes human excellence or flourishing (in the Aristotelian sense of Eudaimonia). With consequentialists, virtue ethicists are concerned about the broader social outcomes of actions, but they place more emphasis on the intellectual and behavioral disposition, the cultivated ethical habits, of the moral agent—the person trying to know and do the good. With Kantian-deontologists, virtue ethicists are not moral relativists, but they are more skeptical that ethics can be rationally codified once and for all; experience, common sense, and the complexity of things human suggest the difficulty of this desirable enterprise.

Many Christians thinkers, influenced by virtue ethics in recent years, have sought to recover the seven traditional virtues of premodern Christian thought: the classical or cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, courage, and temperance; and the Christian or theological virtues of faith, hope, and love (cf. I Corinthians 13). While one would do well not to see this an exhaustive list, many wise heads have judged it an able template for the moral life. Dante in his Commedia, for instance, encounters the seven virtues, allegorized as heavenly nymphs, just before the appearance of Beatrice, the symbol of divine love. In more recent times, the Neo-Thomist philosopher Josef Pieper has eloquently and succinctly articulated the template of the virtues:

First: the Christian is one who, in faith, becomes aware of the reality of the triune God. Second: the Christian strives, in hope, for the total fulfillment of his being in eternal life. Third: the Christian directs himself, in the divine virtue of love, to an affirmation of God and neighbor that surpasses the power of any natural love. Fourth: the Christian is prudent; namely he does not allow his view on reality to be controlled by . . . his will, but rather he makes . . . [his] will dependent upon the truth of real things. Fifth: the Christian is just; that is, he is able to live “with the other” in truth. . . . Sixth, the Christian is brave, that is, he is prepared to suffer injury and, if need be, death for the truth. . . . Seventh: the Christian is temperate; namely he does not permit his . . . desire for pleasure to become destructive and inimical to his being.

So how might a virtue ethicist size up the current election? She would ask of Trump: does he exhibit the virtues in his private and public life? She would ask of Clinton; does she exhibit the virtues in public and private life? And, not least, she would ask of the American society that has produced the choices for this election: does it evince the virtues?

The answers might vary from individual to individual, to be sure. But I suspect many, despondent and frustrated, would still find themselves concurring with Sasse: we simply have a raging dumpster fire on our hands—and one, curiously, emitting blistering heat and practically no light.

Thomas Albert Howard is professor of humanities and history and holder of the Duesenberg Chair in Ethics at Valparaiso University.

Previous Post

August 12, 2016

Wood Magic

Next Post

August 16, 2016 Could the U.S. Finally Get a Significant Christian Democratic Party?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In 1 Peter, what does Peter say Christ was chosen before but revealed in when?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Before the prophets spoke, revealed at Pentecost Before the creation of the world, revealed in these last times Before Abraham was born, revealed at his baptism Before time began, revealed at the resurrection