How Useful are Ethical Theories for Students? A Sceptical View

Abstract

In ethics classes, students are often asked to form judgements on practical issues and, in doing so, to apply the ethical theories they have learned. It is plausible that this practice is often based on the assumption that applying these theories makes a significant contribution to the justification of students’ ethical judgements. This paper argues that this assumption is doubtful in many educational contexts. My argument identifies two main obstacles. First, there is the ‘Problem of Arbitrary Use’: rather than applying theories responsibly, students often seem to engage in practices such as cherry-picking or theory-hopping to support their pre-existing views. Second, there is the ‘Problem of Unclear Epistemic Contribution’: even if students applied theories non-arbitrarily, it would remain unclear at a fundamental level how doing so could make such a contribution. If my argument succeeds, it has important practical implications: we should resolve or bypass the obstacles identified in this paper, settle for a more modest benefit of theory application, or consider abandoning the application of ethical theories in the practical parts of certain ethics classes.