Discussion Project: Ethics and Sex

An ethical evaluation of sexual behavior could make use of any of the theories we have studied in this class. As a way of reviewing the ground we have covered, this project asks you think about what each of them would have to say about sex. (Good sex vs. bad sex; right sexual acts vs. wrong sexual acts; virtuous sex vs. sexual vices.)

For each of the following theories, try to say briefly 1) what its basic approach to sexual ethics would be, and 2) what specific rules or advice it would offer us about how to live our sexual lives.

A. Utilitarianism

B. Kant’s theory

C. Social Contract theory

D. Virtue theory

E. Feminist theory