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225 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
A right that cannot be overridden by any other consideration.
Asolute Right
A theory that holds that the right act is the one that creates more happiness than any other act available to the agent.
Act Altruism
Theories that focus primarily on the ethical value of kinds of action.
Act cebtered normative theories(conduct-based ethics or ethics of doing)
The implementation of positive measures to end a person’s life.
Active Euthanasia
What we ethically ought to do in a particular situation.
Actual duty
An eighteenth-century philosopher and one of the greatest proponents and exponents of capitalism.
Adam Smith
A legal document that a patient fills out when he or she is competent that constitutes clear evidence of the patient’s wishes.
Advance Directive
Programs designed to create provisions that make it easier for members of minority groups to gain employment, advancement, or admission.
Affirmative Action or Reverse racism
Callahan’s proposal saying that we should guarantee aggressive health care to people below a certain age and only try to make people comfortable after that age.
Age based rationing
Contemporary philosopher that argues ethical value is bound to a great extent to the ways of established communities
Alisdair Macntyre
Unselfish regard for, or devotion to, the welfare of others.
Altruism
Court case that ruled that pornography was protected by free speech and said that it is illegal to ban speech based on content alone.
American Booksellers vs. Hudnut
An ethical view in which human beings are regarded as central; a thoroughly people-oriented view according to which something’s value is determined entirely by how it affects the welfare of human beings.
Anthropocentrism
Subset of normative ethics that focuses on particular ethical problem areas.
Applied Ethics
Ethical theory that says that people attribute to ethical values such queer properties that it is highly implausible that such values can actually exist.
Argument from queerness
Ethical theory that says that the vast differences between different people's ethical judgments are best explained by taking ethical beliefs to be functions of how people are socialized and not of their response to any real objective features of the world.
Arguement from Relitivity
The morality of the strong and powerful; the chief virtues of this morality are pride, self-assertion, etc.
Aristocratic (noble) morality
Developed the most important and influential character-centered or virtue-based ethical theory.
Aristotle
De Beauvoir’s term for a person who does not try to deny his or her freedom by adopting the decision procedures of others; a person who creates his or her own values, independent of what others may have done.
Authentic Person
Theories that hold that value terms are the most basic elements of ethics.
axiological theories
A very large and diverse area within the field of applied ethics that determines which specific or applied actions are right and which actions are wrong.
Biomedical ethics (Bioethics)
A system in which there is private ownership and a free marketplace, and in which profit is the main motivating factor of economic behavior.
Capitalism
Prominent feminist psychologist who advocates a shift to a care-based perspective, or an ethics of caring.
Carol Gilligan
Ethical dictate that applies to every person unavoidably, regardless of what that person wants or desires.
categorical imperative
Feminist philosopher who is one of the most prominent advocates for banning pornography.
Catherine MacKinnon
1942 court ruling that established that freedom of speech does not cover extremely hostile words.
Chaplinsky vs New Hampshire
Theories that focus primarily on the ethical value of having a certain kind of character.
Character centered normative theories
1964 law that made illegal any preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin; intended to guarantee each individual’s right not to suffer discrimination.
Civil Rights Act
The belief that ethical judgment involves an attempt to gain knowledge about the world.
Cognitivism
The belief that an ethical system is justified if it is the most coherent thing to believe of all the available options.
Coherentism
Theory of sexual relations that is based on the idea that communication and sharing would facilitate a more positive sexual experience.
comunication model of sexual relations
The ethical theory that states that ethical judgment is common to those within a human community.
communitarianism
A branch of ethics that compares the different ethical beliefs of different groups of people.
comparative ethics
Theory of sexual relations that is based on the idea of a contractual obligation.
consent model of sexual relations
Ethical theory that holds that the rightness or wrongness of an action does depend entirely on the consequences it produces.
consequentialism (telelogical theory)
The belief that an ethical principle is justified if all free and equal rational people would accept it.
contractarianism
A relationship in which the shareholders agree to take a financial risk in return for the company doing everything it can to make a profit for the shareholders.
contractual relationship
Rights given only to members of a particular society that are guaranteed by laws that are made only in that particular society.
conventional or legal rights
Ethical theory that holds that the institution of morality can only develop within societies rather than existing in some eternal and immutable mind-independent realm.
conventionalism
To start from very different origins but finish in the same place.
converge
Occurs when what is in the interests of one group of stakeholders is also in the interests of the other groups of stakeholders.
convergance
An ethical duty to provide something that someone else has a right to.
correlated obligation
Holds that someone’s right to something entails a correlated obligation in others to provide that thing.
correlativity thesis
The freedom possessed by someone who creates his or her own life plan and values.
creative freedom
Resulted in a court ruling stating that you could withdrawal life-sustaining treatment from a patient if there was extremely clear evidence that the patient would have done so him- or herself.
Cruzan case
Belief that ethical value is relative to culture or society.
cultural relativism
American bioethicist who proposed a health care-rationing plan based on age.
Daniel Callahan
An influential ethical sentimentalist.
David Hume
Terms used to direct conduct, such as “right” and “wrong.”
deontic terms
Theories that hold that deontic terms are not entirely dependent on value terms.
deontilogical theories
The study of the ethical beliefs that have been held by different groups of people in different places and times.
descriptive ethics or non-normative ethics
What a person deserves.
desert
The situation in which no one person knows all the aspects of a corporation’s decisions since different aspects are decided in different sectors.
diffusion of knowledge
When a decision is made without any one person being responsible for all aspects of the decision.
diffusion of responsibility
Obligations we have to entities that have moral standing to perform certain actions for the sake of those entities in and of themselves.
direct obligations
Concerns the distribution of goods and burdens.
distributive justice
Said to happen when a specific ethical prescription is incompatible with another.
divergence
Ethical theory that says that what is right is what God commands.
Divine Command theory
A theory that states that a character trait should stand between a kind of excess and a kind of deficiency.
doctrine of the mean
(Golden Mean)
Ethical view that is opposed to anthropocentrism and that places ecology at the center of its system of value.
ecocentric view
View of justice that holds that distribution of a resource is just when it gives each person an equal amount.
egalitarianism
Sexual harassment court case that ruled that sexual harassment had to be defined from the woman’s perspective; established the reasonable woman standard.
Ellison vs. Brady
The belief that an ethical judgment is simply the expression of an emotion and does not describe the world at all.
emotivism
The field that tries to determine what kinds of obligations we have not only to animals, but also to land, water, and ecosystems.
enviromental ethics
The belief that the entire activity of ethical judgment is built upon the erroneous belief that ethical value exists in the world.
error theory
The belief that ethical value does not exist so, consequently, ethical judgments do not make true claims.
ethical anti-realism
Belief that the study of ethics tries to describe necessary features of reality and that principles of ethics apply and have always applied to everyone.
ethical absolutism
Believe that one always ought to do what is in one’s own self-interest.
ethical egoist
The belief that ethical principles depend upon features that can vary at different times and in different places.
ethical relitivism
Subset of normative ethics that focuses on ethical principles that apply throughout all situations.
ethical theory
The belief that ethical judgments apply to all humans equally, that there are universal ethical truths, and that these truths are the same for everyone.
ethical universalism
A justification of morality based on what promotes the “good life.”
eudaemonism
The policy of trying to produce people with good genes or the right kind of genetic endowment.
eugenics
Type of euthanasia for those who are conscious and rational and can decide for themselves that they do not want to continue treatment.
euthanasia for competent patients
Type of euthanasia for those who are unconscious or in a coma and thus cannot decide for themselves whether or not they want to continue treatment.
euthanasia for incompetent patients
Ethical theory that denies that God exists; says that the individual is ultimately responsible for his own acts, without any real knowledge of right or wrong.
existintialism
Value that is not inherent due to the nature of the thing or object in question
extrinsic value
The ethical theory that holds that human beings should be viewed as members of a community with many interpersonal connections and attachments; also called care-based ethics or an ethics of caring.
feminism
From the Latin word for trust; a company has been entrusted with the financial interests of the shareholders.
fiduciary relationship
Theory that states that like cases ought to be treated alike and different cases ought to be treated differently.
formal principle of justice
Justification based on beneficial future consequences or long-term social utility.
forward-looking justification
The belief that the first principles of morality must be self-evident, obviously true, or impossible to deny.
foundationalism
Mill’s hypothetical situation in which individuals are free to offer for public consumption whatever they choose.
free marketplace of ideas
Nineteenth-century philosopher who believed that God did not exist and that there were no objective ethical values built into the fabric of the universe.
Fredrick Nietzsche
Genetic alteration that is designed to improve a person’s talents or capabilities.
gene enhancement
Genetic alteration designed to treat a genetic disease.
gene therapy
Nietzsche’s theory that established that morality is a human invention, one that may be accepted as is, altered, or rejected in favor of something else.
geneology of morals
Occurs when a person is prevented from acquiring some good or is actively harmed as a result of his or her particular genetic makeup or genotype.
genetic discrimination
Genetic alteration that affects a person’s genotype in a way that will be passed on to the person’s descendants.
germ line alteration
Plato’s story about a shepherd that makes himself invisible in order to do self-serving acts.
Gyges's Ring
Mill’s principle that says government or society is justified in interfering with another person’s liberty only if that other person is acting in a way that will harm others.
Harm to Others Principle
The expression of racist ideas that denigrate a group of people because of their race or ethnic origin.
hate speech
Practice of determining which elements of health care we should guarantee and which elements we should not.
healthcare rationing
A theory that holds that all pleasures have to be given equal ethical weight.
hedonistic utilitarianism
Perspective in which one takes unified wholes as primary and perhaps believes that these unified wholes are greater than the sum of their parts.
hollistic perspective
Second formulation of the categorical imperative; tells us to treat humanity always as an end, never simply as a means.
humanity as an end to itself
A command or prescription that tells you to perform a certain action because you want something.
hypothetical imperative
Rights that a person always possesses; an entitlement that can never be taken or given away or a claim that can never be made invalid.
inalienable rights
A law prohibiting libel, slander, and provoking an unruly crowd to violence.
incitement to riot
Obligations we have to things that have no moral standing to treat those things in certain ways, not for their own sake but simply because it will affect the welfare of some other entity.
indirect obligations
Belief that the ethical value of an action is relative not to the culture as a whole, but to the individual him- or herself.
individual relitivism
A product of the shared life of people within actual communities.
intersubjective
Worth, regard, or value that is inherent due to the nature of the thing or object in question.
intrinsic value
The belief that ethical properties cannot be reduced to any other type of property, and that ethical properties have a unique kind of existence that cannot be grasped through the five senses and explained by science.
intuitionism
Being without foundation or force in fact, truth, or law.
invalid
Smith’s view that while self-interest is the main motivating factor of capitalism, in the end, capitalism has a kind of utilitarian result, creating the optimum state for all individuals.
invisible hand
A twentieth-century American philosopher who developed an influential argument for the claim that there is no important ethical difference between active and passive euthanasia.
James Rachels
Philosopher who argues that children should not do things for their parents because they think they have some debt they have to repay, but rather out of love and respect.
Jane English
Twentieth-century French existentialist.
Jean-paul Sartre
Argued that the law should be used to prevent certain cases of offensive behavior
Joel Feinberg
One of the most prominent error theorists; developed the argument from relativity and the argument from queerness.
John Mackie
A twentieth-century American philosopher who developed one of the most influential theories of distributive justice.
John Rawls
Nineteenth-century philosopher and advocate of utilitarianism; defends free speech by saying it is better to let the speech out into the open than to silence it. Developed the Harm-to-Others Principle.
John Stewart Mill
American philosopher who developed a very influential argument for the acceptability of abortion due to rape.
Judith Jarvis Thompson
Rawls’s theory that social institution possesses the virtue of justice when it is set up in a manner that is fair.
Justice as Fairness
To justify something is to prove that it is just, right, or valid; gives reasons why we should care about morality.
justification of morality
An ethical theory that begins from the idea that the ethical value of an action depends not upon the action’s consequences, but upon the motive of the person who performed the action.
kantianism
Third formulation of the categorical imperative; tells us that every person ought to act on ethical laws or rules that would constitute the legislation of a kingdom of purely rational agents.
kingdom of ends formulation
Ecocentric view that holds that ethical value does not reside only in human beings, but inheres in the land itself.
land ethic
Devlin’s theory that states that the majority is justified in passing laws preventing activity it deems immoral, even if that activity does not directly harm anyone else.
legal moralism
Condition in which a minority’s chance of doing well is the same as the chance of a member of the majority.
level the playing field
View of justice that holds that a distribution is just when it gives people liberty to choose whatever they want.
libertarianism
To be free of the legal responsibility to provide full compensation for any damages a business is implicated in.
limited liability
Concrete principles of justice or specific accounts of what desert and likeness amount to.
material principles of justice
A statement of an action and its intention.
maxim
The existence of this mental process refutes the claim that viewing pornography causes the viewer to be violent toward women.
mental intermediation
Branch of ethics that studies general ethical concepts and attempts to explain the meaning of terms such as right, wrong, good, and bad.
metaethics
Ideology characteristic of the world of business; involves proportional benefit in return for services.
model of reciprocity and contractual obligation
Holds that abortion is ethically wrong under certain conditions but ethically acceptable under other conditions.
moderate position
Term used to describe a theory that has one single foundation.
monistic
A view that holds that ethical value is bound to a great extent to the ways of established communities.
moral conservatism
An ethical theory that focuses chiefly on general rules.
moral legalism
Belief that there is no such thing as ethical value at all.
moral nihilism
A theory that holds that general rules are not the most important part of ethics, rather each action must be evaluated on its own terms in the specific situation.
moral particularism
Belief that doubts that ethical values exists.
moral skepticism
Standing of the fetus in regard to duties owed to it.
moral status of the fetus
Traits that are morally valued.
moral virtues
Ideology characteristic of the relationship between friends; motivated not by the desire to repay for past services, but out of love and affection.
mutuality model of friendship
The metaethical view that all ethical values are identical to natural properties.
naturalism
A line of thinking that says it is erroneous or fallacious to claim that an ethical property is identical to a natural property.
naturalistic fallacy
Rights that explain when it is illegitimate for government or society to interfere with personal liberties.
negative rights
The belief that ethical judgment does not involve an attempt to gain knowledge about the world.
non-cognitivism
Ethical theory that holds that the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend entirely on the consequences they produce.
non-consequentialism
Bioethical principle that states that health care providers should not cause harm to patients.
maleficence
Traits that are valued for nonmoral reasons.
non-moral virtues
Consists of particular judgments about actions and people; makes prescriptive attempts to tell which things are right or wrong, good or bad.
normotive or prescriptive ethics
Belief that there is a standard external to the person making ethical judgments against which those judgments can be held.
objectivism
Tells us that when behavior is offensive enough and innocent passersby cannot avoid seeing it, government or society is justified in imposing penalties on the person perpetrating it.
Offense Principle
Contention that any effort to define the good must fail, since it always remains possible to ask significantly whether or not the proposed definition is actually good.
Open question Argument
Rights that guarantee certain things to individuals, not merely the lack of interference.
opportunity rights
Health care rationing proposal in which the legislature of Oregon uses a prioritized list of services to decide which health care services will be covered and which will not.
Oregon Plan
Concerns the decisions made by groups of people operating within organizational roles.
organizational responsibility
A hypothetical situation in which we have no knowledge of facts about the world such as race, sex, education, etc.
original position
Activity that affects others besides oneself.
other regarding activity
Principle that tells us that if we ought to do something, then it must be possible for us to do it.
ought-implies-can
The act of letting a person die.
passive euthanism
Doing something for someone else’s own good even if he or she would rather you didn’t.
paternalism
Developed the idea of legal moralism.
Patrick Devlin
Philosopher who holds an animal liberation theory in which animals are given equal ethical consideration.
Peter Singer
The love of wisdom.
philosophy
Term used to describe a theory that has multiple foundations.
pluralistic
Aristotle’s term for the truthful characteristic of acting rationally; necessary to be virtuous and obtain happiness.
practical wisdom
A theory that holds that the right action is that which maximizes the satisfaction of the desires or preferences of all the individuals involved.
preference utilitarianism
Theory that prescribes a certain kind of conduct, endorses certain actions, or tells us that we ought to do certain things.
prescriptive ethical theories
A belief that emphasizes that ethical judgments prescribe courses of actions and do not describe states of affairs in the world.
prescriptivism
On the face of things or at first sight; something that we all initially believe is an ethical duty.
prima facie duty
Bioethical principle that tells health care providers to have the good of their patients as their goal
principle of beneficience
Ethical principle that says you are responsible for all the intended effects of your actions but not the unintended effects.
principle of double effect
A principle that states that all people in a society must be treated equally.
principle of justice
Ethical principle that holds that actions are right to the extent that they produce happiness.
Principle of Utility (Greatest Happiness Principle)
Principles used in bioethics refined from ideas of ethical theory such as consequentialism, deontology, and justification.
principles of bioethics
Quality of libertarianism that says we must first and foremost have just procedures, which are procedures that give everyone the greatest amount of liberty possible.
procedural conception of justice
Position on abortion that holds that abortion is always ethically acceptable, no matter when it is performed and for whatever reason.
pro-choice (liberal) position
Rules of conduct that all members of a certain industry agree to follow.
professional standards
Position on abortion that holds that abortion is always ethically wrong, no matter when it is performed and for whatever reason.
pro-life (conservative)
Someone who makes decisions for a patient who is no longer competent; bases decision on what the patient would want, rather than the decision maker’s choices.
proxy decisionmaker
The belief that all human motivation is self-interested.
psychological egoists
The belief that an element of faith must be involved in accepting morality because we cannot prove anything.
rational faith
Ethical theory that holds that true ethical understanding is a purely rational matter in which emotion and sentiment play no central role.
rationalism
Legislation that mandates that a physician must give a patient all information a reasonable person would deem relevant to treatment decisions.
reasonable person standard
A method of ethical justification whose goal is to bring into harmony both our general ethical principles and our considered ethical judgments about particular issues.
reflective equilibrium
1977 Supreme Court decision that ruled that quotas used in affirmative action programs violated the rights of the majority because they treated them as a member of a group rather than as an individual.
Regents of University of California v. Bakke
The affirmative action argument that holds that minorities in this country are owed reparation and compensation for past evils such as slavery and discrimination.
reparation and compensation
Bioethical principle of respect for the patient’s right to control his or her own life.
respect for autonomy
Concerns penalties for violations.
retributive justice
Philosopher who developed an influential theory on the immorality of adultery.
Richard Wasserstrom
Court claimed in Roe v. Wade that this right protected a woman’s right to have an abortion in the first trimester.
right to privacy
A theory that holds that the right action is that which accords with a rule that maximizes happiness.
rule utilitarianism
Term used to describe cases in which a woman decides to have an abortion because she has learned that her fetus has a certain genetic characteristic.
selective abortion (genetic abortion)
Capable of having sensation and feeling; capable of experiencing suffering and enjoyment.
sentient
Hume’s ethical theory that says morality must be based on sentiment, emotion, and passion and not on any rational proof.
sentimentalism
De Beauvoir’s term for a conformist.
serious person
Holds that the chief or overriding obligation of a company is to make the greatest profit possible.
shareholder view
Twentieth-century French existentialist.
Simone De Beauvoir
The morality of the weak and powerless; the chief virtues of this morality are humility, obedience, and the like.
slave morality
Argument that contends that we ought not to follow a particular course of action, because it will lead to a course of unacceptable consequences that we will not be able to control.
slippery slope argument
Ethical theory that states that the rules that govern society originate in an agreement between free and equal individuals.
social contract theory
First great moral philosopher in Western tradition, believed that philosophical reflection is a necessary part of the good life, it is always wrong to harm another person, and that people always act in the way that they think is best.
Socrates
Genetic alteration that affects the genotype only of the person who is the subject of the procedure; these alterations will not be passed on to the person’s descendants.
somatic alteration
An unjustified prejudice, or arbitrary bias, for members of one’s own species and against members of other species.
speciesism
Holds that companies have direct obligations to all of those whose interests are in some way bound to the company.
stakeholder view
Theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action is wholly independent of the goodness or badness of things or states of affairs.
strong deontological theories
Theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action is totally independent of the consequences of the act.
strong non-consequentialist theories
Holds that all rights entail obligations and that all obligations entail rights.
strong version of the correlativity thesis
Belief that ethical judgments are relative to the individual person, or subject, making the judgment.
subjectivism
Related to a particular goal or end.
teleological view
Mill’s book that argues that inequality between the sexes is unjust, supported by no natural foundation at all.
The Subjection of Women
Helped develop the social contract theory, which is the view that morality is founded solely on uniform social agreements that serve the best interests of those who make the agreement.
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions; one metaethical theory holds that morality only makes sense within a tradition.
tradition
Rawls’s principles, the first of which tells us to give citizens as much political liberty as possible, as long as political liberty is equal; the second principle tells us to allow economic inequalities only if they benefit the people who are worst off in society.
two principles of justice
Health care plan that compromises between strict egalitarian and strict libertarian positions; says that on the bottom tier, the government guarantees the poor a decent minimum of health care, and on the top tier, people are allowed to buy whatever kind of health care they want and can afford.
two-tiered system of health care
Terms used to describe a theory that is true by stipulative definition; substantively empty or meaningless.
unfalsifiable or definitionally irrefutable
Applies in some way to all rational beings.
universalizable
First formulation of the categorical imperative; requires a person to formulate a maxim and then conceive or imagine that this maxim is something by which everyone must always live.
universal law formulation
The belief that ethical rightness is identical to the maximization of pleasure.
utilitarianism (hedonistic normative ethical theory)
Terms used to evaluate things or states of affairs.
value terms
The philosophical study of the activity of evaluation
value theory
Hypothetical blindness to the world that occurs when we are in the original position.
veil of ignorance
Able to survive outside of the woman’s womb.
viable
Court ruling that allowed the NSPA to march in Skokie because their demonstration was an expression of political speech.
Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America
Twentieth-century English philosopher who developed a prominent non-consequentialist ethical theory.
W.D. Ross
Theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action is partly independent of the goodness or badness of things or states of affairs but also partly dependent.
weak deontological theories
Theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of actions may sometimes be partly determined by the consequences but is also determined by some other factors that are independent of the consequences.
weak non-consequentialist theories
Holds that all rights entail obligations but not all obligations entail rights.
weak version of the correlativity thesis
Occurs when an employee of a company informs the public that the company is doing something wrong.
whistle-blowing