Phil Exam 3

Front 1

Virtue Ethics

Back 1

the cultivation of a virtuous character and the performance of actions that reflect this character are the fundamental ethical goods

Front 2

Doctrine of the Four Causes

Back 2

Material Cause
Formal Cause
Efficient Cause
Final Cause

Front 3

Material Cause

Back 3

potency, potentiality -- the stuff of which the thing is made

intrinsic

"of what is it made?"

Front 4

Formal Cause

Back 4

that which accounts for the thing being the kind of thing it is -- how matter is organized

intrinsic

"what is it?"

Front 5

Efficient Cause

Back 5

that which brought the thing into existence, or into a particular state

extrinsic

"what brought it about"

Front 6

Final Cause

Back 6

that for the sake of which the thing exists -- function or purpose

extrinsic

"what is is function"

Front 7

Teleology

Back 7

the theory that all natural things are designed so as to have specific functions or purposes

Front 8

Nicomachean Ethics

Back 8

happiness is our ultimate end

-it is desired for its own sake
-complete in the sense that when it is fully achieved it lacks nothing

Front 9

Eudaemonia

Back 9

good guiding spirit

2 factors:
-factors under one's control: the actions we freely choose to perform
-factors outside of one's control -- disease

Front 10

Common Views of Happiness

Back 10

financial - wealth
hedonism -bodily pleasure
political view - being honored
happiness - virtueeee

Front 11

Function Argument

Back 11

3 living activities:

1. Vegetative Activities- nutrition, growth and reproduction
2. Sensitive Activities: sensation, desire, emotion
3. Rational Activities: use of reason to acquire knowledge and to make rationally based decisions or choices

Front 12

Happiness

Back 12

living a life characterized by excellence, rational activity

pleasure and the absence of pain

Front 13

Intellectual Virtues

Back 13

studying the speculative, practical and productive sciences

Front 14

Moral Virtues

Back 14

bringing the appetitive (desiring) and affective (emotional) sides of the soul under the control of reason

Courage- reason controls the emotion of fear
Temperance - reason controls the desire of consumption of food/drink
Patience- habit of rational control of the emotion of anger

Front 15

The Doctrine of the Mean

Back 15

moral virtues are means between the extremes of excess and deficiency

Front 16

Consequentialist Ethics

Back 16

1. the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined entirely by the consequences produced by the action
2. the agent's motive in performing the action is irrelevant to the moral worth of the action

Front 17

Principle of Utility (greatest happiness principle)

Back 17

actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness

Front 18

The Swine Objection to Utilitarianism

Back 18

by making pleasure the exclusive focus of human life, utilitarianism reduces human beings to the level of lower animals -- not a theory worthy of human dignity

Front 19

Mill's Response to the Swine Objection

Back 19

mill distinguishes pleasure between
1- Sensory/ Bodily Pleasures -- eating, drinking, sex, etc.

2. Mental/ Intellectual Pleasures -- higher level of cognition -- reading a book, playing an instrument.

Front 20

Deontological Ethics

Back 20

duty based

-the moral worth of an action is not ultimately determined by the consequences that flow from the action

-an action has genuine moral worth only if it is motivated by a sense of duty -- because you see it is the right thing to do

Front 21

Aristotelianism

Back 21

-the ultimate end of human action is happiness
-human action involves reason and will
-the ultimate end of reason and will is to lead human beings to happiness

Front 22

Kant's critique of Aristotelian Ethics

Back 22

reason and will are neither reliable nor efficient in establishing human happiness

reason and will must have been given to human beings for some other purpose than promotion of happiness

--become persons of good will

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person of good will

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someone who chooses to do what is morally right because it is morally right

Front 24

morality

Back 24

the pure unconditional self-determination of a rational will

-our knowledge of the fundamental principles of morality is a priori

Front 25

hypothetical imperatives

Back 25

command conditionally

Front 26

un-hypothetical imperatives

Back 26

command unconditionally

Front 27

the self determination of a rational will

Back 27

a rational will itself is the source of our moral obligations

1. the structure of reason reveals our fundamental moral obligations
2. a being with a rational will has fundamental worth in Kant's moral system

Front 28

Formal of Universal Law

Back 28

act only according to that maxim (personal rule of action) which can at the same time be willed to be a universal law

2 ways a maxim can fail:
-lead to a contradiction in law/ conception
-results in a conflict of will

Front 29

Formula of Humanity

Back 29

always treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, as an end and never merely as a means

Front 30

2nd Illustration

Back 30

there is a duty to keep one's promises

maxim:I will make promises I don't intend to keep

universal form: all promises are made with the intent that they be broken

Front 31

4th Illustration

Back 31

Maxim : I will neither give nor receive charitable assistance

-Universal Form: no person ever renders charitable assistance to others
-the law is internally consistent