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31 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Virtue Ethics
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the cultivation of a virtuous character and the performance of actions that reflect this character are the fundamental ethical goods
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Doctrine of the Four Causes
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Material Cause
Formal Cause Efficient Cause Final Cause |
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Material Cause
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potency, potentiality -- the stuff of which the thing is made
intrinsic "of what is it made?" |
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Formal Cause
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that which accounts for the thing being the kind of thing it is -- how matter is organized
intrinsic "what is it?" |
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Efficient Cause
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that which brought the thing into existence, or into a particular state
extrinsic "what brought it about" |
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Final Cause
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that for the sake of which the thing exists -- function or purpose
extrinsic "what is is function" |
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Teleology
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the theory that all natural things are designed so as to have specific functions or purposes
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Nicomachean Ethics
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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 |
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Eudaemonia
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good guiding spirit
2 factors: -factors under one's control: the actions we freely choose to perform -factors outside of one's control -- disease |
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Common Views of Happiness
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financial - wealth
hedonism -bodily pleasure political view - being honored happiness - virtueeee |
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Function Argument
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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 |
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Happiness
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living a life characterized by excellence, rational activity
pleasure and the absence of pain |
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Intellectual Virtues
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studying the speculative, practical and productive sciences
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Moral Virtues
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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 |
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The Doctrine of the Mean
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moral virtues are means between the extremes of excess and deficiency
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Consequentialist Ethics
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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 |
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Principle of Utility (greatest happiness principle)
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actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness
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The Swine Objection to Utilitarianism
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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
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Mill's Response to the Swine Objection
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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. |
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Deontological Ethics
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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 |
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Aristotelianism
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-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 |
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Kant's critique of Aristotelian Ethics
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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
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morality
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the pure unconditional self-determination of a rational will
-our knowledge of the fundamental principles of morality is a priori |
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hypothetical imperatives
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command conditionally
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un-hypothetical imperatives
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command unconditionally
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the self determination of a rational will
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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 |
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Formal of Universal Law
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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 |
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Formula of Humanity
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always treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, as an end and never merely as a means
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2nd Illustration
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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 |
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4th Illustration
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Maxim : I will neither give nor receive charitable assistance
-Universal Form: no person ever renders charitable assistance to others -the law is internally consistent |