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53 Cards in this Set
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- Back
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Relativism |
The doctrine that knowledge, truth and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute |
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Objectivism |
The idea that values and virtues are indifferent to human nature and knowledge |
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Subjectivism |
The doctrine that knowledge is merely subjective and that thr is no external or objective truth |
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Absolutism |
The acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in ethical matters; certain actions are right or wrong regardless of the context |
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Thomson's version of Pro-choice Viewpoint |
The fetus does have a right to life, but we do not have a moral obligation to take care of it |
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Marquis' Version of Pro-Life Viewpoint |
Murder is wrong; when you kill someone you are taking away their F.L.O |
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The Argument from Marginal Cases |
A person can't think that humans matter morally and animals don't; (some humans aren't rational, and some non human animals are rational) |
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Regan's Argument from Marginal Cases |
Animals have moral rights |
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Cohen's Critique of the Argument of Marginal Cases |
The fact that thre are marginal cases do not matter; humans naturally have rationality |
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Theory of Right Action |
A principle we use to distinguish between right and wrong
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Utilitarianism |
Actions are right if they are useful and benefit the majority |
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Consequentialism |
The morality of an action is judged solely by its consequences |
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Hedoism |
Pleasure is what's good, pain is what's bad; pleasure is the highest good and the proper aim of human life |
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The Utilitarian Decision Making Procedure |
1. Determine all possible actions available in the situation 2. Determine what the results of those actions will be in terms of pleasure and pain 3. Sum up the value of each of those circumstances 4. Choose the action that has the highest value |
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2 Qualifications of the Utilitarian Decision Making Procedure |
1. Outcomes are to be assessed with an attitude of indifference 2. There is a distinction between higher pleasures and lower pleasures |
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The Utilitarian Notion of Indifference |
Must make yourself indifferent to the situation; shouldn't weigh your pleasures and pains higher than someone else's |
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Integrity |
A commitment to lifelong projects |
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William's Objection to Utilitarianism |
A person's integrity is made up of the commitment he/she has to the lfie projects he/she has adopted; integrity cannot be measured in terms of pleasure and pain |
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Singer's Argument for our Obligations to Victim's of Famine |
If we have the ability to help those in need without messing up other morals, we should help |
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Singer's Drowning Child Analogy |
If a child is drowning, a person has an obligation to save the child from drowning |
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Marginal Utility |
The point where the result of helping is worse than the result of not doing anything at all |
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Arthurs Objections to Singer's Viewpoint |
We do not have obligations to help those in need; we have a right to keep what we've earned |
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Kantianism |
Rational beings have dignity and should be respected; the only thing that is unconditionally good is good will |
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The Categorical Imperative |
1. Act only on the maxims that you can at the same time will as a universal law 2. Treat people as ends, not merely as means 3. We should consider ourselves lawmakers in a world of universal law |
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Principle of Utility |
Actions are right if they promote happiness, actions are wrong if they promote unhappiness |
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Kant's Argument for the Categorical Imperative and Absolutism |
If an action is wrong for someone in a certain situation then that action is wrong for everyone in every situation |
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Good Will |
Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do |
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Unconditional Goods vs. Conditional Goods |
Unconditional goods are good in every situation; conditional goods are good in some but not all situations |
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O'Neill's Views on Famine Relief |
Famine poses the greatest threat to someone's autonomy therefore we are obligated to help with victims of famine |
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O'Neill's Supporting Biographical Life vs. Mere Biological Life |
Must support someone's biological life in order to support their biographical life; biological life is a necessary condition for biographical life |
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Psychological Egoism |
Everyone acts selfishly in all that they do |
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Virtue Theory |
Emphasizes an individual's character as the key element of moral thinking rather than rules about the acts themselves |
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Aristotle's Function Argument |
1. If the function of x is to do y, then the function of a good x is to do y well 2. All human function is rational activity 3. Therefore, the function of a rational human is one that reasons well |
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Aristotle's Definition of Happiness |
Virtuous activity; moral goodness is necessary for happiness |
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Aristotle's Definition of Virtue |
A habit that aims at the mean in feelings and actions |
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The Different Viewpoints Within Virtue Theory Regarding Criteria of Right Action |
1. Virtue theory has no basis for asserting that courage is a virtue and cowardice is a vice 2. Virtue theory all by itself, can't resolve conflicts between different virtues |
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Hursthouse's Criteria |
You must think like a virtuous person when making decisions |
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Hursthouse's Defense of Non-Supplementation |
A virtue is a character trait required for happiness; we do not need criteria of right action to determine what traits are virtues |
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Anna's Arguments Against Using Criteria of Right Action |
We should reject criteria of right action because a virtuous person does not need a guideline in order to be a virtuous person; the categorical imperative isn't true |
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The Disagreement Between Hursthouse and Annas |
Hursthouse: In some situations there is nothing you can do to fix a problem; virtue theory creates it's own criteria of right action Annas: There is always a moral way out of a situation; we should reject all criteria of right action |
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Natural Law Theory |
A legal theory that recognizes the connection between the law and human morality |
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Aquina's Definition of Law |
A law is a certain ordinance of reason for the common good and promulgated by the one who has care of the community |
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Aquina's Account of the 4 Kinds of Law |
1. Eternal Law: The rational pattern of government of things; the laws of nature 2. Natural Law: The rational creature's participation in eternal law 3. Human Law: The specific rules that humans devise for the sake of government in communities 4. Divine Law: Specific moral precepts revealed by God for the regulation of thought and behavior |
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Just War Theory |
A doctrine of military ethics studied by theologians, ethicists, policy makers and military leaders |
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Jus Ad Bellum |
"Right to war"; a set of criteria that are to be consulted before engaging in war in order to determine whether entering war is permissable |
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Just In Bello |
"Laws of war"; concerns whether a war is conducted justly |
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Intentional vs. Incidental Result |
Intentional: the goal of an action Incidental: Not the goal of an action, but an end result you knew was going to happen |
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Strong Defensive Realism and Deontological Pacifism |
Strong Defensive Realism: we cannot speak meaningfully of state behavior in terms of moral concepts and judgements Deontological Pacifism: the very activity of war is intrinsically unjust; it violates duties of morality and justice |
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Orend's Objections to SDR and DP |
SDR: 1. States sometimes do act on the basis of moral commitments 2. All of the discourse surrounding the "necessity" of state self-regard is quite misleading and ill founded DP: Killing in self-defense is morally permissible |
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Value Realism |
Goodness is a simple, inundefinable, non-natural property |
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The Open Question Argument |
To refute the equating of the property of goodness with some non-moral property, x, whether naturalistic or supernatural |
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Logical Positivism |
Meaningful statement are either analytic or conclusively verigiable or at least confirmable by observation and experiment and that metaphysical theories are therefore strictly meaningless |
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Boo-Hurrah Theory |
Ethical sentences don't express propositions but emotional attitudes |
