Philosophy Exam 3

Front 1

Ethical Egoism

Back 1

The view that each person ought to pursue his or her self-interest exclusively.

Front 2

Psychological Egoism

Back 2

The view that each person does in fact pursue his or her self interest exclusively.

Front 3

Altriusm

Back 3

It is possible to promote the interests of others some of the time, and some of the time we should, in fact, do this.

Front 4

Desire vs. Object of desire

Back 4

people always acting to satisfy their desires and that peoples desires are always self interested – or that the object of a person’s desire is always some benefit to that person – are two different claims and must be distinguished.

Front 5

Strategy of Reinterpreting Motives

Back 5

Egoists commonly reinterpret people’s motives to prove their point. But this is counterintuitive, and it requires us to give convoluted re-descriptions of actions that seem obviously altruistic.

Front 6

Good

Back 6

refers to what makes someone’s life go well, or what is good for an individual person.

Front 7

Right

Back 7

refers to what our obligations to other or to ourselves are, or what is right and wrong behavior.

Front 8

Summum Bonum

Back 8

means the highest good. Mill believes moral philosophy must start with an account of the highest good, that is, something which is desirable in itself and seves as the ground for the desirability of all other things, i.e. they are desirable only as means to the end of whatever is the highest good.

Front 9

Greatest Happiness Principle

Back 9

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Happiness means pleasure and absence of pain; unhappiness means pain and the privation of pleasure.
Theory of life: pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends and all desirable things are desirable either for pleasure or as means to promote pleasure and prevent pain.

Front 10

Swine Objection

Back 10

the theory of life is deeply offensive because if the highest end of life is only happiness than we are no better than animals, or, more specifically, swine. Mill counters by saying that people who put forth this view believe human beings to be capable of no pleasure except those of which swine are capable.

Front 11

Higher vs. Lower Pleasures

Back 11

pleasures differ in kind. Higher pleasures involve the intellect, feelings, and imagination, and are qualitatively better than lower pleasures, those involving mere sensation.

Front 12

Decided Preference Criterion

Back 12

if there are two pleasures and most people prefer one over the other, than that pleasure is more desirable.

Front 13

Quality vs. Quantity of Pleasure

Back 13

higher and lower pleasure differ both in terms of quantity and quality.

Front 14

Actual vs. Intended Consequences

Back 14

the morality of an action depends upon the intention of the action, upon what the agent wills to do.

Front 15

Act Utilitarianism

Back 15

Someone does the right thing if the foreseeable or intended effect of his action brings about more happiness than any other action available.

Front 16

Rule Utilitarianism

Back 16

You do the right thing when your action in a situation conforms to a rule that, if practiced generally or universally, would bring about more happiness than any other rule you could have acted on. Less demanding than act utilitarianism.

Front 17

Supererogation

Back 17

An act above and beyond the call of duty.

Front 18

The Harm Principle

Back 18

Self-Protection, preventing harm to ourselves or others, is the only thing that warrants interference in the actions of a person by individuals or society. A person’s own good, whether physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.

Front 19

Public vs. Private Good

Back 19

opinions are not just a private but a public good, and silencing an opinion is to rob the human race, now and in the future, of the good.

Front 20

Infallibility

Back 20

Undertaking to decide a question, for others, without allowing them to hear what can be said on the contrary side.

Front 21

Craft

Back 21

the power to produce a preconceived result by means of consciously controlled and directed action.

Front 22

Technical Theory of Art

Back 22

art is a kind of craft.