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44 Cards in this Set
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Peter Singer's Argument |
1. If a being can suffer, then it has interests, Nonhuman animals can suffer, therefore, nonhuman animals have interests 2. All beings having interests are morally considerable, Nonhuman animals have interest, therefore nonhuman animals are morally considerable |
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Speciesism |
The assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals; if there is anything you would do to animals that you wouldn't do to humans; your a speciest |
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Machan |
invokes an idea of another philosopher Robert Nozick's notion of "moral space" to make his argument work |
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Moral Space |
Accoring to Noxivk, is a "definite sphere of moral jurisdiction where [moral agents'] authority to act is respected and protected so it is they, not intruders, who govern themselves and either succeed or fail in their moral tasks. |
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Machan's Argument agianst animal rights |
All moral rights derive from the need for moral space. Nonhuman animals have no need for moral space, as nonhuman animals are not moral agents. Therefore, nonhuman animals do not have rights. |
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Moral Rules |
-Tells us what to do (they are commands; imperatives) |
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Kant identifies two features of moral rules |
1. They command us categorically rather than hypothetically 2. They command us absolutely: they do not admit of exceptions |
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Moral Rules are NOT |
desire based |
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Hypothetical Imperatives |
-If-then -Rules of prudence: consequentialist -If you want X, then do Y (only applies if you want X) |
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Categoical Imperatives |
-Rules of morality; not consequentialist -Be kind to others, period. (Not contingent upon anything else) |
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Kant's Categorical Imperative First Formulation; The Univeral Law Formulation |
-Act only according to the maim (rule or principle) by which you can at the same time will that it should become universal law of nature" (AKA: what would happen if everyone did it?) |
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Kant argues that the Universal Law Formulation yieldsthe following moral rules |
1. Do not lie. 2. Do not commit suicide. 3. Do not steal. |
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What type of ethic is Kant's moral theory? |
-Deontological ethic: maintains that the right making feature of some actions are not based upon the goodness of the consequences brought about by those actions (notice that Kant bases his ethical theory on logical consistency and not the goodness of consequences) |
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The word deontology derives from the Greek word: |
duty |
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Kant's Categorical Imperative Second Formulation; The End of Itself Formulation or The Means/End Formulation |
Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end (AKA, you have the ability to support others, we should never treat others as a "thing" (if we lie, then we are treating them like a thing because you are trying to manipulate them to do/react the way you want them to)}. |
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Perfect vs. Imperfect Duties |
-Perfect duties you cannot fail to follow -Imperfect duties must be a part of your life span -You have BOTH kinds of duties to others and yourself |
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Is happiness the ony thing that is of intrinsic value? |
-Based on confusion (We don't value happiness for it's own sake; rather, it is the feeling we get when we attain things that we value for their won sake) -We value all sorts of things for their won sake, because it makes us happy to have them because we value them (friendship, justive, freedom, etc.) |
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Are consewuences all that matter? |
-Justice -Rights -Backward-looking resaons |
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Justice |
People should be treated justly even when this does not produce the best consequences |
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Rights |
People's rights should not be violated even when doing so produces the best consequences. |
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Backward-looking reasons |
Making a promise imposes an obligation to keep it even if doing so does not produce the best consequences. |
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H.J. McKloski |
Woman comes into sheriff's office, says she was assaulted, says it was an African American, she told her brothers what happened before the sheriff's office, her brothers went to the predominant African American side of town and started raising hell, 10 people died... |
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Angeline York |
-Utilitarianism: Because they got more happiness than from her suffering, but this is wrong |
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Is Everyone's Happiness to be counted the same? |
-This is too demanding of a standard (giving till you yourself are just above the level of those you are helping, the distiction between duty vs. charity is collapse). -Personal relationships are fundamentally ignored (it is right to put the well-being of our family and friends first). |
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The Problem of Utilitarianism |
-The principle of utility leads to conclusions that conflict without moral beliefs about justice, rights, obligations arising from past actions (such as promises), and the priotiry we should give family and friends). -How can the utilitarian respond to this set of objections? |
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The First Line of Defense |
-Some utilitarians maintain that the conflicts between utilitarianism and justice, rights, backward-looking reasons, personal relations, etc. simple do not arise.. -Ignoring justice, violating rights, ignoring obligations arising from previous actions, counting others equally with one''s family and friends never promotes the greatest happiness, and thus are wrong. -Is this reply plausible? (Rachels doesn't think so) |
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The Second Line of Defense |
-The conflicts arise in particular cases when we use the principle of utility and the result conflicts with a rule or principle we think is correct -The solution is to apply the principle of utility to rule and then use those rules to decide what to do in particular cases -This beings utilitarianism into line with what we think should be down in particular cases |
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The Third Line of Defense |
-When the principle of utility leads to conclusions that conflic with out moral beliefs, or moral beliefs must be rejected because they are wrong. -It shouldn't be surprising that some of our moral beliefs are wrong, should it? -But what about those moral beliefs that are strongly held and are well-settled? |
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Bentham |
Rights are nonsense upon stilits (elevated nonsense) |
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Act Utilitarianism |
a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces at least as much happiness as any other act that the person could perform at that time |
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Rule Utilitarianism |
an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance." |
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The Experience Machine thought experiment |
Demonstrates, Nozick thinks, that there are other things besides how our experiences feel that morally matter to us |
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The Matrix Scenario |
-Getting "plugged into," what feels like, a reality of what you always wished to live -Nozick does not think that we should plug in |
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What matters to us other than how our experiences feel? |
-The actual doing of things -The kinds of personas we are (i.e., being certain kind of person) (in the course of doing things, the kind of person you become is important) -Interacting with an authentic environment |
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Nietzsche is skeptical about... |
-The role of reason in figuring out what's true -Ethics is no exception -However, he distinguishes between two types of morality, master morality and slave morality |
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Master Morality |
-This is the one Nietzsche wants us to follow -Involves value creation -Involves power (helping others is a matter of ridding yourself of excess power; let your enemies serve as drainage ditches for your negative emotions) |
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Slave Morality |
-Seeks narrow utility -It's kind of warm-hearted, compassionate way of thinking |
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Thomas Nagel |
What's wrong with terrorism? |
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Nagel's argument |
-If the use of force purposelly targets civilians, then it's immoral -Terrorism targets civilians -Thus, terrorism is immoral |
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The wrong making feature of terrorism is... |
-Targeting innocent persons -It does not matter whether doing so is for a political goal that is otherwise laudatory is good |
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Nicholas Dixon |
Alcohol and Rape |
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Two criteria need to be met for rape to have occured: |
-Actus reus -Mens rea |
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Actus reus |
guilty act--sex was had without the person's consent |
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Mens rea |
guilty mind--the defendant knowingly engaged in sex without consent of was otherwise culpable |
