Philosophy Test 2

Front 1

Glaucon, Plato

Back 1

invisible ring, morality
human nature to get away with whatever possible
sufficient to only appear moral

Front 2

referring to the actual practices of a people and a culture and its beliefs about which behaviors are good or bad

Back 2

descriptive morality

Front 3

used to designate the philosophical task of discerning which moral principles are rationally defensible and which actions are genuinely good or bad

Back 3

normative ethics

Front 4

Tolstoy

Back 4

religion is necessary for morality

Front 5

theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is intrinsically related to the fact that God either commands it or forbids it

Back 5

divine command theory

Front 6

position that there are no objective or universally valid moral principles, b/c all moral judgements are simply a matter of human opinion

Back 6

ethical relativism

Front 7

the doctrine that what is right or wrong is solely a matter of each individual's personal opinion

impossible for an individual to be mistaken about what is right or wrong

Back 7

subjective ethical relativism

Front 8

refers to the claim that what is really right or wrong is relative to each particular society and is based on what that society believes is right or wrong

impossible for a society to be mistaken about what is right or wrong

Back 8

conventional ethical relativism (conventionalism)

Front 9

view that there are universal and objectively valid moral principes that are relative neither to the individual nor to society

implies that it is possible for an individual or an entire society to sincerely believe that their actions are morally right at the same time that they are deeply mistaken about this assumption

Back 9

ethical objectivism

Front 10

theory that people always have a moral obligation to do only what is in their own self-interest

Back 10

ethical egoism

Front 11

theory that the right action is the one that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people

morality cannot be divorced from consequences

Back 11

utilitarianism

Front 12

theory that states we have absolute moral duties that are determined by reason and that are not affected by the consequences

Back 12

Kantian ethics

Front 13

refers to any theory that sees the primary focus of ethics to be the character of the person rather than that person's actions or duties

Back 13

virtue ethics

Front 14

This greek historian long ago (485-430 b.c.) illustrated the views of conventional ethical relativism

Back 14

Herodotus

Front 15

urged that in investigating any culture we should attempt to understand it in terms o the unique internal standards o those ppl w/o judging them to be either inferior or superior to our own

Back 15

Ruth Benedict

Front 16

pointed out the two logically independent theses embedded within the definition of ethical relativism

Back 16

John Ladd

Front 17

states that moral belies, rules, and practices differ from society to society

Back 17

diversity thesis

Front 18

asserts that moral beliefs, rules, and practices are essentially dependent on the cultural patterns of the society in which they occur

Back 18

dependency thesis

Front 19

claims that not only are moral principles objective but also they cannot be overridden and there cannot be any exceptions to them

Back 19

Absolutism

Front 20

refers to any ethical theory that judges the moral rightness or wrongness of an act according to the desirability or undesirability of the action's consequences

Back 20

consequentialism

(teleological ethics)

Front 21

judges the moral rightness or wrongness of an act in terms of the intrinsic moral value of the act itself

Back 21

deontological ethics

Front 22

the most common form of consequentialism

Back 22

utilitarianism

Front 23

the most common form of deontological ethics

Back 23

kantian ethics

Front 24

the property that something has if it is good or desirable in itself

Back 24

intrinsic value

Front 25

desirability of something in terms of other ends it achieves

Back 25

instrumental value

Front 26

the claim that the only causes operating in human behavior are the desires to obtain pleasure and avoid pain

Back 26

psychological hedonism

Front 27

the theory that the moral rightness or wrongness of an action is a function of the amount of pleasure or pain it produces

Back 27

ethical hedonism

Front 28

provided a case for utilitarianism and wrote a passage describing hedonism

Back 28

Bentham

Front 29

added qualitative hedonism to the utilitarianism argument

== that pleasures can differ in their quality and not just in their amount

Back 29

John Stuart Mill

Front 30

life for headaches

lives for convenience

Back 30

Norcross

Front 31

a rule that tells us only what means to use to achieve a desired end

depend on subjective conditions that create our own happiness

Back 31

hypothetical imperative

Front 32

a moral law that tells us what we ought to do but does not depend on any prior conditions or subjective wants and wishes, and contains no qualifications

Back 32

categorical imperative

Front 33

a subjective rule on which an individual acts as opposed to an objective principle upon which one should act

Back 33

maxim

Front 34

life for headaches

lives for convenience

Back 34

Norcross

Front 35

a rule that tells us only what means to use to achieve a desired end

depend on subjective conditions that create our own happiness

Back 35

hypothetical imperative

Front 36

a moral law that tells us what we ought to do but does not depend on any prior conditions or subjective wants and wishes, and contains no qualifications

Back 36

categorical imperative

Front 37

a subjective rule on which an individual acts as opposed to an objective principle upon which one should act

Back 37

maxim