Ethics Final

Front 1

holds that "morally right" means command by God and "morally wrong" means forbidden by God.

Back 1

The Divine Command Theory

Front 2

As Rachels notes, the Divine Command Theory solves two problems in ethics:

Back 2

the problem of objectivity and the problem of moral motivation

Front 3

What does the word "arbitrary" mean?

Back 3

Not planned or chosen for a reason.

Front 4

Kierkegaard discusses the "teleological suspension of the ethical". What does this mean?

Back 4

The purpose of suspension is faith.

Front 5

holds that morally right actions are those that accord with the Moral Law.

Back 5

The Theory of Natural Law

Front 6

James Rachels rejects the Theory of Natural Law because it rests on an outdated view of science. Who's outdated scientific view does he mention in connection with this objection?

Back 6

Aristotle

Front 7

Who is the most famous proponent of the Theory of Natural Law?

Back 7

Aquinas

Front 8

How do we come to know the Natural Law?

Back 8

Reason

Front 9

What makes right acts right, according to Mill?

Back 9

They tend to promote happiness

Front 10

Utilitarianism places more importance on the greater good of society than on

Back 10

individual rights

Front 11

Singer notes that if one accepts the principle that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable more importance, we ought, morally, to do it, then the traditional distinction between __________ and __________ cannot be drawn.

Back 11

duty; charity

Front 12

According to Kant, the only thing good in itself is __________.

Back 12

A good wil

Front 13

__________ duties are those that must be absolutely followed without fail.

Back 13

Perfect

Front 14

The second formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative states "Always treat people as ends in themselves and never merely as a means to a end." What does this mean?

Back 14

Respect others; don't use them.

Front 15

What is the Kantian view of capital punishment?

Back 15

Kant agrees with capital punishment because it is the only way the killer may realize the desert of his deeds.

Front 16

Hobbes argues that in a state of nature all humans are

Back 16

“essentially equal”

Front 17

Who said, "Follow your conscious and break the law on moral grounds rather than be a cog in an unjust system."?

Back 17

Henry David Thoreau

Front 18

Who was one of the first to champion non-violent civil disobedience?

Back 18

Mahatma Gandhi

Front 19

a set of laws the majority agrees upon in order to escape the state of nature.

Back 19

social contract

Front 20

You are entitled to a possession only if you have earned that possession fair and square or if you have been given that possession by someone who earned it fair and square.

Back 20

Nozick's Entitlement Theory

Front 21

requires equal consideration but not equal or identical treatment

Back 21

principle of equality

Front 22

Singer argues that the capacity for __________ is the vital characteristic that gives a being the right to equal consideration.

Back 22

Suffering

Front 23

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) was based on __________.

Back 23

The right of personal privacy.

Front 24

The case of Terri Schiavo is an example of __________?

Back 24

nonvoluntary passive euthanasia

Front 25

Szasz argues that there should be a drug revolution akin to the __________ revolution.

Back 25

Protestant

Front 26

"It would be foolish to get rid of capital punishment because it is impossible to tell how many people this institution has saved." This example is known as the __________.

Back 26

The Lighthouse Effect

Front 27

Utilitarians like J.S. Mill tend to focus on the _____________ of capital punishment; however, nonconsequentialists like Kant focus on the ___________ of capital punishment.

Back 27

Utilitarians: deterrence effect

Nonconsequentialists: retributive role

Front 28

the view that there are no universal moral principles—that morality varies from culture to culture

Back 28

Ethical Relativism

Front 29

says that moral practices are diverse—different cultures have different moral codes

Back 29

Diversity Thesis

Front 30

there are no universally valid moral principles that apply to all persons or individuals everywhere and at all times

Back 30

Dependancy Thesis

Front 31

the idea that morality varies from person to person.

Back 31

Subjectivism

Front 32

the view that we can never understand any culture except our own well enough to make judgments about it. -the world is sharply divided into separate societies, each with its own system of thought.

Back 32

Moral Isolationism

Front 33

the view that what’s right is what is in our own interests

Back 33

ethical egoism

Front 34

says that there is a standard of right and wrong that God appeals to injudging right acts to be right. And that this standard is independent of his will.

Back 34

Theory of Natural Law

Front 35

Rachel's raises two problems with the theory of natural law. What are they?

Back 35

1. Confuses "is" with "ought" (naturalistic fallacy)

2. rests on an outdated view of science

Front 36

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By the term "happiness" I mean pleasure and the absence of pain; by"unhappiness," pain and the privation of pleasure. (John Stuart Mill)

Back 36

Greatest Happiness Principle, also called the Principle of Utility

Front 37

Act according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law of morality. *Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have them do onto you.

Back 37

Categorical Imperative