1 - Introduction to Ethics

Question 1

What is ethics?

Answer 1

It’s an analysis of normative propositions, using a deductive method, conceptual analysis and thought experiements. It aims to check the consistency between our intuitions and concepts

Question 2

what is deduction?

Answer 2

the interference of of particular conclusions by reference to a general rule of reasoning

Question 3

what is the method of the though experiment?

Answer 3

• To neutralize our tainted intuitions
• To present a parallel case that controls variables
• To identify our intuition in the parallel case and test consistency between the original problem and the parallel case

Question 4

what is deontology

Answer 4

right, wrong, morally obligatory, morally permissible, blameworthy, fair etc (NOT COMPARATIVE)
· right/wrong of action type is decided independently of goodness/badness and can be decided through rightness/wrongness without goodness or badness (“Just do the right thing”)

Question 5

what are axiological concepts

Answer 5

the study of the nature, types, and criteria of values and of value judgments especially in ethics

Question 6

ceteris paribus

Answer 6

use of ‘other things being equal’ in order to isolate a morally relevant difference

Question 7

prima facie

Answer 7

true until proven false

Question 8

what is an arguments against abortion?

Answer 8

§ It is wrong to kill a person (prima facie)
§ The fetus is a person (assumption)
§ Therefore, it is wrong to kill the fetus (conclusion)

Question 9

what are Tooley’s argument on abortion and infanticide?

Answer 9

1 - There is no morally relevant difference between fetus and newborn infant
2 - If it is permissible to destroy a fetus, then it must also be permissible to destroy a newborn baby
3 -It is permissible to destroy fetus and newborn baby because these do not meet the requirement

Question 10

How does Tooley define a person ?

Answer 10

Tooley defines a person as some who has a serious moral right to life - “An organism possesses a serious right to life only if it possesses the concept of a self as a continuing subject of experiences and other mental states, and believes that it is itself such a continuing entity.”

= self-consciousness argument, the individual must be aware of their own mental states and experiences

Question 11

what is a potential objection to Tooley’s argument, and what is a response to that argument?

Answer 11

Obj: “A newborn infant (fetus) has potential to become a person”

Response: We have no duty to turn an entity with potentiality into an actual person (e.g., the kitten case)

Question 12

What is Tooley’s symmetry?

Answer 12

There is no morally significant difference between acts and omissions of acts (i.e., between killing and letting die). They are both either morally permissible or impermissible.

Question 13

What is Thomson’s thought experiment on the violinist case?

Answer 13

Intuition: It is morally permissible for you to unplug yourself from the violinist

Analysis: The violinist’s right to life does not give the violinist a right to your body

Conclusion: It is morally permissible for you to terminate the pregnancy (non-consensual)

Question 14

what are the differences between tooley’s and thomson’s arguments on abortion?

Answer 14

Tooley → If abortion is morally permissible, infanticide must also be morally permissible

Thomson →Even if we concede that a fetus is a person, abortion is morally permissible

o Person and human being
o Conceptual analysis of person (“What is it to be a person”), rather than analysis of abortion by thought experiment

Question 15

what is the intuition of the expanding child thought experiment?

Answer 15

o Intuition: it is morally permissible for you to kill the expanding child in order to save your life (also for a third party)
o Analysis: It is permissible to kill an innocent person who threatens another person’s life

Question 16

What is the intuition of the coat-case thought experiment?

Answer 16

o Intuition: it is morally permissible for a third party to take the coat from Jones and return it to Smith
o Analysis: The fact that Jones will freeze to death is not a reason to deny aid to Smith
o Conclusion: It is morally permissible for a third party to perform abortion for a pregnant woman

Question 17

What is the intuition of the Henry Fonda thought experiment?

Answer 17

o Fonda is in the West Coast
§ Intuition 1): It is not wrong for Fonda to refuse to come to you
o Fonda is near your house
§ Intuition2): It is wrong for Fonda to refuse to come to you
o Analysis: Can the mere distance between you and Fonda generate a right to have Fonda come to you? No
o Conclusion: we should give up the notion of right to life to justify why the pregnant woman is wrong to refuse to bear the fetus

Question 18

What is the intuition of the people-seeds thought experiment?

Answer 18

o Intuition: it is morally permissible for you to get rid of the people-plant
o Analysis: the woman did not consent to allow people-seeds fly in
o Conclusion: the fetus has a right to the woman’s body only if the woman consented to the act that resulted in pregnancy

Question 19

what are thomson’s conclusions?

abortion

Answer 19

o Non-consensual cases: Abortion is morally permissible (the violinist)
o Unintended/unwanted pregnancy from consensual sex: Abortion is morally permissible (the people-seeds case)
o It is permissible for doctors to perform abortion (expanding child and coat case)
o Continuing the pregnancy is not morally obligatory, but an act of goodwill (Henry Fonda case and notions of “generosity”)

Question 20

What is the self-consciousness requirement?

Answer 20

The self-consciousness requirement (p.44): “an organism possesses a serious right to life only if it possesses a concept of self as a continuing subject of experiences and other mental states and believes that it is in itself such as continuing entity’

Question 21

what is the potentiality argument?

Answer 21

o Newborn infants (“fetus”) have potential to become persons
o It is wrong to prevent newborn infants (fetus) from becoming persons

Question 22

What is Tooley’s response to the potentiality argument?

Answer 22

o We have no duty to turn an entity with potentiality into an actual person (ex; kitten case)
o Symmetry: no morally significant difference between acts and omissions of acts (ex: between killing and letting die)
o There is no prohibition on taking active steps to prevent an entity with potentiality from becoming an actual person