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rs > 5.1 virtue ethics and deontology > Flashcards

5.1 virtue ethics and deontology Flashcards

1
Q

What is Aristotle’s argument based on?

A
  • anything that a person does has a telos and a higher aim - it is a rational activity
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2
Q

What is the end of human action, according to Aristotle?

A
  • flourishing, or eudaimonia = a sense of satisfaction that comes from being yourself
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3
Q

What does Aristotle argue that humans should do in order to become better people?

A
  • pursue the virtues or arete
  • the person who aims to cultivate these qualities is maximising his/her potential for a happy life
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4
Q

What are the 2 categories of virtue?

A
  1. intellectual virtues
  2. moral virtues
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5
Q

What is meant by intellectual virtues?

A
  • they can be taught
    e.g. intelligence, wisdom, scientific skill, techne, phronesis
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6
Q

What is meant by moral virtues?

A
  • they need to be acquired through practice
  • Aristotle gives 12: courage, temperance, self-discipline, generosity, friendliness, honesty, righteoues indignation, pride, patience, magnificence, magnamity, wittiness and modesty
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7
Q

What is phronesis?

A
  • the interaction between intellectual or practical wisdom gives you the ability to think over your experience, to analyse a situation based on previous outcomes
  • there are no rules or maxims about how to act, human beings are able to work out for themselves what is good
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8
Q

How does one become virtuous?

A
  • you can only gain moral virtues by practice and they become a habit
  • as our phronesis grows sod do our moral virtues
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9
Q

What is the Golden Mean?

A
  • it is important in every situation to exercise the right virtue to the right degree
  • developing virtues is about acting in the mean between excess and deficiency
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10
Q

In Nicomachean Ethics how does Aristotle characterise virtues?

A
  • Aristotle distinguishes between three different kinds of things:
    1. passions - not virtues as we aren’t morally judged according to how we feel
    2. capacities - not virtues as people aren’t equally praised/admonished for the ability to feel things
    3. therefore they are states of character
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11
Q

What are some strengths of Aristotelian virtue ethics?

A
  • Richard Taylor described it as ‘an ethics of aspiration rather than an ethic of duty’
  • it offers flexible moral guidlines
  • allows reason to develop the whole person
  • takes account of the whole person in forming a judgement about their moral worth
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12
Q

What are some weaknesses of Aristotelian virtue ethics?

A
  • lacks universal application
  • fallacy of composition = if we don’t have a function, this undermines the idea of pursuing eudaimonia
  • not all actions have a mean e.g. adultery
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13
Q

How did Aristotle define virtues in Nicomachean Ethics?

A
  • He distinguishes between three different types of things:
    1. passions
    2. capacities
    3. states of character
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14
Q

Why aren’t passions virtues?

A
  • because we aren’t morally judged according to how we feel
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15
Q

Why aren’t capacities virtues?

A
  • people aren’t equally praised/admonished for the ability to feel things
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16
Q

What are virtues?

A
  • states of character
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17
Q

What does Alisdair MacIntyre argue about modern society and virtues?

A
  • our society is confused about moral behaviour and deontology doesn’t really show us how to behave
  • we celebrate new virtues: celebrity, rich aesthete and bureaucratic managers
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18
Q

Where does MacIntyre argue that real morality comes from?

A
  • shared traditions and values
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19
Q

What are the two types of good, according to MacIntyre?

A
  1. internal good
  2. external good
20
Q

What is meant by internal good?

A
  • a good that is specific to an activity itself and is achieved within it
21
Q

What is meant by external good?

A
  • something of moral value that results from the practice of a good
22
Q

What is an example of an action that leads to internal and external good?

A
  • giving money to a good cause = creates internal good as people benefit and it creates a feeling of satisfaction; it is also an external good as it acts as a good example to others
23
Q

How does Philippa Foot characterise virtue?

A
  • as correctives that continually straighten us out so that eventually we can, through habit become virtuous
24
Q

What does Kant argue about morality?

A
  • it is independent of God’s will: it’s part of the fabric of the universe and something we can all discover through reason
25
Q

What does Kant mean by The Good Will?

A
  • what counts is solely the motive behind the action
  • the good will is in acting solely because it is the right thing to do, it is your duty
  • our judgements of good will are determined by reason alone
26
Q

How is the good will cultivated?

A
  • through the use of reason and by working hard to be rid of those tendencies which make rational decision making impossible
27
Q

What are the two types of imperative Kant identified?

A
  1. hypothetical imperative
  2. categorical imperative
28
Q

What is meant by the hypothetical imperative?

A
  • ‘you ought to do x, if you want to get y’
  • it tells us how to act in order to achieve a specific goal and the commandment of reason only applies conditionally
29
Q

What is meant by the categorical imperative?

A
  • ‘you ought to do x’
  • they embody our moral duty, are unconditionally binding and apply equally to all rational beings
  • it is universal and necessary rather than subjective and contingent, so we CAN use it to work out laws that it is our duty to perform
30
Q

What is the first formulation of the categorical imperative?

A
  • ‘act in accordance with that maxim through which you can act at the same time will that it become a universal law’
31
Q

What does the first formulation mean?

A
  • if the rule/maxim governing our actions can’t be universalised, then it isn’t morally acceptable
32
Q

What is the second formulation of the categorical imperative?

A
  • ‘act as to treat humanity…always at the same time as an end, never simply as a means’
33
Q

What does the second formulation mean?

A
  • people are rational beings who deserve dignity and respect and that means always treating them as an end in themselves
34
Q

What is the third formulation of the categorical imperative?

A
  • ‘act according to the maxims of a member of a merely possible kingdom of ends legislating in it universally’
35
Q

What does the third formulation mean?

A
  • Kant envisions a utopian kingdom where all people share the same moral vision
36
Q

What are some strengths of Kantian deontology?

A
  • justice is always absolute - a human being is of intrinsic worth, a rational creature and not something to be exploited for the greater happiness of others
  • he makes a sharp distinction between duty and inclination preventing us from assuming that what is good for us is good for everyone else
  • he uses objective reason for the basis of his argument
37
Q

What are some weaknesses of Kantian deontology?

A
  • the fact that a rule can be universalised doesn’t mean that it is morally good
  • it creates absolute rules
  • the good will is the only motive that has moral worth
38
Q

How does W.D. Ross adapt deontology?

A
  • he explains why we regard certain courses of actions as good with reference to prima facie duties - that we can instantly recognise and become apparent through our intuition
39
Q

What are the 7 prima facie duties?

A
  1. fidelity
  2. reparation
  3. gratitude
  4. justice
  5. beneficence
  6. self-improvement
  7. non-maleficence
40
Q

What are some problems with Ross’ deontology?

A
  • How do we know which duties apply in which cases?
  • Why do we have moral intuition in the first place?
  • we do something because it is the norm, not because it is our duty
  • seems to suggest that moral truths are self-evident
41
Q

What is Thomas Nagel’s deontology?

A
  • argues that the central question in ethics is the reasoning behind our moral choices
  • there are agent-relative and agent-neutral reasons
42
Q

What is meant by agent-relative reasons?

A
  • a personal reason for you to do something, that wouldn’t necessarily apply to anyone else
43
Q

What is meant by agent-neutral reasons?

A
  • general reasons why anyone should do something
44
Q

Which type of reasons should moral decision making be based on according to Nagel?

A
  • agent-relative reasons, which include deontological reasons
45
Q

What does Bernard Williams add to deontology?

A
  • the moral justification for each under Kant or utilitarianism is going to be complex

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