Basics and hedonism Flashcards
What is an argument?
Collection of propositions, one of which (conclusion) intended to support the rest (premise)
Premise?
Reason for accepting conclusion
Deductive argument
Where premises purport to give conclusive reason for accepting its conclusion
deductively valid argument
Premises actually give conclusive reason for accepting the conclusion
Invalidity
When an argument is possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false
Validity
When an argument has premises and conclusions that are consistent with each other
Soundness
When an argument is valid and the premises are true
Consistency
When it is possible for all statements in a collection to be true
What is hedonism?
pursuit of pleasure, ethical theory that pleasure is the aim of life
Basic tenets of hedonism
- How well your life is going is entirely determined by how happy you are
- Happiness = pleasure or enjoyment
- Happiness has intrinsic value
- Nothing else has intrinsic value
Value theory
What makes a good life
Applied ethics
Situational
Normative
Moral ethics
Meta ethics
Abstract ideas
Normativity
Behavioral (ought)
Descriptive
Laws not morality (is)
What is happiness?
a state of mind, purely psychological
Hedonic theory
happiness = pleasure
Emotional state theory
happiness = a positive emotional state with distinctive feature
Life satisfaction theory
happiness = being satisfied with your life
What is intrinsic value?
“ultimate”; something that makes us better off by ourselves
What is extrinsic value?
“instrumental”; something that makes us better off because they help us get something else
Endorsement
feeling happy, cheerful, joyful
Engagement
Feeling energized, exuberant, in the zone
Attunement
Feeling relaxed, calm, confident
The argument from correlation (hedonism)
- Happiness is positively correlated with well-being
- The best explanation of the correlation between happiness and well being is that happiness has intrinsic value
- Happiness has intrinsic value
- Hedonism is true
The argument from many models (hedonism)
- There are many models of good life
- The best explanation of the fact that there are many models of a good life is that happiness has intrinsic value
- Happiness has intrinsic value
- Hedonism is true
The argument from care (hedonism)
- We want the people we care about to be happy
- The best explanation of the fact that we want the people we care about to be happy is that happiness has intrinsic value
- Happiness has intrinsic value
- Hedonism is true
The objection of false beliefs (hedonism)
- If hedonism is true, then happiness makes the same contribution to well being whether or not it is based on true beliefs or false ones
- Happiness based on false beliefs contributes less to well being than happiness based on true beliefs
- Hedonism is false)
Why do most people say no to experience machine?
We want to do certain things, not just have subjective experiences associated with doing them.
The objection from evil pleasures (hedonism)
- If hedonism is true, then happiness that comes from evil deeds has the same potential to make your life better as happiness that comes from good deed
- Happiness that comes from evil deeds is not as good as happiness that comes from good deeds
- Hedonism is false
The objection from autonomy (hedonism)
- If hedonism is true, then the personal autonomy contributes to well-being only insofar as it makes us happy
- Personal autonomy sometimes contributes to well-being even when it doesn’t make us happy
- Hedonism is false
The objection from life’s trajectory (hedonism)
- If hedonism is true, then the quality of a life depends solely on the amount of happiness and unhappiness it contains
- The quality of life also depends on the trajectory of that life
- Hedonism is false
The objection form multiple harms (hedonism)
- If hedonism if true, then the only way you can be harmed by something is if it makes you unhappy
- You can be harmed in other ways than by being made unhappy
- Hedonism is false
