Chapter 2: You Are What You Do Flashcards
agent
one that acts, who has the capacity to initiate a course of events; a person to whom we ascribe actions; one who is responsible for his/her actions
aggravate
make worse
conceptual framework of action
a set of questions used to understand action directly; an action only good when it fulfills certain conditions; help you evaluate human action
determinism
a point of view that holds that human behaviour is a product, not of free will, but of a complex array of physical, social, cultural, psychological and historical causes
free will
God gave humans the ability to choose how they act; we are called to make choices using our conscience in accordance with our ethics/morality
freedom
the human capacity to choose and to act; I am free because I have possibilities and capacities to act on these possibilities - human potential/capacity to act
intention
that which motivates me to act - values; the reason for doing something that appears, at least to me, as a good
logical positivism
analytic philosophy - the theory that is anything has meaning it must be sensory experience to support it - everything is reduced to sensory experience
mitigate
makes less severe or better
motive
a reason for action - everything a person does is motivated by something; you don’t always know the motive of your action right away
naturalism
everything in the universe is part of a unifed system and proved through science, including ethics; everything is part of chain of cause and effect; directly contradicts the concept of human freedom
predestination
the view that my behaviour is predetermined, whether by God or by other causes
providence
Christian’s belief that God’s influence is upon events and actions
human agency
freedom to choose, unlike animals; heart of ethics
action theory
analytic philosophy - effort and awareness to do something
