Ethics 1 Flashcards
Absolutism
= the belief that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, certain actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context of the act.
Agape
= selfless, compassionate love
Consequentialism
= the view that morality is all about producing the right kinds of overall consequences.
Deontological
= the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules.
Ethics
= the branch of philosophy that deals with moral principles.
Maxim
= a concise expression of a fundamental moral rule or principle.
Moral dilemmas
= a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of action, either of which entails transgressing a moral principle.
Relativism
= the idea that the rightness or wrongness of an action is relative to the situation.
Act Utilitarianism
Bentham thought that the utility (usefulness) of an action is based on whether it maximises happiness. This is a consequentialist and relativist idea.
What was Bentham response to act utilitarianism?
People are driven to seek happiness (or pleasure) and avoid pain.
Decisions should make as many people as possible happy.
The right action is whatever brings about the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
His hedonic calculus helped him work this out
situation ethics
flexible approach to decision-making.
What was Joesph fletchers response to situation ethics?
Joseph Fletcher argued that Christian should be guided by the principle of agape. Based on Jesus’ teachings, we should ‘Always do the most loving thing’. He based this on teachings in the Bible, such as “Love your neighbour”.
However, this theory is so relativistic, that people say that there is too much room for interpretation and misuse.