Ethics

Question 1

What is Divine Command Theory?

Answer 1

What is right and wrong is decided by god.

Question 2

What is a Self-Evident Truth?

Answer 2

A truth that does not require reasoning. It is so basic and applies to everyone.

Question 3

What is an Atheist?

Answer 3

Someone who does not believe in gods.

Question 4

What is a Theist?

Answer 4

A person that believes in god/gods.

Question 5

What is Moral Rationalism?

Answer 5

Knowledge and truths can be found using reason. All moral laws and reasons are the result of human logic, and they apply to everyone.

Question 6

What is Natural Law Theory?

Answer 6

Something is good as long as it fulfills its purpose.

Question 7

What is The Best Reasons Approach?

Answer 7

Things are justified if the person has good intentions.

Question 8

What is The Categorical Imperative?

Answer 8

An unconditional moral obligation that is true no matter what the circumstances or intentions are.

Question 9

What Does Innate Mean?

Answer 9

The mind is born with morals and logic. It is not a blank slate. Not all knowledge is gained through experience or senses.

Question 10

What is Moral Relativism?

Answer 10

Moral relativism is the view that what is morally right for one culture may not be morally right for another. It also means that what may be right for me may not be right for you. Moral relativism suggests that this contradiction is an ethical necessity that should not be scrutinized.

Question 11

What is Moral Scepticism?

Answer 11

No one has any moral knowledge. They doubt and question how anyone can have any morality when it differs from person to person.

Question 12

What Are Intrinsic Qualities?

Answer 12

If something comes from within, doing a job you love because you love it, not for money.

Question 13

What is Ecocentrism?

Answer 13

This is a nature-centred view instead of a human-centred view.

Question 14

What is Environmental Anthropocentrism?

Answer 14

This is the view that humans are above every other living thing.

Question 15

What is The Animal Rights View?

Answer 15

Anything is a person that can know it lived in the past and hopes to continue living in the future. A baby cannot so it is not a person, but a chimp is because it can. It also says it’s not wrong to kill animals but what is wrong it that it puts them through pain and suffering.

Question 16

What is Epicureanism?

Answer 16

“The school rejected determinism and advocated hedonism (pleasure as the highest good), but of a restrained kind: mental pleasure was regarded more highly than physical, and the ultimate pleasure was held to be freedom from anxiety and mental pain, especially that arising from needless fear of death and of the gods.” (Wikipedia)

Question 17

What is Hedonsim?

Answer 17

The pursuit of happiness and short-term pleasure.

Question 18

Who Were The Cynics?

Answer 18

There was a group of ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the pursuit of wealth was not good. This group of philosophers were called the Cynics. The Cynics went against the typical views of their contemporaries. They felt that to live a life of poverty was good. They lived with as few possessions as possible and went around homeless and in rags. They did not believe that people could behave morally or altruistically.

Question 19

What is Virtue Theory?

Answer 19

We should not focus on what rules to follow, but the characteristics of a morally good person. If you need to be courageous in a situation, you should act how a courageous person would.

Question 20

Who Were The Stoics?

Answer 20

Another ancient Greek and Roman group that presented ideas about how to live a good moral life were the Stoics. The Stoics felt that living a life of virtue was good. They felt that the most important virtue to live by was that of reason. They also believed that there was such a thing as universal reason, which was viewed more highly than individual reason. Virtues such as intelligence, modesty and bravery were seen as universal morals and the highest morals to follow.

Question 21

What is Utilitarianism?

Answer 21

Actions are right and wrong based solely on their consequences. The best consequences follow the best right actions. Consequences can be judged by how much happiness they cause. Everything else is irrelevant. In this equation, no one’s happiness is more important than anyone else’s. Wealth, colour, and position don’t matter.

Question 22

What is The Greatest Happiness Principle?

Answer 22

You should do what makes the greatest number of people happy.

Question 23

What is Consequentialism?

Answer 23

Actions should be based solely on the consequences.

Question 24

What is Ethical Egoism?

Answer 24

You should act based on your own self-interest.

Question 25

What is Nihilism?

Answer 25

A group of people that believed life was meanless. You can do whatever you want because, in the end, it doesn’t matter.

Question 26

What did William Goulding Say Was The Reason That Morality Should Exist?

Answer 26

-To promote the survival of society.
-To resolve conflicts of interest justly.
-To ameliorate (alleviate) human suffering.
-To promote human flourishing.

Question 27

What Important Questions Did Plato Ask About Where Morality Comes From?

Answer 27

He wanted to know how something could be determined to be good or moral. Was it through independent reasoning or through a divine source.

Question 28

What is The Purpose of a Moral Theory?

Answer 28

It is meant to cover any situation that it applies to. It exists to provide societies with general principles to cover things that might happen in their life. A good moral theory can save you from a moral dilemma. The answer would be obvious when the theory is used.

Question 29

Who Was John Stuart Mill?

Answer 29

He said people should do what will do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This is called utilitarianism.

Question 30

What Arguments Might be Made Against Utilitarianism?

Answer 30

-Is happiness all that matters? Happiness is not a thing but rather a response to other events. Not everyone is made happy by the same thing.
-Are consequences all that matter? What about justice? What about rights?
-It is not practical to try to calculate every one’s happiness before making any decisions.

Question 31

What is Noncognitivism?

Answer 31

Noncognitivism does not describe the world how it is, cannot be true or false, and express an attitude towards the world.

Question 32

Describe Milgram’s Experiment? How Did it Relate to Morality?

Answer 32

They had a teacher asking questions to a person they could not see. If they got it wrong, they would shock the person, worsening. The person getting shocked, as an actor, did not get a real shock. They would start to get worse, and the actor would beg to stop. If the person asked the proctor, they would say the experiment needs to continue. Eventually, the actor would stop responding, which was considered a wrong answer, and the person would continue to shock a presumed dead body. This was to see if a person would blindly follow an authority figure. This was to question the morality of a person, specifically to see why the Nazis did what they did. About 60% of people continued to follow authority, with no fear of punishment, until the person died.

Question 33

What Message Was Presented in Malleus Maleficarum?

Answer 33

It was two Dominican monks, not actually Dominican, most likely Germans, who blamed women for their desires. They wrote a book that said women were evil and witches. This led to the witch trials that spread through Europe and North America, where thousands of women were killed and tortured, as the book said they were evil. The book blamed women for being seductive and tempting men. They were evil and should be tortured and killed. The methods to do so were outlined in the book. This is similar to the Milgram experiments. People will blindly follow authority. Women were killed and tortured because a book told people they were evil.

Question 34

Who Was Diogenes?

Answer 34

He believed that there was no such thing as an honest man. He walked around during the day with a lamp to find one. He had very few possessions, a cloak, a cup, and a bag. He threw away his cup once he saw a kid drinking with their hands. He was a cynic. It is said alexander the great meet with him one day as he was interested in the lifestyle. He showed up in rags and lay down in a sunbeam. He asked alexander to move as he was blocking his light. They were homeless and lived very minimally.

Question 35

What is The Anachronistic Fallacy?

Answer 35

“When an inference is made resulting from the misappropriation of concepts and ideas in time, the resulting fallacy is known as an anachronistic fallacy.”

Question 36

What Did Henry David Thoreau Say About Following The Law?

Answer 36

He felt that if there are unjust laws, then people should break them even if they end up in jail. He used taxes as a form of protest. The unjust government could collect taxes when they become morally right.

Question 37

Explain Kant’s Categorical Imperative.

Answer 37

This is a principle of practical rationality. “a rule of conduct that is unconditional or absolute for all agents, the validity or claim of which does not depend on any desire or end. “Thou shalt not steal,” for example, is categorical, as distinct from the hypothetical imperatives associated with desire, such as “Do not steal if you want to be popular.” For Kant, there was only one categorical imperative in the moral realm, which he formulated in two ways. “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” is a purely formal or logical statement and expresses the condition of the rationality of conduct rather than that of its morality, which is expressed in another Kantian formula: “So act as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in another, always as an end and never as only a means.” (Britannica, 2017).