Ethics Flashcards
What is ethics?
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that examines the moral standards of individuals or society and how they apply to our lives and whether these are resonable or unreasonable
What is the ultimate source of law according to Justice Homes?
Moral judgment of society (changing mores)
What is morality?
Refers to the standards that an individual or group has about what is right or wrong conduct, good and evil, and the values embedded, fostered or pursued in the act
What are moral standards?
Standards dealing with matters that can seriously injure or benefit human beings, like theft, fraud, and murder.
What is the Divine Command Theory?
The theory that moral standards are based on the commands of a divine being.
What is the definition of teleogical ethics?
An approach to ethics focusing on the rightness or wrongness of actions by examining its consequences
What are the consequences of teleological ethics?
A consequentialist theory as moral right or moral wrong is dependent on the outcome of an action
What is the weakness of teleological ethics?
Not always possible to predict the consequences of an action
What is the definition of deontoligical ethics?
Approach to ethics focusing on rightness or wrongess of actions themselves, without any other considerations
What are the consequences of deontoligcal ethics?
Non-consequentialist theory as moral right or moral wrong is not dependent on the outcome of an action
What is the weakness of deontological ethics?
Rigid and objective
What is Kant’s Categorical Imperative (1st formulation)?
I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law
What do you mean by the 1st formulation of Kant’s Categorical imperative?
It means that an action is morally right for a person in a certain situation, if and only if, the person’s reason for carrying out the action is a reason that he or she would be willing to have every person act on, in any similar situation
What is Kant’s Categorical Imperative (2nd formulation)?
Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end
What do you mean by the 2nd formulation of Kant’s Categorical imperative?
It means that an action is morally right for a person, if and only if, in performing the action, the person does not use others merely as a means for advancing his or her own interest, but also both respects and develops their capacity to choose freely for themselves
Notable thinker of Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Immanuel Kant - Foundation for modtern deontological ethics
What are the key concepts of Kant’s Categorical Imperative? (2)
- Categorical imperative - Act according to maxims that could be universally applied
- Moral duty - Actions are right if they align with duty, regardless of outcomes
What are the two criteria for Kant’s Categorical Imperative?
- Universalizability
- Reversibility (similar to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you).
What is utilitarianism?
An action is right if it produces the greatest amount of benefit for the greatest number of people.
What are the key concepts of Utilarianism? (2)
- Hedonism - Pleasure or happiness as the highest good
- Consequentialism - Moral rightness determined by outcomes
What are two limitations of utilitarianism? (2)
- Difficulty in measuring values quantitatively.
- It ignores individual rights and justice in the distribution of benefits and burdens.
Notable thinkers of Utilitarianism (2)
- Jeremy Bentham - “Greatest happiness principle”
- John Stuart Mill - Distinction between higher and lower pleasures
What is virtue ethics?
Virtue ethics focuses on the character of the person and the virtues they exhibit, rather than the morality of individual actions.
The two extremes in Aristotle’s golden mean (2)
- Extreme of excess
- Extreme of lack