Ethics Glossary

Question 1

Agency

Answer 1

The capacity of an agent to act in any given environment.

Question 2

Agent

Answer 2

A being who is capable of action. Agency and action are typically restricted to human beings, because human beings have the capacity to reason, make a choice between two courses of action, then do what they’ve chosen.

Question 3

A priori

Answer 3

A Latin term that usually describes a belief (or knowledge) that is known prior to or independently from experience. A priori beliefs are contrasted with a posteriori beliefs, which are ones derived from experience.

Question 4

Argument

Answer 4

An argument is a series of propositions intended to support a conclusion. The propositions offered in support of the conclusion are termed premises.

Question 5

Autonomy

Answer 5

(from the Greek auto — self, and nomos — law) An agent has autonomy insofar as it is rational and free. For Kant, moral autonomy was only achieved through following the categorical imperative.

Question 6

Cognitivism and non—cognitivism

Answer 6

Cognitivism in ethics is the View that moral judgements are propositions which can be known —- they refer to the world and they have a truth- value (they are capable of being true or false). Non-cognitivism is the View that moral judgements cannot be known, because they do not say anything true or false about the world (they do not have a truth—value). There are many different forms of non-cognitivism such as emotivism, prescriptivism and nihilism. See also realism and anti—realism.

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

A belief or statement that an argument tries to prove. If an argument is valid and all of the premises are true, then the conclusion will also be true.

Question 8

Consequentialist ethics

Answer 8

A type of normative moral theory which views the moral value of an action as lying in its consequences. So an action is judged to be good if it brings about beneficial consequences, and bad if it brings about harmful ones. This is in contrast to deontology. Egoism and utilitarianism are two examples of consequentialism.

Question 9

Deontological ethics

Answer 9

A type of normative moral theory which views the moral value of an action as lying in the action itself. So an action is right or wrong in itself, whatever the consequences. Generally, deontologists (such as Kant) propose certain rules or principles that guide us as to which actions are right and which are wrong. This is in contrast to consequentialism. Divine command ethics and Kantian ethics are two examples of deontological theories.

Question 10

Disposition

Answer 10

Our tendency to behave in certain ways, our character traits. This term is used by virtue ethicists, who believe we ought to develop virtuous dispositions.

Question 11

Divine command ethics

Answer 11

A type of deontological ethical theory, which claims that the moral value of an action is determined by the commands of God. So an action is right if it follows one of God’s commands.

Question 12

Duty

Answer 12

An action which we are required or impelled to carry out. Kant’s deontological theory places duty at its centre. For Kant, duties are experienced as imperatives. See also prima facie duties.

Question 13

Emotivism/emotivist

Answer 13

A non-cognitivist theory of the meaning of moral terms and judgements. In its basic form, emotivism claims that moral judgements do not refer to anything in the world, but are expressions of feelings of approval or disapproval.

Question 14

Empirical fact

Answer 14

A fact established by observation.

Question 15

Empiricism/empiricist

Answer 15

The claim that our beliefs and knowledge must be based on experience.

Question 16

Eudaimonia

Answer 16

According to many ancient Greek philosophers eudaimonia is the goal or ‘good’ we are all striving for. Sometimes translated as ‘happiness’, it is probably closer in meaning to ‘flourishing’. Aristotle’s virtue ethics is centred around eudaimonia.

Question 17

Fallacy

Answer 17

This refers to an argument which has gone wrong, either because a mistake has been made, rendering the argument invalid; or because the argument has a form, or structure, which is always invalid (see also the
naturalistic fallacy).

Question 18

Golden rule

Answer 18

Versions of this rule have been proposed at various points within religion and moral philosophy (e.g. by Confucius, Jesus, Hobbes and Kant). The basic idea is that we should be impartial, and not afford ourselves special treatment: we should treat others as we should like to be treated. See also universalisability.

Question 19

Good

Answer 19

Actions are good according to whether they bring about certain positive outcomes — these may be pleasure or happiness, or something more intangible (Moore believed that love of friendship and beauty were goods). Consequentialists believe that moral value lies in the good (or bad) consequences of an action. But ‘good’ also has a functional meaning, in the sense that ‘good’ means ‘fulfilling your function well’. Aristotle believed that we had a function and hence could be good in both senses: by being good (fulfilling our function) we could reach the good (eudaimonia).

Question 20

Hedonism/hedonistic

Answer 20

The claim that pleasure is the good. Many utilitarians are hedonists, in that they believe we ought to try to maximise pleasure (for the majority).

Question 21

Imperative

Answer 21

In Kantian ethics we experience our duties as commands (imperatives) which are categorical, or absolute. These categorical imperatives are commands that we are obliged to follow no matter what, and according to Kant only these are moral imperatives. As rational agents we can work out the categorical imperative by asking whether the maxim that lies behind our action is universalisable. Other imperatives, things we should do in order to achieve some goal, are conditional or hypothetical imperatives, and they are not moral according to Kant.

Question 22

Intuitionism/intuitionist

Answer 22

A realist theory which claims that we can determine what is right or good according to our moral intuitions. For intuitionists, the terms ‘right’ and ‘good’ do refer to something objective, but they cannot be reduced to naturalistic terms.

Question 23

Is/ought gap

Answer 23

Hume argued that we cannot draw a conclusion which is evaluative (containing ‘ought’) from premises which are purely factual or descriptive. To some philosophers this indicated the autonomy of ethics, i.e. that the ethical realm was entirely distinct from other, factual or naturalistic, realms.

Question 24

factual or naturalistic, realms.

Answer 24

A moral judgement is a decision made (in advance or retrospectively) about the rightness or goodness of a course of action (our own or someone else’s) or, for virtue theorists, of someone’s character.

Question 25

Kantian ethics

Answer 25

A deontological ethical theory developed by Kant or influenced by Kant. At the heart of Kantian ethics is the claim that we can determine What is right, and what our duties are, through the categorical imperative.

Question 26

Maxim

Answer 26

A rule underlying our actions. For example, in stealing £10 from your mum’s wallet, you would (perhaps unconsciously) be acting on a rule like this: ‘When I need money I will take it from my parents without telling them.’

Question 27

Meta-ethics

Answer 27

Sometimes called ‘second— order ethics’, this is the study by moral philosophers of the meaning of moral judgements. This covers issues such as realism/anti—realism, cognitivism/ non-cognitivism, the is/ ought gap, the naturalistic fallacy, and the objectivity/ subjectivity of moral judgements.

Question 28

Moral dilemma

Answer 28

Any situation that an agent faces where there is a difficulty choosing between two or more courses of action. This difficulty arises when there are moral reasons for both choosing and not choosing a course of action. It also arises when there are moral reasons against all courses of action, but where a choice has to be made.

Question 29

Naturalism

Answer 29

The view that we can explain moral concepts, such as good, in naturalistic terms, such as happiness or pleasure.

Question 30

Naturalistic fallacy

Answer 30

G.E. Moore attacked naturalism because he claimed that it committed a fallacy, namely of trying to define the indefinable. Moore believed that moral terms such as good could not be defined (he held they were non— natural), and that naturalists tried to define them in naturalistic terms. He particularly singled out the utilitarians in his attack.

Question 31

Normative ethics

Answer 31

Sometimes called ‘first—order ethics’, this term covers moral theories that offer action—guides. These are rules, principles or standards by which we make moral judgements, and according to which our conduct is directed. There are three general forms of normative theory: deontological, consequentialist and virtue ethics.

Question 32

Ontological

Answer 32

Ontology is the study of ‘being’ or ‘existence’. If you have an ontological commitment to something then you believe that it exists independently of you (for example, some moral realists have an ontological commitment to moral values).

Question 33

Person

Answer 33

In ordinary language this refers to human beings, but recently some philosophers have asked what is special about persons and whether a) all human beings are persons and b) some non-human beings might count as persons. The sorts of qualities that characterise persons might include agency, autonomy, rationality, self— consciousness, etc.

Question 34

Practical ethics

Answer 34

Like normative ethics, this is also a type of ‘first-order theory. It looks at the application of ethical theories to concrete situations and moral dilemmas that people face, such as abortion, euthanasia and the treatment of animals.

Question 35

Premise

Answer 35

Any reason given (usually in the form of a statement or claim) to build or support an argument.

Question 36

Prescriptive and descriptive

Answer 36

A prescriptive statement is one that guides action, it tells us what to do. A descriptive statement, on the other hand, simply tells us the way things are.

Question 37

Prescriptivism

Answer 37

A non—cognitivist view of the meaning of moral terms and judgements. Like emotivists, prescriptivists believe that moral language has a special use, but they believe that the purpose of moral judgements is to prescribe actions, in other words to urge others to act in a certain way.

Question 38

Prima facie

Answer 38

A Latin term meaning ‘at first sight’ or ‘as things first appear’.

Question 39

Prima facie duties

Answer 39

A term used by W.D. Ross to describe the ‘rough and ready’ obligations that we know that we have in advance of any particular situation (such as the obligation to be honest, keep promises, not harm others). Sometimes we face dilemmas where our prima facie duties clash, and we have to decide what our actual duties are in these circumstances, i.e. which duty has the stronger claim over us.

Question 40

Proposition

Answer 40

A proposition is a sentence that makes a claim about the way the world actually is. Non- cognitivists such as the emotivists claim that moral judgements are not propositions, in other words they are not making claims about the world and are neither true nor false.

Question 41

Rationalism/rationalist

Answer 41

The claim that our beliefs and knowledge are properly based on reason (and not, for example, on sensory experience as the empiricists claim).

Question 42

Realism and anti-realism

Answer 42

Moral realists believe that in some sense moral terms refer to something real, for example pleasure, or happiness, or utility, or the moral law or God’s command. So, from a realist position, morality is discovered. Moral anti— realists believe that moral terms do not refer to anything real, but are something else entirely — for example, expressions of feelings (emotivism), prescriptions to other people (prescriptivism) or they refer to nothing at all (nihilism). See also cognitivism and non-cognitivism.

Question 43

Relativism

Answer 43

Moral relativism is the view that moral judgements vary according to (are relative to) the social context in which they are made. So, moral values or standards of conduct are different in different societies: What is right for you may not be right for me, etc.

Question 44

Right

Answer 44

Actions are right according to whether they ought to be done, irrespective of the particular situation, or the consequences that result from a course of action. Deontological theorists believe that moral value lies solely in what is right (rather than in what is good) and that we have obligations or duties to do what is right. However, consequentialist theorists are quite happy to redefine ‘right’ to mean ‘actions that bring about the good’.

Question 45

Rights

Answer 45

A right is an entitlement that I have to the protection of certain powers, interests or privileges. It is debatable whether we can have rights only because we make a contract within society, or whether we have ‘natural rights’ which exist independently of any contract. Rights may be seen as the converse of duties; thus if I have a right to X then you have a duty to promote X or at least not interfere in my access to X.

Question 46

Summum bonum

Answer 46

A Latin phrase meaning ‘the highest good’ or simply ‘The Good’. For Aristotle, this was the goal of all human life, and he argued that this consisted in eudaimonia. Other moral philosophers, such as Plato, Mill, Kant and GE. Moore have put forward very different views on
what the Good is.

Question 47

Tautology

Answer 47

A sentence that is true by definition. For example, ‘all bachelors are unmarried’ or ‘all squares have four sides’.

Question 48

Teleological

Answer 48

Purpose, goal or end, deriving from the Greek word telos. A teleological ethical theory is one that says we should be striving to achieve certain moral goals — for Aristotelians this would be virtue, for utilitarians the goal would be happiness. See also consequentialism.

Question 49

Truth-value

Answer 49

The truth or falsity of a proposition. Only propositions can have truth-value. Some philosophers (cognitivists) claim that moral judgements are propositions, but other philosophers (non-cognitivists) claim that moral judgements are not propositions and hence do not have a truth—value.

Question 50

Universalisability

Answer 50

A fundamental feature of most ethical theories, and a version of the golden rule. A principle is universalisable if it is applied to all people equally and in the same way. Some philosophers (including prescriptivists) have seen this as part of the very meaning of a moral judgement - it applies to everyone in the same situation. Consequentialists (Bentham and Mill), deontologists (Kant) and even existentialists (Sartre) have all appealed to universalisability at some point in their theories. For Kantians, the principle of universalisability has to be a more rigorous version of the golden rule: it says that we should only act on those rules which we can will to be universal laws (i.e. without contradiction or inconsistency).

Question 51

Utilitarianism

Answer 51

A consequentialist moral theory, perhaps inspired by Hume (although he is closer to virtue ethics) and developed first by Bentham and then by Mill and Sidgwick. In most of its forms it is a hedonistic theory claiming that what is good (i.e. what we ought to strive to bring about) is as much pleasure or happiness as possible for the majority of people. In its negative forms it says we ought to strive to reduce pain or harm to the majority of people.

Question 52

Utility

Answer 52

Welfare or use for the majority of people. For Bentham and Mill, utility came to mean ‘pleasure’ or ‘happiness’.

Question 53

Utility principle

Answer 53

The principle that an act or object is good in as much as it brings about something that is desired (for most utilitarians this is pleasure or happiness). Similarly, for most utilitarians, an act or object is bad insofar as it brings about pain or unhappiness.

Question 54

Verification principle

Answer 54

The rule put forward by verificationists that a proposition is only meaningful if it can be shown to be true or false by experience or by analysis of the meanings of the terms involved.

Question 55

Virtue

Answer 55

A character trait or disposition which is to be valued (for the ancient Greeks, it is a disposition which is excellent). Common virtues include wisdom, courage, self—control, honesty, generosity, compassion, kindness.

Question 56

Virtue ethics

Answer 56

A normative ethical theory which locates value not in an action or its consequences, but in the agent performing the act. Virtue ethicists stress the need to develop virtuous dispositions, and to judge actions within the broader context of what someone is inclined to do. So a person may be judged to be virtuous or vicious through noting how they are disposed to act. Frustratingly, for many people, virtue ethicists fail to give us a formula (unlike consequentialists and deontologists) that guides us in what we ought to do in any particular situation.