Ethics Moral Philosphy Flashcards
Moral philosophy
Reflective study of certain values that concern human beings
Things that are of ultimate concern for us
Personal ethical values
- Guide the choices we make in our own life
- Decisions based on what we deem as good
Ethical vs moral
Ethical is a concern with the value of different kids of life and activity
Goods for ourself
Moral is how we treat others
Narrower interest in rules and obligations
Eudaimonistic
Adjective describing goods we would value that would lead to a good life
Happiness but in the sense of a good life
Ethical theories
On consequences
Consequentialist -ethical value stems from good state of affairs right action being these states
On rights
Deontological - ethical value stems from right action sometimes what makes the action right is the consequences
On virtues
Emphasis is on the idea of a good person or a ethically admirable person
On virtues
Consequentialist theories
Worth of actions assessed in their tendency to bring about such states of affairs
What are the outcomes of choices
Have to ask what is the result and who is effected
Who gets to define the outcome
Can isolate the ethical consideration (max one value)
Sum ranking welfarist consequentialism - ranked in terms of sum of welfare contained by those outcomes (greatest good)
Some objective measure of outcome given models to max the car of choosing
Modern gov use utilitarian principles- vaccination because calculations deemed best outcome
-deemed which has the best consequences
Deontological theories
Make a choice that says the choice will be right for everyone
Rights of one person can have a categorical requirement in actions of another
-neg: many things can not do for general welfare
-claim: person act certain way on others behalf
Hume- decide what is right of wrong and reason comes after, comes quickly from emotion not logic
Kant- rule that everyone else will follow and treat others as of equal worth
Some choices can not be justified by their effects, some choices morally forbidden
Rawls: agreements made before know how you will come out of it in the end
Virtue theories
Whether it was done by a good person not the outcomes or intent
Originates from Aristotle - most basic and valuable aspect of human beans
- Action right iff agent with virtuous character would do
- Goodness is prior to rightness - moral goods part of life precedes actions
- Virtues are irreducibly plural intrinsic goods - can’t break into smaller
- Virtues are objectively good - courage even if don’t want to
- Agent- relative - related to me as an agent
- Not about maximizing these
Moral intuition
Not just quick judgements but are stable and evident for complex scenarios
Medical ethics
Patient autonomy
Doctor beneficence
Justice
Non- maleficence
Non-maleficence is stronger then the others and takes priority when conflicting
Trolley vs harvesting
Surgeon using person as a means to an end, not a side effect of saving other 5, if escaped plan shattered
Whereas death of one is a side effect to save 5, one person escapes plan is not shatterd
Trolley 2
Doctrine of double effect : moral difference between an intended consequence of some act and. A consequence foreseen but not calculated to accomplish some act
1: pull lever then foresee the death but do not intend this, violating negative right no matter what
2: pushes then they foresee the death and intend to do this
Have a duty of care, violating a positive right to be kept safe vs negative right to be left alone
Self driving cars
Not the same
Time
- trolley: made in a short period of time and only bystander
- car: preprogrammed and multiple stakeholders to decide
-trolley: either one person or five no other considerations
-car: has forward looking and backward looking (time can expand)
Certainty
- trolley: tightly constrained
- car: has many uncertainties, can not have perfect knowledge of the situation
