Exam 1 Flashcards
What is an argument? What are some questions to keep in mind when evaluating arguments?
- An argument is a set of sentences. It has premises and a conclusion.
- Some questions to keep in mind:
- What are the premises?
- What is this conclusion?
- Do the premises support the conclusion?
- Is the argument question-begging?
What is cultural relativism?
Ability to understand a culture on its own terms and to not make judgements using standards of ones own culture
How does cultural relativism differ from “personal” or “individual” relativism?
They differ because personal/individual ethical standards vary from person to person
What is the argument from cultural relativism and why does James Rachels reject it?
-Argument from cultural relativism:
1. Different cultures have different moral codes
2. Therefore, there is no objective truth in morality. Right and wrong are only matters of opinion, and opinions vary from culture to culture\
- He rejects it because the truth of the premise does not support the truth of the conclusion.
What is the ethical theory (or “normative” ethics)?
attempts to uncover general guidelines, principles, or rules which allow us to distinguish right actions from wrong actions
What is the difference between evaluative and non evaluative judgements?
- Evaluative: somehow expresses a person’s values, commitments, likes/dislikes, etc.
- Non evaluative: statements
What are ethical judgements?
- evaluations of human actions, practices, or character traits
Difference between consequentialist and deontologist approaches to normative ethics? What is utilitarianism?
- Consequentialist: hold that right actions are those that promote or leads to good consequences
- Deontologist: hold that right actions do not depend on consequences
- Unitarianism is the same as consequentialist
What does “primum, non nocere” mean? Why does it not go far enough in defining the responsibilities of medical providers?
- Means “First, do no harm”
- This does not go far enough in defining the responsibilities because one could avoid harm by doing nothing at all
What are the ‘narrow’ vs ‘wide’ views when it comes to ‘benefitting’ a patient?
- Narrow view: medical professional should ONLY be concerned with a patient’s physical health; other goods are outside the purview
- Wide view: medical professional should take into consideration a patient’s OVERALL WELL-BEING, where this includes goods in addition to physical health
What are the three different ways of weighing harms against benefits?
- Arithmetical
- Ratio
- Avoiding harm
Arithmetical approach
- one could pursue those actions that are expected to produce the greatest net good
- view benefits as pluses and harms as minuses
Ratio approach
-one should try to maximize the benefit/harm ratio rather than maximize the net goods
* A has twice the expected benefit and twice the expected harm compared to B.
* according to this A and B would be treated as equally attractive
Avoiding harm approach
- the duty to avoid harm is more stringent that the duty to help
- one is morally free to try to help ONLY WHEN one is sure that harm will not be done
What is the current legal status of abortion in the US?
Roe v Wade overturned. States may now impose various restrictions (even outright bans) on abortion.
What is the distinction between ‘human’ in the “genetic” sense and ‘human’ in the “moral” sense?
- Human (genetic): An individual that shares our genetic makeup; a member of our species at any stage in its development
- Human (moral): an individual who has FULL AND EQUAL MORAL RIGHTS including a right to life
What is the Doctrine of Double Effect? How might one utilize this principles to argue against the permissibility of abortion in a wide range of cases?
- DDE= it is sometimes permissible to cause harm as a side effect of bringing about some good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such a harm as a means about the same good end
- One might utilize this to say it is ok to get an abortion as it is bringing a good result to someone who might not want a child
In the beginning of her paper “A defense of abortion”, what does JJ Thompson grant for the sake of argument? Why does Thomson grant this (controversial) claim?
She grants “An unborn child is a person from the moment of conception”. She grants this because how else are “we supposed to get from there to the conclusion that abortion is morally impermissible”
In JJ Thomson’s paper, she discusses the violinist case, the “rapidly growing child” case, and the “people seeds” example. Explain each of these. How does Thomson utilize these examples in order to argue for the permissibility of abortion?
- Violinist: That you have to stay hooked up to a violinist because a persons right to life outweighs what happens in and to your body.
- rapidly growing child: Mother and child are not like two tenants in a small house, by an unfortunate mistake, been rented to both: the mother OWNS the house
- Peoples seeds: suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You don’t want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not-despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective.
How does Don Marquis suggest approaching the debate concerning the ethical status of abortion?
What is Don Marquis’ answer to the following question: What makes killing in general wrong? How does
Don Marquis utilize his answer to previous to question to argue for the impermissibility of abortion?
What is the “contraception objection” to Don Marquis’ argument? How does Marquis try to respond to this objection?
- According to the FLO account, denying an individual a future of value is wrong. However when contraception is successfully used, there is one less FLO. This, the FLO account implies that contraception is immoral.
- ” at the time of contraception there is no individual to be wronged”
Who was Jack Kevorkian? What was he arrested for doing?
Jack Kevorkian was a Dr who assisted terminally ill patients in taking their own lives.
He was arrested for actively euthanizing a man who was suffering from ALS.
Active Euthanasia
Killing a patient by administering a lethal dose of a drug
Passive Euthanasia
withholding or withdrawing treatment which eventuates in the death of the patient
