Exam 1

Question 1

Define “Ethics”

Answer 1

The study of choices

Question 2

What is ethical thinking and ethical action?

Answer 2

`Taking care of the basic needs and legitimate expectations of others, as well as our own

Question 3

Normative Statement

Answer 3

A normative judgment is one that states some value or evaluative rule as a standard of other judgments, or applies such a value or rule to specific cases.

Question 4

Descriptive Statement

Answer 4

A descriptive judgment makes an assertion that is offered as a statement of the facts that pertain in reality.

Question 5

describe the origin of the word “Philosophy”

Answer 5

comes from the Greek “love of wisdom”

Phil= love Sophia= wisdom

Question 6

Ethical Avoidance Disorders

Answer 6

Common pitfalls people stumble into when forced with ethical thinking

Question 7

Flying by Instinct

Answer 7

Relying on gut feelings

using instincts and doing what is easy or familiar

Question 8

Offhand self justification

Answer 8

Thinking as little as possible

Question 9

Dogmatism

Answer 9

No other view is right besides your own.

Your argument rests on asserting that you’re right

Question 10

Psychological Egoism

Answer 10

The view that everyone is selfish, and everything we do is to better ourselves

Question 11

Relativism

Answer 11

Any moral opinion is better than any other

Question 12

Martin Buber

Answer 12

“I and thou” vs “I and It”

focuses on relationships with others and focusing on others as ends rather than means

Question 13

Emmanuel Kant

Answer 13

• Only unconditional value is good will
• Maxim= principle of action
• preform from the motive of duty

Question 14

Utilitarianism

Answer 14

Relies on the principle of unity

• Act always in such a way that you maximize the pleasure of everyone
• founded by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

Question 15

Kantianism

Answer 15

persons are “ends” rather than “means”

Question 16

Categorical Imperative

Answer 16

Always act as to treat humanity, whether in yourself or in another as an end and never as a means

act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it become a universal law

Question 17

the principle of utility

Answer 17

The principle of utility determines the rightness
of acts (or rules of action?) by their effect on the
total happiness.

Question 18

Consequentialist theory

Answer 18

a moral theory is consequentialist if it is most concerned with what the outcomes are

Question 19

4 Key parts of Utilitarianism

Answer 19

Maximize
Pleasure
Everyone involved
Look at long term consequences

Question 20

Utilitarian Calculus

Answer 20

adding up total values and assigning possible outcomes

Question 21

Problems with measuring values

Answer 21

Problem of the future- must be sure about consequences

Willing to Sacrifice minority- Majority > Minority

Measurement problem- no way to measure pleasure

Swine Objection- life of human is no better than the life of an animal

Question 22

Mill’s Higher Pleasures and Lower Pleasures

Answer 22

higher pleasures are better than lower pleasures.

it is better to be a dissatisfied socrates than a satisfied fool

Question 23

basic idea of virtue ethics

Answer 23

A person who has acquired the proper set of dispositions will do what is right when faced with a situation involving a moral choice

Question 24

Characteristics of Virtue Ethics

Answer 24

ethics of virtue encompasses those moral values concerned with character:

honesty, loyalty, respect

Question 25

A Greek view of virtue

Answer 25

according to aristotle, rational self-regulation is the characteristic activity and therefore the "function" of of humans

Question 26

"Am I Blue?" Alice Walker

Answer 26

about treating animals as equals Neighbors get a horse, then they bring in a horse to breed with it, then take the breeding horse away, the horse is sad and upset

Question 27

"XYLO" Rayna Rapp

Answer 27

about a painful abortion choice focuses on the complexity of ethical choices ``` XY= unkown sex of the baby LO= love the parents gave to the baby ```

Question 28

"Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt" Ted Kerasote`

Answer 28

if you hunt and eat prey in a non wasteful manner, you are doing less damage to the environment than shopping at a supermarket

Question 29

"Le Chambon" Phillip Hallie

Answer 29

about the opposite of cruelty is not the absence of cruelty, but the presence of something positive: hospitality The french village of Le Chambon saved 6000 jewish people from dying in the holocaust.

Question 30

"Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals" Emmanuel Kant

Answer 30

treating people as an end rather than a means to an end

Question 31

“The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights”

Answer 31

declares international "fundamental freedoms" and "human rights" written by elanor roosevelt

Question 32

“Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Answer 32

happiness lies in the flow of experience. happiness is not a destination, it's the train you are riding on inner experience, optimal experience, participation

Question 33

“Unitarianism,” John Stuart Mill

Answer 33

actions are right if they tend to promote the most happiness and wrong if they dont

Question 34

"the harm that good men do" Bertrand Russell

Answer 34

if men only preformed actions labeled as "good" by society, they may not be acting ethically. the standards of "goodness" are not those calculated to make the world a happier place

Question 35

"Nicomachean Ethics,” Aristotle

Answer 35

what is best and most pleasurable for all, is a life according to reason

Question 36

“On the Rez,” Ian Frazier

Answer 36

Indian Reservation. Su Ann Big Crow Basketball | shows the life of the great modern indian tribes and how they shaped life in usa.

Question 37

"letters from a birmingham jail" MLK Jr.

Answer 37

MLK Jr. describes his battle with injustice through peaceful protests in Alabama. and addresses criticism from clergymen. protests are necessary Moderate whites are the worst dissapointment

Question 38

Principles of Justice

Answer 38

Equal Liberty Principle- Equality is the best we can do Difference Principle- under the veil of ignorance, any inequalities that arise we will bring the least well off person as far up as we can.

Question 39

Veil Of Ignorance

Answer 39

Rawls' theoretical assumption that makes everyone not know who they are, so as to analyze theories of people's judgement

Question 40

rawls

Answer 40

a fair set of principles would be for people to choose outcomes before they knew how the outcomes would effect them