Final Review Terms

Question 1

Roe vs. Wade

Answer 1

Landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. Legalized abortion across all states.

Question 2

Victimless crime

Answer 2

Actions that have been made illegal but which do not directly violate or threaten the rights of any other individual. e.g prostitution, drug use, gambling

Question 3

Doctrine of Double Effect

Answer 3

This doctrine says that if doing something morally good has a morally bad side-effect it’s ethically OK to do it

Question 4

Nonhuman persons

Answer 4

Any object or creature that displays some human characteristics but not enough characteristics to be considered a human. (animal rights)

Question 5

Active Euthanasia

Answer 5

Occurs when the medical professionals, or another person, deliberately do something that causes the patient to die.

Question 6

Passive Euthanasia

Answer 6

Occurs when the patient dies because the medical professionals either don’t do something necessary to keep the patient alive, or when they stop doing something that is keeping the patient alive.

Question 7

Physician-assisted Suicide

Answer 7

The voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician.

Question 8

Jack Kevorkian (suicide machine)

Answer 8

The device involved an individual pushing a button that released drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life.

Question 9

Classical Utilitarianism

Answer 9

Hedonism. Based on consequentialism. Greatest pleasure and least amount of pain for all.

Question 10

Preference Utilitarianism

Answer 10

Promotes actions that fulfill the interests (preferences) of those beings involved.

Question 11

Deontology

Answer 11

Judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules (duties)

Question 12

Altruism

Answer 12

Principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others

Question 13

US Civil Rights Acts

Answer 13

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Question 14

Affirmative Action

Answer 14

Policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who are perceived to suffer from discrimination within a culture

Question 15

Regents of the UCA vs. Allan Bakke

Answer 15

Upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. The court ruled that specific quotas was impermissible.

Question 16

Speciesism

Answer 16

Idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals.

Question 17

Nonhuman Animals as Persons

Answer 17

Does the animal have qualities that a human person has.

Question 18

Absolute Affluence

Answer 18

Income significantly beyond that required to provide the basic necessities of life for yourself

Question 19

Absolute Poverty

Answer 19

Condition where a person does not have the minimum amount of income needed to meet the minimum requirements for one or more basic living needs over an extended period of time

Question 20

Relative Poverty

Answer 20

Condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they live

Question 21

Lifeboat Ethics

Answer 21

Saving a few and letting the rest die.

Question 22

Triage

Answer 22

Determining the priority of patients’ treatments based on the severity of their condition.

Question 23

Deep Ecology

Answer 23

Efforts to protect wilderness and wildlife, promote ecological agriculture, and oppose destructive mega-technologies that are accelerating the extinction crisis.

Question 24

Land Ethic

Answer 24

Philosophy that seeks to guide the actions when humans use or make changes to the land.

Question 25

Gaia Hypothesis

Answer 25

Proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet