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philos 2 > Finals Study > Flashcards

Finals Study Flashcards

1
Q

metaethics

A

Is there such thing as free will?
Is morality relative to individuals / cultures?
metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language

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2
Q

act-consequentialism

A

Action is right if and only if its consequences are at least as good as those of any alternative possible action in that situation

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3
Q

utilitarianism

A

an action is right if and only if its consequences contain at least as large a net balance of well-being minus ill-being as those of any alternative possible action in that situation

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4
Q

expected utility theory

A

Identify all possible outcomes of action and assess how good or bad they would be, respectively

The expected value of an action is the sum of the value of its possible outcomes multiplied by their probability of occurring

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5
Q

instrumental goodness

A

valuable as a means to an end- a means to well-being

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6
Q

non-instrumental goodness

A

good / valuable in itself

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7
Q

Hedonistic Theory of Well-Being

A

Well-being consists in happiness
Nothing can be good or bad for a person unless they are aware of it

Objections: we want to do certain things, not just have the experience of doing things
Experience Machine

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8
Q

Desire-Fulfillment Theory of Well-Being

A

Well-being consists in desire-satisfaction
Does not have to be experienced, you can be better / worse off from things that you don’t experience or happen after your death.

Objections: what if the person’s desires are trivial or evil?

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9
Q

Objective-List Theory of Well-Being

A

Well-being consists in items on an objective list, whether or not a person desires or not

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10
Q

Ethical Egoism

A

View that an action is right and only right if it better promotes the agent’s interests than any other available action

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11
Q

Hedonistic Egoism

A

An agent’s interests are reducible to pleasure

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12
Q

Subjective Consequentialist

A

understands consequentialism as a form of decision-making

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13
Q

Objective Consequentialist

A

sees consequentialism as a standard of rightness to evaluate actions by

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14
Q

direct agency (DDE)

A

harm towards victim is direct

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15
Q

indirect agency (DDE)

A

harm towards victim is indirect and a consequence of doing good

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16
Q

According to DDE, when is it permissible for an agent to bring about harm?

A
  1. The harm is necessary to achieve the good
  2. The harm is proportionate to the good
  3. The harm is merely foreseen but not intended
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17
Q

positive responsibility

A

responsibility for me to perform the right actions

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18
Q

negative responsibility

A

responsibility for the actions others perform; to encourage others to perform the right actions and discourage them from performing wrong actions

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19
Q

integrity of action

A

Williams argues that utilitarianism requires us to hold the same responsibility for others’ actions and our own actions

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20
Q

integrity of desire

A

Williams argues that utilitarianism requires us to hold the same importance for others’ desires and our own desires

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21
Q

duty

A

reasons / motivations

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22
Q

maxim

A

a general rule that led to my action

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23
Q

Categorical Imperative

A

something is required in itself, unconditionally, irrespective of any aim.
universal law

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24
Q

Will

A

motivation / principles on the basis of actions being chosen

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25
Q

a priori

A

obvious without thinking. “You ought not to harm innocents for no reason”

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26
Q

Hypothetical Imperative

A

something is required in order to achieve an aim or goal, because it is a necessary means to that goal

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27
Q

The Control Principle

A

object of moral assessments must be factors under our control. Moral assessments (regarding agent’s praise- or blameworthiness; the rightness or wrongless of theri action, etc) should be luck-independent.

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28
Q

moral luck

A

a significant aspect of what someone does depends on factors beyond his control, yet we continue to treat him in that respect as an object of moral judgment

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29
Q

agent-regret

A

The special form of sadness or pain accompanying the wish that things had been otherwise with regard to something with which ones agency was somehow involved

a kind of sadness or regret, but not guilt or self-blame

30
Q

circumstantial luck

A

luck involved in the kinds of problems and situations one faces (if they were in another circumstance, they would have acted better / worse)

31
Q

outcome luck

A

luck in the way one’s actions or projects turned out
blameworthiness and deservingness of punishment

32
Q

causal luck

A

luck in how one is determined by antecedent circumstances
determinism

33
Q

constitutive luck

A

luck involved in one’s having the inclinations, capacities and temperament that one does

34
Q

fundamental attribution error

A

we tend to attribute things to people’s character rather than looking at the situation they were put in

35
Q

the simple argument

A

if determinism is true, you are not to praise or blame for anything

36
Q

determinism

A

Given exactly what went before, the world could now be none other than it is
Can people still be morally responsible?

37
Q

incompatibilism

A

If determinism is true, free will cannot exist and there can not be moral responsibility

38
Q

compatibilism

A

Even if determinism is true, we can still sometimes be responsible for our actions since we could have acted otherwise if we wished to

39
Q

simple indeterminism

A

if things are not caused by my own free will, desires, and impulses, they are not caused at all

40
Q

libertarianism

A

An action that is free is caused by the agent who performs it. What we do is sometimes up to us.

41
Q

first-order desire

A

desire to do or not do something

42
Q

second-order desire

A

desire to have or not have the first-order desire (desire to do something)

43
Q

second-order volition

A

a desire that the first-order desire will be our will

44
Q

principle of alternate possibilities

A

there is no moral blame or merit in anyone who could not have acted otherwise

45
Q

Frankfurt’s Principle of Responsibility

A

we are morally responsible for action X if we have a second-order desire that our will be to do X

46
Q

Harm Principle

A

only time power can be executed against an individual is to prevent harm to himself or others

47
Q

telic egalitarians

A

The Principle of Equality: it is in itself bad if some people are worse off than others
Take equality to be good in itself
Even if nothing can be done to remove inequalities, it is still bad

Equality is intrinsically valuable
A more equal outcome is in one respect better than a less equal outcome
pluralist

48
Q

deontic egalitarians

A

we should avoid inequality, insofar as it is the product of unjust human agency
If nothing can be done to remove inequalities, it cannot be unjust

49
Q

pluralist egalitarian

A

believe that besides equality there are other things that also matter, such as total well-being or a decent minimum
care about equality and utility
middle ground between utilitarianism and egalitarian

50
Q

Principle of Utility

A

it is in itself better if people are better off overall

51
Q

the priority view

A

The moral value of raising a person’s utility by a given amount is greater, the worse-off the recipient.

Avoids the Leveling Down Objection since there is no reason to make the better-off worse off if we cannot alos improve the absolute standing of the worse-off.

52
Q

the problem of collective harm

A

individual harms do not have much of an effect, but when it adds up to the collective there are large-scale harms

oppositions: universalization over generates moral prohibitions

53
Q

Triggering case of collective harm

A

Cases where each act likely makes no difference at all. Yet, some act makes a great deal of difference. In effect, some single act works as a trigger– bringing about the morally relevant difference.
If we don’t know which act was the triggering act, then it seems that all we can say is that our own individual act is overwhelmingly likely not to have made a difference.

54
Q

Imperceptible Difference case of collective harm

A

it isn’t literally true that most individual acts makes no difference at all. Rather, individual acts make a real, but imperceptible, difference along some dimension.

55
Q

Liability Mode of Responsibility

A

The dominant liberal paradigm for thinking about injustice operates on a liability model of responsibility, which seeks to causally connect the injustice to wrongdoings by an agent or group of agents, who are assigned responsibility for it.

56
Q

political responsibility

A

The guiding question isn’t “who is to blame for this injustice?” But “who is responsible for addressing it, by reforming the social structures that give rise to these injustices?”

57
Q

paternalistic

A

A policy is paternalistic if and only if it places constraints on the liberty of persons for the purpose of protecting and promoting their own good

58
Q

commodification

A

things traded in market are valued in a certain way, namely for the use we get out of them (“use-value”)

59
Q

numerically identical

A

X and y are numerically identical = x is the same individual as y.
Ex. you and you 15 years ago

60
Q

qualitatively identical

A

x and y have the same properties but are not (necessarily) the same individual
Ex. two cans of the same Campbell tomatoes

61
Q

The Origin View

A

each person has this distinctive necessary property: that of having grown from the particular pair of cells from which this person in fact grew.

if this is true, the time dependence claim is true

62
Q

time dependence claim

A

if any particular person had not been conceived within a month of the time when he was in fact conceived, he would in fact never have existed.

63
Q

comparative view of harm

A

an action harms a person if and only if it makes the person worse off than they would otherwise have been if the action had not been performed.

64
Q

disjunctive view of harm

A

an action harms a person if and only if it either makes the person worse off than she would otherwise have been or causes her to exist with a life that is not worth living for her.

65
Q

Principle Q

A

if in either of two possible outcomes the same number of people would ever live, it will be worse if those who live are worse off, or have a lower quality of life, than those who would have lived.
We ought to bring out the better outcome, all else equal.

66
Q

average utilitarian

A

compares the average well-being of a population rather than the aggregate

67
Q

dignity

A

The unconditional (or ‘interest-independent’) value that a person has in themself, in virtue of their rational nature

68
Q

Exchange Claim (against suicide to avoid pain)

A

suicide to avoid pain is self-undermining since it is out of self-interest, and makes the person only have conditional [interst-dependent] value

69
Q

Benign Carnivorism

A

practice of eating only farm animals that have been reared without being caused to suffer and that have been killed with minimal pain and fear

70
Q

supererogatory

A

not morally required but morally praise-worthy. “above and beyond” moral duty.

71
Q

person-affecting claim

A

an act is wrong only if it makes someone worse off

philos 2 (3 decks)

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