General Philosophical Views

Question 1

Utilitarianism

Answer 1

Our actions are morally permissible if the amount of happiness it causes outweighs the amount of suffering. We can evaluate the amount of happiness it causes with these criteria: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, extent, purity, richness (situational) (Jeremey Bentham, John Stuart Mill)

Question 2

Divine Command Theory

Answer 2

Our actions are morally required if God commands them in the bible, morally permissible if God permits them, and morally wrong if God prohibits them (absolutist) (St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas)

Question 3

Natural Moral Law

Answer 3

Our actions are morally correct if we are fulfilling our ‘telos’ (purpose) given to us by God, and actions are morally wrong if they go against our ‘telos’. We must follow the primary precepts in order to fulfil these God-given purposes. These are: preserving innocent life, living in an ordered society, worshiping God, educating children, and reproduction. (absolutist) (Thomas Aquinas)

Question 4

Kantian Ethics

Answer 4

Our actions are morally wrong if they involve treating rationally autonomous beings as a means to an end. An action in itself is always right or wrong regardless of its consequences. (absolutist) (Immanuel Kant)

Question 5

Liberalism (Harm Principle)

Answer 5

If an action does not harm anyone (emotionally or physically) then it is morally permissible. (absolutist) (John Stuart Mill)

Question 6

Situation ethics

Answer 6

An action is moral if it is the most loving (agape) and compassionate action to take as that is how Jesus would have acted. (situational)