Identification terms

Question 1

The Persian Letters

Answer 1

2 wealthy Persian men travel to Paris observing the city from outside pov
promotes idea that religious belief is relative
criticizing religion leads to moral questioning
seeing something in Persia might be moral now in france
talks about troglodytes who didn’t appreciate the drs help so the dr didn’t come back

Question 2

bourgeoisie

Answer 2

the middle class
often described as the ownership class - group of people who own stuff

Question 3

Friedrich Engels

Answer 3

German philosopher who worked with Marx and they had some of the most influential works in the history of socialism

Question 4

speculative philosopher

Answer 4

philosophy professing to be founded upon intuitive or a prior insight and especially insight into the nature of the absolute or divine broadly
they think they are superior and everyone else is lacking

Question 5

moral relativism

Answer 5

moral judgements are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint
no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others
someone thinks their opinion is right based on their morals

Question 6

trolley problem

Answer 6

kill 1 person or 5 people on railroad
utilitarianism - greatest good for greatest number

Question 7

societal ideology

Answer 7

intellectual rationale for political forms
Marx 3 main features of ideology: existing order being natural and beyond human control, how existing order benefits everyone, depiction of existing order as beneficial
the ability of the ruling class to prevent the oppressed class from actually sensing their position
societal level gas lighting

Question 8

felicific calculus

Answer 8

intensity
certainty
propinquity
fecundity
purity
extent
measuring pleasure off of tangible things
Bentham argues that we should be able to calculate the impact of our actions by measuring these variables

Question 9

teleological moral

Answer 9

derived from greek telos
if something is deemed good, as it provides utility, then the right action in any situation is the one that brings the most good
what is right is determined by what is good

Question 10

separation of powers

Answer 10

Montesquieu argues that people are inherently self interested and prone to abuse power
sees the most workable solution by having an executive, legislature, and independent judiciary

Question 11

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Answer 11

list of prohibited books which Spirit of Laws was put on for its criticism of religion

Question 12

Despotism

Answer 12

dictatorship
nature: concentrated power in ruler/ruling family
principle: restricted concentration of power in hands of dictator
no check in ruler
will is the law
based on fear

Question 13

philosopher in action

Answer 13

their events that they perform for a purpose that is guided by the philosophers intention

Question 14

General in Origin

Answer 14

one of the ways that will is general
laws must be made by all citizens
Rousseau requires direct participation

Question 15

Virtual representation

Answer 15

Edmund bruke advocated for this
your mp is not a representative of you but your interests

Question 16

socialism

Answer 16

transitory state between capitalism and communism
pure socialism doesn’t exist
marxist socialism is during transitional phase, the means of production should be publicly appropriated

Question 17

harm principle

Answer 17

intrusion on personal liberty should be constrained to when actions harm people
3 main techniques: liberty on conscience, liberty of expression, liberty of life as one pleases

Question 18

proletariat

Answer 18

working class
people who do labor

Question 19

independent judiciary

Answer 19

judges must be free to exercise their judicial powers w/o inference

Question 20

economic base

Answer 20

productive element which forces and relationship of productions

Question 21

general in object

Answer 21

other way that will is general
laws must concern all citizens - similar to the modern language of equal protection

Question 22

self determination

Answer 22

the process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, from their own state and choose their own government

Question 23

superstructure

Answer 23

how society can be broken up
everything that isn’t productive

Question 24

deontological morals

Answer 24

what is right and what is good are defined independently
any moral system that rests on concepts such as natural law or gods will are deontological

Question 25

psychological hedonism

Answer 25

the view that all human action is ultimately motivated by desires for pleasure and the avoidance of pain

Question 26

“other regarding” individualism

Answer 26

individual behavior is “other regarding” if it potentially harms another persons “permanent interest as a progressive being”

Question 27

abstract rights

Answer 27

are not real, which makes burke offended that people compare the French Revolution to glorious revolution
the person as the bearer or holder of individual rights

Question 28

general will

Answer 28

requires citizens to be virtuous and recognize what’s best for society
2 ways: origin and object

Question 29

natural pity

Answer 29

makes it so humans won’t want to harm others