Lecture 1. Introduction

Question 1

What are the three subsets of ethics? What do they deal with?

Answer 1

Normative ethics : What one should do
Meta-Ethics: Questions the foundations of ethical concepts and judgements
Applied Ethics: Focuses on the application of normative ethics

Question 2

What is the difference between right and good?

Answer 2

Right deals with actions and an assessment of conduct, good deals with values and refers to the state of things or intentions

Question 3

What is the difference between a normative and a descriptive statement?

Answer 3

A normative statement deals with an evaluation of something based off a judgement, and a descriptive statement deals with how something is, facts.

Question 4

What is the is/ought fallacy?

Answer 4

A prescriptive statement cannot be derived purely from a descriptive statement (is) without a moral judgement

Question 5

What are the two proponents of an argument?

Answer 5

There are premises that lead to a logical conclusion

Question 6

What are the two ways to evaluate an argument?

Answer 6

1. If the quality of arguments is logical
2. If the premises are true

Question 7

What is the difference between a valid argument and a sound argument?

Answer 7

A valid argument has logical argument structure, and a sound argument has logical argument structure AND true premises

Question 8

What is a syllogism?

Answer 8

An argument with two premises and a concluson

Question 9

What are the two categorizations of common moral theories? What are they?

Answer 9

Consequentialist (morality based on outcome) and deontological (Based on actions)

Question 10

What form of deontology is the most famous and what are its Categorical Imperatives?

Answer 10

Kantian ethics:

1. Act according to the maxim where it would be good if it were universal law
2. Humanity is not a means to an end, but an end in itself (autonomy)