Lecture 1: Part 3 - Ethical Theories Flashcards
What are the four ethical theories and concepts
Teleological theories, doentological theories, virtue ethics and rights and justice
How is ethical thinking guided under teleological theories?
The rightness of an action is determined solely by the amount of good consequence they produce
What is utilitarianism?
Practical method for evaluating alternative “an action is right if and if it only produces the greatest pleasure over pain for everyone.”
What are the four theses for utilitarianism:
1) Consequentialism: Rightness of an action is solely determined by the consequences
2) Hedonism: Pleasure and pleasure is ultimately good
3) Maximalism: A right action has the greatest amount of good consequences when the bad consequences are also taken into consideration
4) Universalism: Consequences to be considered are the consequences for everyone
What is act utilitarianism and what is rule utilitarianism?
Act: An action is right if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for everyone
Rule: An action is only right if it conforms to a set of rules, the general acceptance of which would produce the greatest balance of please over pain for everyone
What are the advantages of using the cost benefit and disadvantages when evaluating the consequences of any action?
Benefits: Price of goods can be observed in the market, therefore the need to have knowledge of peoples preferences is eliminated
Drawbacks: Not all costs and benefits have a determinable monetary value, and does not always correspond to opportunity cost
What did the UN happiness report find?
Important for people to place value on happiness - and that social interaction makes us happier
What do deontological theories state?
The rightness of an action is determined by the nature of these actions, or the rules from which they follow
Deon= duty
What is the moral principal behind kantian ethics?
Determines that consequences are relevant to determine what we ought to do (actions are wrong not because of the consequences, but rather the rules they follow)
What are the two principals of the universality principal
Principal 1: Act on rules (or maxims) that you would be willing to have everyone follow
Principal 2: Respect other people (and ourselves) as human beings
What are virtue ethics?
Specifically acquired traits, that everyone needs for the good life
What are the seven virtues?
Integrity, kindness, compassion, courage, courtesy, honestly and loyalty
What are rights?
To have rights is to be entitled to act on our own, or to be treated by others in certain ways without asking permission of anyone or being dependent on other people’s goodwill
What are the three different kinds of moral rights?
1) Legal and moral rights
2) Specific and general rights
3) Negative and positive rights
What are legal and moral rights?
Legal rights = enforced by law
Moral rights = not dependent on a legal system - rights we ought to have
What are specific and general rights?
Specific rights = rights that are applicable to specific, identifiable individuals
General rights = Involve claims against anyone, or humanity in general
What are negative and positive rights?
Negative rights= obligations for others to refrain from acting in certain ways that interfere with our own freedom
Positive rights= Impose obligations on other people to provide us with some good or service, and thereby acting positively on our behalf
What are the three kinds of justice Aristotle identified?
1) Distributive justice - deals with the distributions of benefits and burdens
2) Compensatory justice - is a matter for compensating persons for wrongs done to them
3) Retributive justice - punishment of wrongdoers
