Lecture 2 Flashcards
what is Ethics
about the good (that is, what values and virtues we should cultivate) and about the right (that is, what our moral duties may be
what is Morality—
reflection on the good and evil of human acts and the person who performs them
what is Normatively—
concern for what people ought to value and what they ought to do
what is Practical reason—
human capacity to resolve through reflection and deliberation the question of what to do
what are the Normative Ethical Theories
Teleological Virtue Consequentialist Deontological Divine command Natural law
what is Teleological—
oriented toward a “good” end
what is Virtue—
moral character
what is Consequentialist—
the morality of an action is contingent on its outcome or result
what is under Consequentialist
Utilitarianism—
egoism—
welfarism—
what is Utilitarianism
best actions result in most happiness for greatest number of people
what is egoism
self-interest
what is welfarism
best actions increase economic well-being
what is Deontological
moral decision-making is based on duties and obligations toward rights and entitlements of others; “the right” is prior to “the good”
what is Divine command
moral goodness is related to wether God commands an action
what Natural law
aptitude for virtuous action that is derived from rational nature
who came up with Eudaimonism
Aristotle
what is Eudaimonism
most people virtually agree… that living well and doing well are the same as being (eudaimōn)
Presumably it is also absurd to make the blessed person solitary. For no one would choose to have all (other) goods an yet be alone, since a human being is a political (animal), tending by nature to live together with others
What is “ethics” about
both living well and hard cases
what are the Levels of Questions for Moral Reflection
- Descriptive questions— what are we/they doing?
- Prescriptive/normative questions— what should we/they do?
- Trajective questions— what will wee/they become?
whaat were the main ideas about “Plain Sex” by Goldman
“sexual desire is desire for contact with another person’s body and for the pleasure which such contact produced; sexual activity is activity which tends to fulfill such desire in the agent”
critique of “means end” analysis (necessary external purposes)
-reproduction
-expression of love
-simple communication
“my account recognizes the satisfaction of desire and the pleasure this brings as the central psychological function of the sex act for the individual”
basically, sex is JUSt sex
Is sex itself a moral category (according to goldman)
no, sex itself is not a moral category
conclusion about sexual morality:
no necessary connection between sex and morality
application of general rule complicated by particular preferences
pleasure is intrinsic but does not attach duty to sex
central principle of reciprocity
what does golden say about perversion
separation of perversion from morality (statistical, not evaluative)
perversion speaks to abnormally
it is not necessarily immoral
“The principles which condemn (perverted) acts would condemn them equally if they were common and nonsexual”
what do Zuckerman and Manning say about sex and religion
union of sex and religion (e.g. Kamasutra)
Conflict between sex and religion (e.g., concupiscence)
even most restrictive religions find some positive function in sex
judaism— sex is encouraged within marriage
hinduism— sacred literature full of eroticism
christianity— never been uniformly negative about sex
islam— sensual, erotic afterlife for men who obey God’s law
buddhism— some traditions bring enlightenment together with sexual ecstasy
what does Judaism have about regulations on sex
bless sex between man and woman only
sexual touching restricted to avoid impurity
