Midterm 1 Flashcards
Which of the following is true of a teleological moral theory?
-This type of moral theory bases moral judgments on the effects or results of an action.
-These are consequentialist theories.
Which of the following would be examples of a non-consequentist judgment about this action? (Select all that apply.)
-This was a bad action because you meant to harm Amber by stealing the purse.
-This was a good action because you intended to help Amber by keeping her purse from being stolen by someone else.
-This was a bad action because stealing is always wrong.
Descriptive judgments mean to assert
factual matters
Which of the following types of judgments would be normative? (Select all that apply.)
-practical claims
-ethical claims
-aesthetic claims
Which of the following judgments is a normative judgment?
Euthanasia is morally permissible (or impermissible) in some circumstances.
This term indicates that something should be positively regarded, but without an explicit recommendation for doing it. This term usually allows room for degrees.
“Morally good”
This term indicates that some action is morally allowable and sometimes praiseworthy, but that there is no moral requirement to do that action.
“Morally permissible”
This term indicates that something ought to be done and that there is no other acceptable moral choice.
“Moral obligation”
For example, moral realism is a moral perspective that emphasizes
objective knowledge of intrinsic value
Which of the following is best understood as claiming that ethical judgments are actually subjective feelings?
Emotivism
Opponents of the sociobiology perspective might worry that _______ For example, an opponent might argue that, just because a behavior is natural and useful in the evolutionary struggle for survival, that does not mean that it is good, just, or right.
it commits the naturalistic fallacy
Which of the following statements are premises or reasons given in support of this argument’s conclusion? (Select all that apply.)
–My swimming out to rescue this person has a good chance of saving his life.
-Every human life is valuable.
-Whatever has a good chance of saving such a life should be attempted.
Which premise in this argument expresses a general value assumption?
Every human life is valuable.
Which statement best expresses the argument’s conclusion?
Therefore, I ought to do so.
Which of the following statements is a metaethical claim?
Goodness is relative to one’s culture.
Which of the following statements is a normative claim?
Abortion is wrong.
Descriptive claims depend on what kind of information?
empirical
Which of the following statements characterizes Hume’s Law?
Just because we do something does not make it right.
Philosophical ethics examines ethics from what standpoint?
critical or evaluative
Teleological moral theories are also known by what term?
Consequentialist
Which viewpoint illustrates that ethical judgments are always only opinions?
Subjectivism
Which viewpoint is similar to moral realism, which is the idea that ethical judgments can be said to be true or false?
Objectivism
What viewpoint is reflected in Leon Kass’s “yuck factor”?
Emotivism
Hume and Moore reject deriving an “ought” from an “is” for what reason?
The naturalistic fallacy
What do we mean when we say life has intrinsic value?
It is a good in itself.
What does Richard Dawkins mean when he says that life has instrumental value?
Life is good for carrying genetic information.
The naturalistic fallacy is an example of which type of faulty reasoning?
Circular reasoning
The conclusion in a logical argument begins with what term?
Therefore
Utilitarianism places value on what component of an act?
consequence
Deontology places ethical value on what component of an act?
motive
Amia Srinivasan claims that all moral philosophy is a masculinist project and should be rehabilitated by what method?
Critical theory
Valuing happiness as an intrinsic good reflects what philosophical viewpoint?
Objectivism
What is the opposite of relativism?
Objectivism
Factual beliefs are what kind of information?
Empirical
These Enlightenment thinkers held that liberty and tolerance were ____ values
important
They held that history was developing in a _____ manner
Progressive
They were interested in discovering _______ values and learning from other cultures.
Common
The Enlightenment period is often characterized by the view that freedom is grounded in _____ .
Human reason
Absolutism
concept that asserts certain principles or rules are universally valid, unchanging, and apply to all people, at all times, in all situations, regardless of context or circumstances.
Relativism
the belief that knowledge, truth, and morality are not absolute but instead are influenced by individual perspectives, cultures, or situations. In other words, what is considered true or morally right can vary depending on factors like context, society, or personal experiences.
Pluralism
It emphasizes that different perspectives or practices can coexist peacefully and that no single viewpoint or belief system should dominate or be considered the only valid one
Tolerance
the acceptance and respect for differences in beliefs, practices, or opinions, even if one does not agree with them. It involves recognizing and allowing others to hold views or engage in actions that may differ from one’s own, without attempting to suppress or discriminate against them.
Like Socrates, Immanuel Kant advocated reform through:
Public argument about morality, religion, and politics.
Later thinkers and activists, such as Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948), and Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), called for civil disobedience, which is a nonviolent refusal to obey unjust laws with the intention of accepting the penalty for breaking those laws. What does this civil disobedience hope to accomplish?
Arousing the conscience of the whole community.
Advocates of civil disobedience demonstrated that one need not reject existing traditions and institutions in order to scrutinize or critique them. King, in particular, saw ethical critique as a means of:
Helping the United States realize the full promise of its founding documents.
However, examples of nonviolent practitioners of civil disobedience (like King and Gandhi), may show that philosophical ethics is ______ religious conviction and cosmopolitan religious freedom.
compatible with
Most contemporary philosophers believe that ethics does not require a religious grounding. Rather than relying on holy books or religious revelations, philosophical ethics attempts to use ______ to determine what is good and bad, right and wrong, or better and worse.
reason and experience
Recall that deontological ethical theories in general hold that some actions are inherently right or wrong, regardless of the circumstances or consequences. One form of deontological ethics is divine command theory, which holds that morally right actions are those actions that are declared by ______ to be good.
God
According to the Euthyphro objection, this question results in a problem with _____ possible answers, all of which is claimed to undermine divine command theory.
Two
Euthyphro Objection
- If something is good because God commands it: This implies that moral goodness is arbitrary—anything could be deemed good, depending on God’s command, even actions that seem intuitively immoral, like murder or cruelty.
- If God commands something because it is good: This suggests that morality exists independently of God’s will, and therefore, God is not the ultimate source of morality but is instead subject to an external standard of goodness.
Although the Euthyphro objection is usually presented in terms of a dilemma (a choice between two options), you can also think of the Euthyphro objection as claiming that divine command theory uses ______ reasoning.
Circular
Religious pluralists claim that there is _____ ideas found among the world’s various religious traditions.
A common core of
A religious pluralist is likely to argue that most of the great world religions _____ something like the Golden Rule.
Include
So, according to religious pluralism, to some extent every religion has
similar viewpoints and goals
While different religions might be similar in many ethical respects (for example, different religions can agree that murder is morally wrong), they almost always have different metaphysical views about the nature of God or reality in general. For opponents of religious pluralism, these types of differences are ethically ______ compared to the similarities.
Important
The attempt to answer the problem of evil by trying to reconcile these divine attributes is known as
Theodicy
Denial of evil solution
attempts to show that God is not responsible for evil by denying the existence of evil
Least of all evils solution
does recognize the existence of evil. This solution to the problem of evil involves the claim that the present universe, although it contains evil, is the best possible universe that God could have created
Aesthetic totality solution
attempts to account for evil by elaborating on the nature of God as a creator and author of the universe. According to this view, God is the supreme author of a divinely created drama: the universe in which we live.
Free will solution
recognizes the existence of evil in the world while attempting to demonstrate that God is not directly responsible for evil.
Secular
Based in this world and age
European philosophers of the Enlightenment era argued that public toleration of religious diversity is
Necessary
Locke argues that:
spiritual authorities should operate through persuasion and conversion, while civil (governmental) authorities may operate through laws backed by coercive force.
Locke’s argument forms the basis of the United States’ constitutional doctrine known as:
Separation of church and state
Divine Command Theory
a moral theory that asserts that moral right and wrong are determined by God’s will. According to this theory, actions are morally good or bad because they align with or violate the commands of God. In other words, an action is morally right if God commands it, and morally wrong if God forbids it.
Objective sources
a philosophical system developed by Ayn Rand that asserts the existence of an objective reality that is independent of human perception or belief, and that individuals should pursue their own rational self-interest as the moral purpose of their lives.
Conflicts of value
when two or more competing values, principles, or beliefs come into direct opposition, creating a situation where choosing one may require sacrificing or compromising another.
