Midterm Flashcards

Question

What is the principle of utility?

Answer 1

Approve or disapprove of an action according to whether it makes us happier or less happy We should do things that make us happy and avoid things that make us unhappy Should think of yourself and all sentient beings (including animals) Action conforms when it adds to happiness of the community more than it diminishes it

Answer 2

Property of any object whereby it produces benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness or prevents mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness

Answer 3

Things are good that diminish pleasure and bad which add pleasure Some desire to avoid worldly pleasures, often for religious/spiritual reasons, eternal reward (no greater worldly pleasure than teh eternal reward)

Answer 4

Things are good if I like them and bad if I don't like them

Answer 5

Intensity - how much/degree of pain/pleasure Duration - how long it lasts Certainty/uncertainty - how sure are you that you will derive pleasure/pain Propinquity (proximity)/remoteness - how close it is (time/distance) Purity - how likely it is that the thing you're measuring (pain or pleasure) will be followed by the opposite Fecundity - how likely is it that the things you're measuring (pain or pleasure) will be followed by the same Extent - how many other people/sentient beings would be affected by the action

Answer 6

Those who give greater weight to the interest of their own species when there is a clash between it and the interests of other species

Answer 7

The interests of humans and animals should be equally considered when making an ethical decision

Answer 8

How do we know that animals can feel pain? * They have a nervous system and can react to painful stimulus Animals eat each other, why can't we eat them? * We have the ethical responsibility to not eat them * Animals don't have a choice in what they can eat Because animals can't reciprocate, they're outside the limits of the ethical contract * We make decisions that can be reciprocated often (such as leaving the world a better place for future generations)

Answer 9

We should do the most good we can A philosophy and social movement which applies evidence and reason to working out the most effective ways to improve the world

Answer 10

Should be cheap (cost effective), have vast improvement, and a cause that is not getting a lot of attention Would find in other countries rather than the US

Answer 11

The idea that future people count in our ethical considerations, there could be a lot of them, and we can make their lives go better through our actions in the present

Answer 12

We are unfairly biased towards people living now, despite how far away they live because we can make a direct impact in this moment We don't know exactly what the future will look like, so it's hard to adjust our actions to prepare for that

Answer 13

We want our actions to be reciprocated, but this is not possible if focusing on future people because we won't be around when they are impacted by our actions

Answer 14

Significance - the average value added by bringing about a certain state of affairs Persistence - how long the state of affairs lasts once it has been brought about Contingency - extent to which a state of affairs depends on a small number of specific actions

Answer 15

You can't be sure of what the outcome will be as you get further into the act itself There is no endpoint in which to judge a given action

Answer 16

In some situations, it is quite clear or reasonably clear that if I do a certain thing, this situation will come about, if I don't do it, it will not - Makes no difference whether the causation of a given state of affairs lies through another agent or not Involves the notion of negative responsibility - if I am every responsible for anything, I must be just as much responsible for the things I allow or fail to prevent as I am for the things I bring about

Answer 17

Ethics is based in duty, not outcomes Moral law must be obeyed, even if it doesn't lead to good results Concerned with the kind of action it is, not the result the action produces

Answer 18

Morality holds for all rational beings, not just humans Pure theory of ethics that is based on theoretical deducation, not observation and experience Moral duty is independent of desire, independent of human nature or the condition of human life Genuine moral duties are categorical and unconditional

Answer 19

Wanting to do the good/right thing A good will is not good because of the results it gets or its usefulness for attaining some intended goal It's good just by its willing - better than anything that could be brought about by it

Answer 20

Action that coincides with duty has moral worth if and only if its maxim produces it by necessity, even without or contrary to inclination * Action is truly moral if you do it because it's the right thing to do, not because it benefits you or because you feel like it An action from duty has its moral worth not in the purpose that is to be attained by it, but in the maxim according to which it is resolved upon * An action isn't morally good because of its outcome, but because of the reason behind why you did it Duty is the necessity of an action from respect of for the law (moral law) * Acting out of duty means following moral rules because you respect them, not because of personal gain or emotion

Answer 21

Short, pithy rule for action

Answer 22

Reason Duty is a duty as such, prior to all experience Moral law holds for all rational beings as such, not under contingent conditions and with all exceptions but with absolute necessity

Answer 23

The formula of a comman through which humans represent objective principles that necessitate our wills

Answer 24

Action is good for some possible or actual purpose Actions and steps are only relevant to a specific goal This is where happiness fits in; it's indiscriminate, everyone wants it but it's hard to say what they desire

Answer 25

Action is objectively necessary without reference to any purpose/apart from any end Nothing to do with happiness, it's what we have to do

Answer 26

Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature * Sum up what you are about to do in a phrase - if the action were to become a universal law, would it have contradictions? If yes, don't do it Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in our own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means The will of every rational being as a will that legislates universal law

Answer 27

End - the goals or outcomes one seeks to achieve Means - methods or actions taken to reach those goals

Answer 28

When we all treat ourselves as ends and we enter into a glorious kingdom where every decision we make could be a universal law for the kingdom Kingdom has no written laws, but we make the laws through our actions