Module 3: The Moral Agent Flashcards

1
Q

True or False: The actions that we judge to be either morally good or bad are those that involve moral persons (whether human/non-human), both as the sources and recipients of these action.

A

True

By: (Evangelista & Mabacquiao, 2020)

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2
Q

True or False: It is important that as human beings we know how to assess actions whether they are morally good or evil so that we can achieve our goals in life without or with less regret or blame.

A

True

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3
Q

In judging whether an action is morally good or bad, or morally right or wrong, we determine whether this action conforms to or violates our moral standards or
principles. For example, we judge an act of killing to be morally wrong because it violates our moral principle which states that we ought not to kill or that we ought to respect a person’s right to life. In doing so, we, however, already assume that the entities or beings involved in the action (its source or receiver) have moral status or are moral persons.

For an action to be either morally good or bad, its source and recipient must be both be moral persons. We generally regard humans as moral persons both in terms of being sources and recipients of actions, while we do not generally regard animals as moral persons at least but only in terms of being recipient of the actions of moral persons (as when human kill or hurt them).

In making moral judgments, moral personhood plays a critical role. Moral
judgment applies only to acts involving moral persons. Therefore, we first need to determine if the action under consideration is indeed morally evaluable before we can apply our moral principles to test the morality of an action.

A

MORAL PERSONHOOD

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4
Q

The concept of moral personhood is _____; and to help us get a better handle of it, let us inquire into the following:

first, what does being a moral person entail? Or what are the consequences when an entity is regarded a moral person? (_____)

Second, what are the ways to be a moral person? Or are there different ways of being moral persons? Or are there different ways of being moral persons? (_____)

Third, how does one qualify as a moral person? (_____)

Choices: about its basis, about the significance of moral personhood, about its structure

To address these questions, we shall examine the _____ of moral personhood in terms of _____, the _____, and the _____.

A
  1. complex
  2. about the significance of moral personhood
  3. about its structure
  4. about its basis
  5. minimum definition
  6. possession of moral rights
  7. division of moral persons into moral agents and moral patients
  8. claims of the different theories of personhood
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5
Q

One standard way of defining personhood is in terms of _____: to be a _____ is to be a _____. For example, a legal person, in this sense, is one who possess legal rights.

A
  1. possession of rights
  2. person
  3. bearer of rights
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6
Q

A moral person is those who _____. Consequently, it is their _____ that makes _____.

A
  1. possess moral rights
  2. possession of moral rights
  3. moral persons objects of moral concern
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7
Q

It is important to note that the _____ is merely the _____ of _____; for, as we shall later on elaborate, there are _____ who, in addition to having _____, also have _____.

A
  1. possession of moral rights
  2. minimum
    definition
  3. moral personhood
  4. moral persons
  5. moral rights
  6. moral duties or obligations
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8
Q

They refer to interests one (i.e., the bearer of rights) is allowed to pursue or actions one is allowed to do.

For example, when we say that humans have the right to live, we mean that humans are entitled or allowed to do things that are necessary to continue with their existence in this world. And when we say that we do not have the right to take another person’s life, we basically mean that we are not entitled, allowed, or permitted to take another person’s life.

A

RIGHTS are entitlements

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9
Q

As such, they are better understood when
compared and contrasted with each other. Duties are actions that we ought to do or
perform.

A

RIGHTS correlate with duties

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10
Q

One main difference between rights and duties concerns whether one deserves
_____ for failing to satisfy them. On the other hand, _____ ; that is, one does not deserve to _____.

A
  1. sanctions (penalties, punishments, or blame)
  2. failure to exercise a right does not merit any sanction
  3. be punished or blamed for it
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11
Q

Two general ways by which rights are classified:

✓ Negative rights: if one’s possession of a right imposes only the duty of noninterference on other people.
✓ Positive rights: imposes the duty of provision (or positive performance), in
addition to the duty of non-interference.

A

On the basis of the kind of duties imposed by rights, whether these rights are only duties of non-interference or duties of provision as well.

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12
Q

Two general ways by which rights are classified:

✓ Contractual Rights. The rights that we acquire when we enter into an agreement or a contract with some other persons or institutions. This can either be: formal, when the rights of the parties of the contract, along with their correlative duties, are explicitly stated usually in some written document; informal, if such rights and duties are merely implied.
✓ Legal Rights. The rights that we acquire when we become citizens of a certain country or state.
✓ Moral Rights. Rights acquired when one becomes a moral person or a member of the moral community. Having moral rights is entitled by being a moral person. One becomes a moral person, and thus acquires moral rights when one possesses the defining qualities of moral personhood, which may include sentience (capacity to experience pleasure and pain) and rationality (the capacity to know and choose freely). Human persons are moral persons in virtue of possessing these qualities.

A

In terms of how rights are acquired (or their mode of acquisition)

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13
Q

What is at stake in the question of whether an entity—say a human embryo, a human fetus, a brain-dead human, an animal, a corporation, or an intelligent machine—is a moral person is whether this entity has moral rights and, consequently, whether other moral persons have certain moral duties or obligations towards this entity.

A

If being a person entails possession of rights, then being a moral person entails possession of moral rights.

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14
Q

(In the movie Bicentennial Man [1999]), the robot wanted to be recognized as a person
by the government so he would be recognized as having rights, especially the right to marry the person he so loved). But what are moral rights? Or more precisely, what kind of rights are moral rights?

A

Like legal and contractual rights, moral rights impose duties of either non-interference or provision and thus, are either negative or positive. But unlike legal and contractual rights, moral rights are acquired through possession of the defining features of moral personhood. Furthermore, as they are used to justify the acceptance or rejection of legal and contractual rights, moral rights are higher than these
two other kinds of rights.

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15
Q

If humans are moral persons in virtue of their possession of certain qualities (other than being human), moral persons, in principle, can either be human or nonhuman.

A

Moral Agents and Patients

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16
Q

Non-human moral persons, in this regard, would refer to those _____ but not of _____. They may include _____ like _____.

A
  1. possessing the defining features of being a moral person
  2. being a human being
  3. animals, aliens, and artificial entities
  4. corporations and intelligent machines
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17
Q

Moral persons, regardless of whether they are human or non-human, are either the ones _____ or those _____. Moral persons, in this consideration, are distinguished into _____.

A
  1. performing such actions
  2. to whom such actions are being done
  3. moral agents and moral patients (or moral recipients)
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18
Q

When moral persons act as the _____, in that they are the _____, they are classified as _____. But when they act as the _____, in that such actions are done to them, they are classified as _____. When a person, say Juan, helps another person in need, say Maria, Juan is the _____ while Maria is the _____.

A
  1. source of morally evaluable actions
  2. doers of such actions
  3. moral agents
  4. receivers of such actions
  5. moral patients
  6. moral agent
  7. moral patient
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19
Q

The distinction and relation between moral patients and moral agents can also be explained in terms of the _____.

A

possession of moral rights and duties

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20
Q

In general, moral agents perform _____ because it is their moral duty to do so; while morally evaluable actions are done to _____ because it is moral right that such actions be done to them. For example, parents, as moral agents, take care of their young children for it is their moral obligations to do so; while these children, as moral patients, are taken care of by their parents because it is their moral right to receive such care from their parents.

A
  1. morally evaluable actions
  2. moral patients
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21
Q

While all _____ are _____, only some are or can be _____. For example, all human persons can be receivers of morally evaluable actions; but only some of them can be sources of such actions. Normal human adults and infants, being moral persons, are moral patients; but only normal human adult or humans already capable of making informed decisions can be moral agent. Another way of saying this is that all _____ have _____, but not all have _____ as well.

A
  1. moral persons
  2. moral patients
  3. moral agents
  4. moral persons
  5. moral rights
  6. moral duties
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22
Q

Given that all moral persons are moral patients, but not all are moral agents. There
are _____ classes of moral persons.

A

two

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23
Q

Two classes of moral persons:

Consists of moral persons who cannot be moral agents or they are moral persons who can only function as moral patients.

A

non-agentive moral persons

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24
Q

Two classes of moral persons:

Consists of moral persons who can be moral agents or they are moral persons who can also function as moral agents.

A

agentive moral persons

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25
Q

Between the two, only _____ can be _____. This also means that only _____ can deserve _____. As such, while _____ can be _____, they are _____ so because it will still depend on whether the _____.

A
  1. agentive moral persons
  2. morally accountable for their actions
  3. agentive moral persons
  4. moral blame or praise for their actions
  5. moral agents
  6. morally accountable for their actions
  7. not always
  8. other conditions are satisfied
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26
Q

One conceptual advantage of having of having the distinction between moral agents and moral patients, and the more specific distinction between agentive and nonagentive moral persons, is that _____. For example, say a human fetus, a comatose patient, or a patient in persistent vegetative state, cannot be a moral person because of its incapacity to perform actions that can be either morally good or bad.

A

it avoids confusion in assigning moral personhood to certain entities

27
Q

A concept related to moral personhood is _____.

A

moral accountability

28
Q

Moral Agents can be _____ for their actions towards _____. In discussing the nature of moral accountability, we first clarify its meaning in terms of how it relates to the various uses of the word “_____” and differs from the _____.

A
  1. morally accountable
  2. moral patients
  3. responsibility
  4. legal kind of accountability
29
Q

True or False: Human acts is the concern of moral accountability, not acts of man.

A

True

30
Q

Is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man.

A

HUMAN ACTS

31
Q

Man’s animal acts of sensation (i.e., use of
senses) and appetition (i.e., bodily tendencies).

A

ACTS OF MAN

32
Q

In a wide sense, this term means any sort of activity, internal or external, bodily or spiritual, performed by human being.

A

HUMAN ACTS

33
Q

Acts that man performs indeliberately or without advertence and the exercise of free
choice.

A

ACTS OF MAN

34
Q

It is only the act that proceeds from the
knowing and freely willing human being that
has the full character of a human act.

A

HUMAN ACTS

35
Q

Such acts are affected in sleep, in delirium,
in the state of unconsciousness.

A

ACTS OF MAN

36
Q

Hence, acts that proceed from a deliberate (i.e., advertent, knowing) and freely willing human being.

A

HUMAN ACTS

37
Q

Acts done abstractedly or with complete
inadvertence, acts performed in infancy and
acts due to infirmity of mind or the weakness of senility.

A

ACTS OF MAN

38
Q

We understand accountability as the _____. Accountability is a _____ of our _____, which consists or our _____, and _____.

A
  1. deservingness of blame or praise for the
    actions that we perform
  2. natural product
  3. rationality
  4. reason (or intelligence)
  5. free will (or freedom)
39
Q

In the practical context of performing actions, our _____ enables us to distinguish
between _____, while our _____ will enables us to choose which _____.

Study: Consequently, we deserve blame for freely choosing to perform an action we know to be wrong (or for freely choosing not to perform an action we know to be right); while we deserve praise for freely choosing to perform an action,
we know to be right (or for freely choosing not to perform an action we know to be wrong).

A
  1. reason
  2. right and wrong actions
  3. free
  4. action that we would like to perform
40
Q

Two things worth emphasizing when it comes to accountability

A
  1. Accountability involves both praise and blame (or reward or punishment), for it is usual to associate accountability with blame or punishment only.
  2. Deservingness is not negated by actualities. A person may deserve to receive
    something and yet may not actually receive it. But the fact that he/she does not receive it does not negate the fact that he/she deserves to receipt it.
41
Q

Another meaning of responsibility is _____. Here, being responsible for something, simply means _____. The entities that can be responsible in this sense involve both _____, like the _____, and _____, like _____. Thus, we sometimes say, that the storm was responsible for the floods that devastated the city; and the lion was responsible for the death of the deer. In saying these, we simply mean that the storm caused the floods and the lion caused the death of the deer. We surely do not mean, in addition, that the storm and the lion were accountable for these events.

A
  1. causation
  2. being the cause of that something
  3. inanimate entities
  4. storms and stones
  5. animate ones
  6. animals and humans
42
Q

When the cause of something is a person, say a human person, the person is usually referred to, in philosophy, as an _____. Being an agent is one necessary condition for accountability, in that the person accountable for an action must be the action’s agent. But there are other necessary conditions for accountability.
Consequently, just by being an agent of an action does not immediately make someone
accountable for this action.

A

agent (or personal agent)

43
Q

Still, another meaning of the word responsibility is _____, or
having certain _____ (see Zimmerman, 2010, 607-08). Zimmerman (2010, 608), refers to the responsibility understood as the possession of duties as _____, the kind of responsibility directed towards what will happen. In contrast, he refers to the responsibility understood as accountability as _____, the kind of responsibility directed towards what happened already. Thus, the parents’ responsibility toward their children consists of actions that they have to do towards their children as a matter of duty; but their retrospective responsibility towards the same consists of actions that they have already done to their children for which they deserve blame or praise.

A
  1. duty or obligation
  2. duties or obligations towards other people
  3. prospective responsibility
  4. retrospective responsibility
44
Q

In light of the uses of the word “responsibility”, when we ask, “Who is responsible for this action?”, we may be asking either of the following:

_____
_____
_____

These questions are related in certain ways, but it is important not to confuse them. For the person who causes the action may or may not be the one tasked, or has the obligation, to perform the action, and, consequently, may or may not deserve blame or praise for this action.

A
  1. Who causes this action?
  2. Whose duty is this action?
  3. Who should be blamed or praised for this action?
45
Q

What makes moral responsibility different from the legal accountability?

A
  1. One difference is the kind of standards or principles used in ascertaining the quality of an act, for which one may deserve blame or praise.
  2. Legal accountability uses legal standards (laws/statutes) whereas moral accountability uses moral standards (moral rules or principles). As statutes do not always embody moral rules (like laws that are discriminatory), legal accountability likewise, does not always reflect moral accountability.
  3. The person who does not deserve moral blame may deserve legal punishment; and the person who does not deserve moral blame may be legally punished.
  4. Another difference is the kind of sanctions or penalties for wrongdoers. Legal sanctions for criminal offenses—especially in penal systems following the classical theory in criminal justice—are said to be external in that they come in the form of physical punishments. Moral sanctions (moral blame or fault), on the other hand, are said to be internal in that they come in the form of mental sufferings such as guilt or remorse, shame, self-hatred, low self-esteem, and the
    like.
46
Q

Two general set for the conditions of Moral Accountability

A
  1. Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)
  2. Degree Conditions
47
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

They determine whether moral accountability can be attributed or assigned to a person for an action that he/she has done. Under this set are the _____, which would make one morally accountable for the action under consideration; and the _____, which would spare one from moral accountability for the action under consideration.

A

Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)

  1. incriminating conditions
  2. excusing conditions
48
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

According to the _____, a person is only accountable for actions in which he/she is the cause. This condition, however, is not sufficient for there are two other necessary conditions: The _____, referring to the condition in which a person knows or has the capacity to know the moral quality of his/her action; and the _____, referring to the condition in which a person intends or freely chooses to perform an action he/she is doing.

A

Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)

  1. agency condition
  2. Knowledge Condition
  3. intentionality condition
49
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

Taken together, these three conditions constitute the incriminating condition. A person is accountable for an action if and only if he/she:

A

Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)

o Is the agent of the action;
o knows or has the capacity to know that the action is good or bad;
o Intentionality performs an action.
o (if at least one of them does not occur, then the person is excused
from the moral accountability).

50
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

We may refer to the absence or non-occurrence of each of the incriminating conditions as follows:

A

Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)

o Non-agency for the agency condition
o Ignorance for the knowledge condition
o Involuntariness for the intentionality condition

51
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

A person is not morally accountable for an action if he/she failed to have at least one of the following:

A

Attribution Conditions (assignment conditions)

o Volition to perform the act;
o Knowledge whether the act is either good or bad (or have the capacity to know such);
o Intention to perform the act. It might be that this person:
▪ Did the action and knew the action to be good or bad, but it was not his/her intention to do so.
▪ Did the action and intentionally did so, but he/she did not know it to be either good or bad.
▪ Simply did not do the action or was not the one who did the action.

52
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

They determine the degree of one’s moral accountability. Under this set are the _____, (lessens the degree of moral accountability), and _____ (increases accountability).

A

Degree Conditions

  1. mitigating conditions
  2. aggravating conditions
53
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

The conditions are regarded as mitigating when they lessen the degree of one’s moral accountability; while they are regarded as aggravating when they increase it.

A

Degree Conditions

54
Q

General set for the conditions of Moral Accountability: _____

Analysis of the degree conditions assumes that the person whose action is under consideration is held morally accountable for the action in question; what is being determined is simply the degree of his/her
accountability.

A

Degree Conditions

55
Q

There are four conditions (see Velasquez, 2014, 60-61)

A
  1. Degree of knowledge
  2. Degree of pressure or difficulty in life that forces to perform a wrongdoing.
  3. Degree of intensity (or seriousness) of the injury caused by the wrongdoing.
  4. Degree of involvement (or participation) in a group or collective act or moral wrongdoing.
56
Q

Condition:
_____ of the moral wrongfulness of the action along with the relevant facts related to the action.
a. The more the knowledgeable the person is, the greater is his/her moral accountability. The less knowledgeable a person is, the lesser is his/her moral accountability.

A

Degree of knowledge

57
Q

Condition:
a. The greater the pressure, the lesser the moral responsibility. The lesser the pressure, the greater the moral accountability.

A

Degree of pressure or difficulty in life that forces to perform a
wrongdoing.

58
Q

Condition:
a. The greater the intensity of the injury, the greater the moral accountability. The lesser the intensity of the injury, the lesser the moral accountability.

A

Degree of intensity (or seriousness) of the injury caused by the wrongdoing.

59
Q

Condition:
a. The greater the involvement, the greater the moral accountability. The lesser the involvement, the lesser the moral accountability.

A

Degree of involvement (or participation) in a group or collective act or moral wrongdoing.

60
Q

Feelings are often a sign of moral seriousness and may be admired. But they can also get in the way of discovering the truth: When we feel strongly about an issue, it is tempting to assume that we just know what the truth is, without even having to consider arguments on the other side. Unfortunately, however, we cannot rely on our feelings, no matter how powerful they may be.

_____. One time, for example, people’s feelings told them that members of other races were inferior and that slavery was God’s plan.

If we want to discover the truth, _____. This is the essence of morality. The morally right thing to do is always the thing best supported by the arguments.

This is not a narrow point about a small range of moral views; it is a general
requirement of logic that must be accepted by everyone, regardless of their position on
any particular issue.

In this way, ______. If someone says, “I like coffee,” she does not need to have a reason—she is merely stating a fact about her preferences, and nothing more. On the other hand, if someone says that something is morally wrong, he does need reasons, and if his reasons are legitimate, then other people must acknowledge their force.

A

Under MORAL REASONING

  1. Our feelings may be irrational; they may be nothing but the products of prejudice, selfishness, or cultural conditioning.
  2. we must let our feelings be guided as much as possible by reason
  3. moral judgments are different from expressions of personal taste
61
Q

Of course, not every reason that may be advanced is a good reason. There are bad
arguments as well as good ones, and much of the skill of moral thinking consists in discerning the difference. But how do we tell the difference? How do we go about assessing arguments? The examples we have considered point to some answers.

The first thing is to get one’s facts straight. Often this is not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes key facts are unknown. Other times, matters are so complex that even the
experts disagree. Yet another problem is human prejudice. Often we want to believe
something because it supports our preconceptions. For example, people who do not want to give to charity often say that charities are inefficient and corrupt, even when they have no good evidence for this; and people who dislike homosexuals may say that gay men are all pedophiles, even though very few are. But the facts exist independently of our wishes, and responsible moral thinking begins when we try to see things as they are.

Next, we can bring moral principles into play. A number of principles were involved: that we should not “use” people; that we should not kill one person to save another; that we should do what will benefit the people affected by our actions; that every life is sacred; and that it is wrong to discriminate against the handicapped. Most moral arguments consist of principles being applied to particular cases, and so we must ask
whether the principles are justified and whether they are being applied correctly.

It would be nice if there were a simple recipe for constructing good arguments and avoiding bad ones. Unfortunately, there is not. Arguments can go wrong in many ways,
and we must always be alert to the possibility of new complications and new kinds of error. But that is not surprising. The rote application of routine methods is never a
satisfactory substitute for critical thinking, in any area. Morality is no exception.

A

Under MORAL REASONING. Study.

62
Q

Almost every important moral theory includes the idea of _____. This is the idea that _____; no one should get special treatment. At the same time, impartiality requires that we not treat the members of particular groups as _____, and thus it condemns forms of _____.

A
  1. impartiality
  2. each individual’s interests are equally important
  3. inferior
  4. discrimination like sexism
    and racism
63
Q

_____ is closely connected with the idea that _____ must be _____. Consider the racist who thinks that white people deserve all the good jobs. He would like all the doctors, lawyers, business executives, and soon, to be white. Now we can ask for reasons; we can ask why this is thought to be right. Is there something about white people that makes them better fitted for the highest-paying and most prestigious positions? Are they inherently brighter or more industrious? Do they care more about themselves and their families? Would they benefit more from such employment? In each case, the answer is no; and if there is no good reason for treating
people differently, then discrimination is unacceptably arbitrary.

A
  1. Impartiality
  2. moral judgments
  3. backed by good reasons
64
Q

The _____, then, is at bottom nothing more than a _____. It _____ treating one person worse than another when there is no good reason to do so. But if this explains what is wrong with racism, it also explains why, in some cases, it is not racist to treat people differently. Suppose a movie director were making a film about Fred Shuttlesworth (1922–2011), the heroic African-American civil rights leader. This director would have a good reason not to cast Christian Bale in the starring role. Such “_____” would not be _____.

A
  1. requirement of impartiality
  2. rule against treating people arbitrarily
  3. forbids
  4. discrimination
  5. arbitrary or objectionable