moral philosophy 3 markers

Question 1

lie

Answer 1

A statement made by one who does not believe it with the intention that someone else shall be led to believe it.

Question 2

simulated skilling

Answer 2

The enactment of a dramatisation of a killing within a fictional context.

Question 3

stealing

Answer 3

To take something that someone else owns with no intention of returning it and without their permission (or without the legal right to do so).

Question 4

error theory

Answer 4

This theory makes two claims: (1) Moral anti-realism: There are no mind-independent moral properties. But (2) Moral cognitivism: moral predicates/concepts contribute to the descriptive/factual meaning of propositions and so can be used to express cognitive belief states. Overall: If, for a proposition to be true, moral properties would have to exist, then that proposition is false.

Question 5

moral cognitivism about ethical language

Answer 5

the claim that moral predicates/concepts contribute to the descriptive/factual meaning of propositions and so can be used to express cognitive belief states.

Question 6

moral non cognitivism about ethical language

Answer 6

the claim that moral predicates/concepts do NOT contribute to the descriptive/factual meaning of propositions and so can NOT be used to express cognitive belief states.

Question 7

emotivism about ethical language

Answer 7

The inclusion of moral terms in utterances adds no descriptive/factual meaning to those utterances and merely serves to express the emotions of the person.

Question 8

moral anti realism

Answer 8

The view that either (a) there are no moral properties/facts at all or (b) there are moral properties/facts but they are all mind-dependent.

Question 9

moral naturalism

Answer 9

the claim that moral properties/facts are identical to or at least supervene upon natural/physical properties

Question 10

moral non naturalism

Answer 10

the claim that moral properties are neither identical to nor supervene upon natural/physical properties.

Question 11

moral nihilism

Answer 11

The view that there are no moral truths, there can be no moral knowledge, and we should stop speaking/thinking using moral terms/concepts.

Question 12

moral realism

Answer 12

The view that there are mind-independent moral facts/properties.

Question 13

prescriptivism about ethical language

Answer 13

The claim that ‘x is morally right’ means ‘do x’ (an imperative) and includes the commitment that everyone in the same (/sufficiently similar) situation should do x (universality).

Question 14

good will

Answer 14

A person has this if she makes her decisions on the basis of the moral law (i.e. out of duty, rather than merely in accordance with duty).

Question 15

higher pleasure

Answer 15

A more valuable pleasure (normally a pleasure of the mind)

Question 16

tyranny of the majority

Answer 16

A situation where the majority (or at least the most active group) oppress a minority (or less active group) through social opinion (“social tyranny”) or law (“legal tyranny”).

Question 17

moral right

Answer 17

An entitlement (not) to perform certain actions, or (not) to be in certain states; or an entitlement that others (not) perform certain actions or (not) be in certain states.

Question 18

act utilitarianism

Answer 18

The view that an action is right to the extent that it causes an increase in utility.

Question 19

act out of duty

Answer 19

you are acting that way only because (through reason) you have worked out that it is your duty (that it is what you ought to do).

Question 20

act in accordance with duty

Answer 20

you do what reason would demand of you, but this is not your motivation - your motivation is the fact that it is in your interests or pleases you or fits with your inclinations.

Question 21

contradiction in conception

Answer 21

A maxim leads to a ______________________ if acting on that maxim is not conceivable (/possible) in a world in which all people acted as you propose to act.

Question 22

contradiction in will

Answer 22

A maxim leads to a ______________________ if acting on that maxim would conflict with other things that you must rationally will
in a world in which all people acted as you propose to act.

Question 23

deontological theories

Answer 23

Ethical theories that are based on the idea of duty, what is right, or rights. They focus on acts (and sometimes, in addition, motives) conforming to certain rules.

Question 24

doctrine of the mean

Answer 24

The idea that virtues can (often) be placed between a cice of deficiency and a vice of excess. This can apply to actions and to feelings.

Question 25

eudaimonia

Answer 25

The ‘highest/final end/good’ that we are all striving for, desirable as an end in itself and not for the sake of anything else.. It is best translated as “flourishing”, living/doing well.

Question 26

hedonistic utilitarianism

Answer 26

An action is right to the extent that [we can reasonably expect/predict that] performing it causes an increases in sensations of pleasure.

Question 27

hypothetical imperative

Answer 27

(1) an imperative - i.e. a statement commanding a course of action; it is a statement about what one ought to do; it is a command; and (2) is hypothetical - i.e. it applies to agents on the condition that they have (in Kant’s wording, that they “will”) specific ends/goals

Question 28

categorical imperative

Answer 28

1) an imperative - i.e. a statement commanding a course of action; it is a statement about what one ought to do; it is a command; and (2) is categorical - i.e. it applies to all agents regardless of their specific ends/goals.

Question 29

involuntary action

Answer 29

An action that is (1) not voluntary (either because it is done under compulsion (so fails to meet the “control condition”) or because it is the result of ignorance (so fails to meet the “epistemic condition”) and is regretted

Question 30

maxim

Answer 30

The intentions that guide us in choosing our actions. Specifying a ______ involves specifying the type of intended action, the circumstances / conditions in which it will be performed and the end / aim / purpose of this action.

Question 31

non hedonistic utilitarianism

Answer 31

An action is right to the extent that [we can reasonably expect/predict that] performing it causes an increase in utility (where utility is NOT understood in terms of sensations of pleasure).

Question 32

non voluntary action

Answer 32

An action that is (1) not voluntary (either because it is done under compulsion (so fails to meet the “control condition”) or because it is the result of ignorance (so fails to meet the “epistemic condition”)) and not regretted (the thing that marks a non-voluntary act from an involuntary act is that the moral agent does not regret what happened)

Question 33

preference utilitarianism

Answer 33

An action is right to the extent that [we can reasonably expect/predict that] performing it causes an increase in desire satisfaction / preference fulfillment (regardless of whether the act causes sensations of pleasure).

Question 34

qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism

Answer 34

An action is right to the extent that [we can reasonably expect/predict that] performing it causes an increase in sensations of higher (quality) pleasure.

Question 35

quantitative hedonistic utilitarianism

Answer 35

An action is right to the extent that [we can reasonably expect/predict that] performing it causes an increase in sensations of pleasure.

Question 36

rule utilitarianism

Answer 36

An act is morally right if doing it is in accordance with a set of rules which [we can reasonably expect/predict] will, if accepted, produce at least as much utility as any other set of rules that could be accepted.

Question 37

the ‘good’

Answer 37

The good, for Aristotle, is the highest good, for the sake of which everything else is done. It is eudaimonia - flourishing.

Question 38

1st formulation of the categorical imperative

Answer 38

Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law

Question 39

2nd formulation of the categorical imperative

Answer 39

Act in a way that treats humanity, whether in your own person or in that of any other, never solely as a means but always as an end.

Question 40

utility calculus

Answer 40

Seven steps/criteria for measuring utility involving consideration of: Intensity, Duration, Certainty, Propinquity, Fecundity, Purity and Extent (probably a 5m Q)

Question 41

virtue

Answer 41

A positive moral quality (or character trait/disposition) acquired through habituation that enables human beings to fulfil their function through making good/rational choices and thus living a good life. It lies between a vice of excess and a vice of deficiency.

Question 42

voluntary action

Answer 42

Two conditions must be met. (1) The control condition (it is done intentionally by the agent and not compelled externally) and (2) the epistemic condition (the agent must be aware of the non-moral facts about what it is she is doing).