Moral Philosophy Quotes Flashcards
Bentham on pain and pleasure (Principles of Morals and Legalisation)
“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters; pain and pleasure”
Mill on Bentham’s philosophy
“It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”
Kant on morality (maxim)
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
Aristotle on Justice
“In justice, every virtue is summed up”
Aristotle on characterising a virtuous person
They “feel or act towards the right person to the right extent at the right time for the right reason in the right way”
Moore (Prinicpia Ethica)
“Good is good… cannot be defined”
Only “shown and known”.
Kant humanity formula
Treat humanity “always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means”
Bentham on animals (Principles of Morals and Legalisation)
“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”
Kant on animals
“a human being’s duty towards himself” (not to be violent and cruel).
Aristotle on lying (Nichomachean Ethics)
“Falsehood is in itself bad and reprehensible, while the truth is a fine and praiseworthy thing;
accordingly, the sincere man, who holds the mean position, is praiseworthy, while both the deceivers are to be censured”
Bentham on individual > collective (Anarchical Fallacies)
Individual human rights are “nonsense upon stilts”
Kant on reason
“There is nothing higher than reason”
Bentham on types of pleasure
“Push-pin (children’s game) is as good as poetry”
Philippa Foot’s article criticising Kant’s deontology
“Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives”
Summum Bonum
The highest good (Eudaimonia or Kant’s afterlife).
Aristotle’s Intellectual virtues and Moral virtues (recall at least 3 for each)
Intellectual: Art/technical skill, Scientific knowledge, Prudence or practical wisdom, Intelligence or intuition, Wisdom
–> Developed by training and education.
Moral: Courage, Temperance, Modesty, Justice, Liberality, Truthfulness
–> Developed by habit (rational soul).
Aristotle’s 4 Cardinal Virtues
Prudence = Wisdom to act upon knowledge with reason and good judgement.
Temperance = Cool and collected in action/reaction.
Courage = Strength to venture, persevere, and face uncertainty.
JUSTICE = Maintenance of what is right and fair.
Aristotle on developing virtue
“one swallow doesn’t make a summer”
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation… we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”
Nazi concentration camp quotes
“‘good’ and ‘evil’, ‘just’ and ‘unjust’… how much of our ordinary world could survive on this side of the barbed wire” - Primo Levi.
Did what “felt” right - Rudolf Hoss (commandant).
Mackie on morality (Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong)
“There are no objective [moral] values”
“intrinsic prescriptivity”
Singer’s book
Animal Liberation
Hursthouse on Virtue Ethics
V-Rules (Vice-or-Virtue rules)
Carol Gilligan on Kant’s deontology
Doesn’t acknowledge love, care, and compassion.
Aristotle’s distinction between involuntary and non-voluntary actions
“Every act done through ignorance is non-voluntary, but is involuntary only when it causes the agent subsequent pain and repentance”
