Moral Philosophy Quotes

Question 1

Bentham on pain and pleasure (Principles of Morals and Legalisation)

Answer 1

“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters; pain and pleasure”

Question 2

Mill on Bentham’s philosophy

Answer 2

“It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”

Question 3

Kant on morality (maxim)

Answer 3

“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

Question 4

Aristotle on Justice

Answer 4

“In justice, every virtue is summed up”

Question 5

Aristotle on characterising a virtuous person

Answer 5

They “feel or act towards the right person to the right extent at the right time for the right reason in the right way”

Question 5

Moore (Prinicpia Ethica)

Answer 5

“Good is good… cannot be defined”
Only “shown and known”.

Question 6

Kant humanity formula

Answer 6

Treat humanity “always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means”

Question 7

Bentham on animals (Principles of Morals and Legalisation)

Answer 7

“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

Question 8

Kant on animals

Answer 8

“a human being’s duty towards himself” (not to be violent and cruel).

Question 9

Aristotle on lying (Nichomachean Ethics)

Answer 9

“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”

Question 10

Bentham on individual > collective (Anarchical Fallacies)

Answer 10

Individual human rights are “nonsense upon stilts”

Question 11

Kant on reason

Answer 11

“There is nothing higher than reason”

Question 12

Bentham on types of pleasure

Answer 12

“Push-pin (children’s game) is as good as poetry”

Question 13

Philippa Foot’s article criticising Kant’s deontology

Answer 13

“Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives”

Question 14

Summum Bonum

Answer 14

The highest good (Eudaimonia or Kant’s afterlife).

Question 15

Aristotle’s Intellectual virtues and Moral virtues (recall at least 3 for each)

Answer 15

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).

Question 16

Aristotle’s 4 Cardinal Virtues

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Aristotle on developing virtue

Answer 17

“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”

Question 18

Nazi concentration camp quotes

Answer 18

“‘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).

Question 19

Mackie on morality (Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong)

Answer 19

“There are no objective [moral] values”
“intrinsic prescriptivity”

Question 20

Singer’s book

Answer 20

Animal Liberation

Question 21

Hursthouse on Virtue Ethics

Answer 21

V-Rules (Vice-or-Virtue rules)

Question 22

Carol Gilligan on Kant’s deontology

Answer 22

Doesn’t acknowledge love, care, and compassion.

Question 23

Aristotle’s distinction between involuntary and non-voluntary actions

Answer 23

“Every act done through ignorance is non-voluntary, but is involuntary only when it causes the agent subsequent pain and repentance”

Question 24

Bertrand Russell on Aristotle and V.E.

Answer 24

“The sufferings of mankind do not move him emotionally”

Question 25

McCormick on V.E. stimulated killing

Answer 25

As actions lead to habituation which contributes to character, SK “erodes one’s character and makes it more difficult for one to live a fulfilled eudaimonic life”.
No need for empirical evidence, because at the very least it is an “opportunity cost”.

Question 26

Hobbs (Leviathan)

Answer 26

Social contract theory

Question 27

Marx

Answer 27

What’s good/bad decided by those of economical power.

Question 28

Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus

Answer 28

Intensity
Duration
Certainty
Propinquity (how soon)
Fecundity (chances of reproduction)
Purity
Extent

Question 29

J. Rachels on V-Rules

Answer 29

V-rules are culturally relative.
–> No, it would be the case if they were laws, but they aren’t! Rules can be adapted to each culture as they are not concrete, only indications.

Question 30

Thomas Hobbs on Virtue ehtics

Answer 30

manifestation of “violent competition”, “nasty, brutish, short” lives.
–> No, self-work and service are co-dependent. Nurse supports that only through self work can she express morality to others. Only when self-work becomes end in itself does above manifest.
–> Also, VE stands the test of time.

Question 31

Bentham on partiality

Answer 31

“every man to count for one and no more than one”

Question 32

Plato conclusion

Answer 32

“no trivial matter, but a question on how a man should live”

Question 33

Bernard William on utilitarianism

Answer 33

overlooks moral integrity
‘agent neutrality’

Question 34

Mill’s proof

Answer 34

The only proof that something is desirable is that people desire it
No proof can be given why the general happiness is desirable other than that each person desires their own happiness
This desirability is “all the proof the case admits of” that happiness is a good thing
All our other values (e.g. truth, freedom, dignity) constitute what makes us happy
In other words, the reason we value these things is because they make us happy
So, not only is happiness good, it is the only good