Morality

Question 1

moral dilemmas

Answer 1

• kill 1 healthy person to save 5 dying people
• kill 1 person or allow 5 ppl to be killed
• push fat man onto tracks to save 5 others

Question 2

origins of morality

Answer 2

moral relativism = ethical standards are culturally based (culturally varying perspectives)
moral absolutism = absolute ethical standards (wrongness of slavery, war, child abuse)

Question 3

evolution of morality

Answer 3

1. life begins focused on consequences, blind to means
2. perception of intended/accidental leads to benefits
3. selection for mind reading, dipping beneath surface
4. new connections associate emotions w/rules & consequences
5. culture shapes rules & consequences, creating different moral spaces

Question 4

artifical dilemmas

Answer 4

manipulate variable to see what ppl think & divorce cultural factors in real world from moral decisions to truly test ppl’s moral ideals

• SAME for gender, national affiliation, education, religion

Question 5

only difference

Answer 5

harm = MEANS to greater good (ie. bystander flipping switch to kill fat man on other track)
harm = FORESEEN side effect of greater good (kill fat man and a weight after him will stop it from killing 5 others) - doctrine double effect

Question 6

3 principles

Answer 6

1. MEANS principle (DDE) - harm is means to a goal morally worse than equivalent harm as foreseen side effect of goal
2. ACTION principle - harm caused by action morally worse than harm caused by omission
3. CONTACT principle: harm caused by contact worse than same harm by non-contact

Question 7

Religion & morals

Answer 7

Thomson’s violin case: plugged into unknown man, serving as his dialysis machine – no difference in morals b/w religious ppl & atheists, as seen in abortion

Question 8

Law & morals

Answer 8

active vs. passive euthanasia - both permissable

- 42% say active euthanasia less bad than passive euthanasia

Question 9

Psychopaths

Answer 9

same patterns in psychopaths as in non-psychopaths as in delinquents regarding moral dilemmas

Question 10

Building blocks for morality

Answer 10

young child empathizes & helps struggling person

look longer if goes to hinderer - confused
prefer positive vs. negative person
babies will grab helper when forced to choose object

Question 11

Building blocks in animals

Answer 11

tamarins, rhesus, chimps - choose grasped container; at chance w/flopping hand

eye gaze - get pissed; no eye gaze = “uninentional” - don’t get pissed

Cooperation in chimps: to get fruit
Cooperation in elephants: to pull ropes to get object
Fairness in monkeys: PISSED at lack of fairness in giving cucumber vs. grape to one or other monkey

Question 12

Empathy in animals

Answer 12

primates hugging one another, affiliative contacts toward conflict participants

yawning across chimps & other species if someone else yawns

rats spending time in container w/object in/empty/other rat in - most time. … will open container & continue to do so if another rat in there, not if nothing or just object in there.