normative ethical theories

Question 1

NML intro

Answer 1

deontological- absolutist form of decision making, duty and rule based
teleological- relates to telos or goals,
consequentialist becayse seems to be effective way of achieving goals
character based- “what kind of person should i be?” instead of “what should i do?”

Question 2

natural moral law (NML)

Answer 2

aquinas:
- believed that all humans were by nature disposed to do good
-his basic guiding principle was: seek/pursue what is good and avoid evil
“do good, avoid evil”
-built upon through primary precepts: losts the fundamental goods to which humans are here for and they are always absolute and true

Question 3

primary precepts

Answer 3

Aquinas said obeying them leads to eudomonia ( happiness) in both its earthly and ultimate dimensions:
W- worship (God)
O- ordered society
R- reproduce
L- learn (educate)
D- defend life
all universally and absolutely binding

Question 4

secondary precepts

Answer 4

secondary precepts= how to apply the primary precepts to specific situations in real life
e.g. contraception is wrong because it hinders humanitys telos as reflected in the primary precepts as right or wrong

Question 5

real and apparent goods
+cardinal virtues

Answer 5

Despite the desire to do good, humans fall short of God’s intentions for them:
• This is because they confuse what seems to be good with what actually is good.
• The real good is reached through practice of the virtues.

-Aquinas listed four cardinal virtues, which he adopted from Aristotle:
Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. These virtues can be attained through human ability.

Question 6

principle of double effect

Answer 6

If an action has an effect that goes against human reason (determined by the precepts) but that effect is the accidental and unintended result of an action which follows the precepts, then it is exceptable.

For example, if doctors discover that a pregnant woman has cancer and chemotherapy would kill the baby, the doctrine of double effect says that the first effect is to save the mother’s life, the second (double) effect is to end the life of the foetus is secondary, and so not intended, an abortion has not taken place.

Question 7

proportionalism

Answer 7

-states that the moral
principle arising out if NML should be firmly upheld unless there is a proportionate reason for not doing so
- there are no intrinsically evil acts
-two things should be taken into account:
-intention of the moral agent
-the value of tbe good effect v. the disvalue of the bad effect

Question 8

strengths and weaknesses of proportionalism

Answer 8

STRENGTHS:
-Its use in Just War theory shows that it works.
-In situations where it is applied, it makes good sense.
WEAKNESSES:
-The Magisterium has denounced it because of its claim that there are no intrinsic evils. What about something like torture, rape or slavery?
-Its calculation of value and disvalue seems consequentialist.
In the cases where it is used, it may not be easy to give an accurate prediction of the outcome.

Question 9

Just war theory (proportionalism has history in)

Answer 9

The just war theory is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, (killing has to be justified to stand with NML) all of which must be met for a war to be considered just:
- self defence
- legitimate authority e.g gov