P3 Flashcards
What is virtue ethics?
A system of ethics which states that an action is moral if the person who commits the action displays excellence
What is Aristotle saying about the mean between excess and deficiency? What is the essential problem with the mean?
Virtue is the mean between excess and deficiency and should be everyone’s #1 ambition. The essential problem with the mean is the ambiguity of the mean is hard to identify but the extremes are easy to identify.
What is an intrinsic value?
Valued for its own sake - happiness (highest of human capacities; finality and self-sufficiency)
What is an instrumental value?
Something we value as its mean to obtain something else. All human values are instrumental.
- Ex: taking a class in college to obtain knowledge and get credits for your degree.
What does Aristotle mean by “All human action aims to some good”
Humans do what they perceive to be good but the problem is we have a perception problem. they don’t know where the target is so they can’t aim.
Are evil people capable of the only intrinsic value (happiness)?
No, because if happiness is the highest good, when you do good things you move towards it and doing bad things move you away.
Is the only intrinsic value (happiness) the same as pleasure?
No, because happiness is qualitative superior to pleasure. You can feel intense pleasure and be incredible unhappy.
What is abortion?
termination of the unborn
What are the three different types of abortion?
- Therapeutic - termination of the unborn for reasons of health
- Spontaneous - miscarriage
- Elective - any abortion that isn’t therapeutic or spontaneous
What is the difference between the legal and moral question of abortion?
Legal - “At what point should the state intervene in the welfare of the unborn?”
Moral - “Does the unborn posses a moral status?”
What is the problem of “moral status”?
Moral status has to do with the moral implications for how we treat particular things. Ex: inanimate objects do not have a moral status but human beings do.
Does biological life equal moral status?
Biological life does not equal moral status because there are many things that are alive that we should not give moral consideration. Livings things can take in food, excrete waste, have the capacity to grow, homeostasis, and respond to stimuli.
Does potentiality equal actuality in this issue?
Potentiality does not equal actuality because it is talking about what the unborn could be rather than what it actually is.
Explain 3 arguments regarding abortion in detail. Identify one weakness of each.
- Argument of potentiality - abortion is immoral because the unborn is potentially a human being so it has a right to life. It is talking about what the unborn could be rather than what it actually is, potentiality does not equal actuality, its claims are irrelevant
- Bodily rights argument - Abortion is moral because she gas rights and autonomy over the newborn since the unborn is attached to the mother’s body. The problem is this is that it would also apply to conjoined twins, infanticide thought the attachment of the umbilical cord, surrogacy.
3, Negative social impact - Abortion is moral because abortion eliminated the births of unwanted children who could have a negative impact on society. Likely does not equal certainty. - Deprivation of a future argument - abortion is immoral because it deprives the unborn from its right to a future. The problem is that the future is uncertain so the looks of time is uncertain.
What is euthanasia?
the termination of life for the purpose of alleviating suffering
