PHI 112: Test 2 Study Guide Flashcards
Know the difference between ethical situationalism and ethical relativism.
Ethical Situationalism - Objective moral principles are to be applied differently in different contexts.
Intrinsic goods
good because of their nature and not derived from other goods
Instrumental goods
They are effective means of attaining our Intrinsic goods.
Define Sensualism
The view that equates all pleasure with sensual enjoyment
Define Satisfactionalism
The view that equates all pleasure with satisfaction or enjoyment.
Who was Plato?
Taught that the good was the highest form, ineffable, godlike, independent, and knowable only after a protracted education in philosophy.
Who was G.E. Moore?
Claims that good is a simple, unanalyzable quality, such as the color yellow, but one that must be known through intuition
Define Weaker Objectivism
Treat values as emergent properties, or qualities in the nature of things.
Who was Ralph Barton Perry?
An American pragmatist who states that value is simply the object of interest.
Know the Objectivist response
Responds that we can separate the Good from what one desires.
What is the main question to answer about relation of value to morality?
How are these forms of life justified?
Define Objectivists
Societies norms
Define Subjectivists
The individual’s norms.
What is the combination view?
The combination view incorprates both aspects of objectivism and subjectivism views.
Explain action in the happy life
We want to feel accomplished to do something, not have anything handed down to us.
Explain freedom in the happy life
We not only want to do things, but we also want to make our own choices.
Explain character in the happy life
We want to be someone
Explain relationships in the happy life
We want to love and be loved by real people, not phantasms.
How did people characterize Jeremy Bentham’s formulation of Utilitarianism in a negative way?
They referred to it as a “Pig philosophy.”
Problems with Bentham’s theory
Too simplistic and too complex.
Problems with act utilitarianism
Can’t do the necessary calculations to determine the correct act
Act-utilitarianism
Act is right if it promotes the greatest good
Problems with act-utilitarianism
Can’t do the necessary calculations to determine the correct act
Rule-utilitarianism
Act is right if required by a rule, greater utility for society
Mills popular saying
“Better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.”
Pluralistic (Complementarity) Ethics - definition
Blend of both action-based and virtue-based ethic
Criticisms of ends justifying immoral means
You can justify any “means” (dismissing integrity, honesty, justice, etc. for the “end” (greatest good for greatest amount).
Did Kant want to show rationalist or empiricists that morality was necessary?
Empiricists
What saying can act-intuitionism be compared to?
“Let your conscience be your guide.”
Categorical imperatives call one to fulfill the duty that has…
Intrinsic value
Hypothetical imperatives give one the opportunity to
Do the act that benefits one self
Categorical imperatives call one to fulfill the duty that has…
Intrinsic value (“duty for duty’s sake”)
Karts influences Pietism-Rosseau-Rationalism-
Pietism: Honest deep feeling moral life Rosseau: Human freedoms dignity worth Rationalism: Reason tells us how the world is, independent of experience
Even though Kant believes the good will is good without qualification, it can still be put to…
bad use.
Psychological egoism
We always do the act we perceive to be in our own self interest. (We do not have a choice.)
Ethical egoism
Everyone ought to do those acts that best serve his or her own self interest
Criticism of the argument from satisfaction
it confuses the consequence of an act with the purpose of an act
Paradox of hedonism
The only way to get happiness is to forget it!
Argument from self-deception
We may think we do things for others, but, if we look deep enough, we are deceiving ourselves. We are always selfish.
Altruism
putting other’s interests before your own, contrasted with egoism
Criticism of Hobbes
Rests too heavily on psychological egoism
According to Hobbes, what gets us into chaos? What gets us out?
Selfishness forces us into chaos, but selfishness forces us to solve problems through mutually agreed-upon moral codes
Criticisms against ethical egoism:Inconsistent outcomes
I must desire that I defeat others and they defeat me.
Criticisms against ethical egoism: Publicity argument
Can’t advertise without harming your own “self-interest project”
Paradox of ethical egoism
In order to reach the goal of ethical egoism, one must give up ethical egoism and become an altruist.
Criticisms against ethical egoism: Argument of counterintuitive consequences
Helping others at one’s own expense is morally wrong
Criticisms against ethical egoism: Problems for future generations
No obligation to preserve future resources for future generations
Sociobiology
Social structures and behavioral patterns are biologically based and explained by evolutionary theory.
Eudiaminstic utilitarianism
Higher order pleasures - intellectual social
Hedonic calculus
A scheme created to figure out the best course of action (based on pleasure units, called “hedons”).
Eudiaminstic utilitarianism
Happiness consist of higher order pleasures, for example, intellectual, social
What is both a strength and weakness of utilitarianism?
It’s simplicity
Whose system of utilitarianism was considered too simple and too complex - Bentham or Mill?
Bentham
Natural Law Theory
through rational intuitions embedded in human nature by God, we discover eternal and absolute moral principles
Empiricism
The belief that knowledge comes from experience; our minds are empty slates (tabula rasa)upon which experience writes lessons
Intuitionism
Humans have natural faculty that gives us an intuitive awareness of morality
Act-intuitionism
Theory we must consult our moral intuition or conscience in every situation to discover the morally right thing to do (Butler)
Common statement associated with Butler
“Let your conscience be your guide”
Rule-intuitionism
We must decide what is right or wrong in each situation by consulting moral rules that we receive through intuition
Pufendorf’s three duties and Kant’s use of them
Pufendorf: duty to self, others, and God; Kant: moral duty to self and others, but duties to God are religious, not moral
Categorical imperative
This is a moral imperative that is unqualified and does not depend on one’s desires, it is doing one’s duty for duty’s sake. The action is done because it has intrinsic value.
The good will
the only thing absolutely good without qualification
The principle of law of nature
“Act as though the maxim of your action were by your will to become a universal law of nature.”
Remember these two of the four examples of “practical contradiction” Kant gives to back up his theory.
Making a lying promise and committing suicide.
Remember this counterexample to the Principle of Law of Nature:
Prohibiting permissible actions, like flushing the toilet everyday at a certain time as long as it does not effect the plumbing system.
Prima facie duties
(“at first glance”) Duty that is tentatively binding on us until this duty conflicts with another (Ross)
Actual duty
Ross argued this is the stronger of two conflicting duties (it overrides the weaker one in conflict).
How does Ross’ “prima facie duties” and “actual duties” transform the Kantian system of ethics?
It transforms Kant’s absolutism into a modest objectivist system. (Kant would not allow this.)
Virtue theory
View that morality involves producing excellent persons who act well out of spontaneous goodness and serve as examples to inspire others
Virtue
Trained behavioral dispositions that result in habitual acts of moral goodness
Cardinal virtues
Wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice
Theological virtues
Faith, hope, and charity (love)
Action-based ethics criticism:1.: Motivation
Uninspiring and negative; Most of the commandments are negative - “Thou shall not ____!”
Action-based ethics criticism:5.: Autonomy over Community
It is in communities that such virtues as loyalty, natural affection, spontaneous sympathy, and shared concerns arise and sustain the group.
Action-based ethics criticism:5.: Autonomy over Community
It is in communities that such virtues as loyalty, natural affection, spontaneous sympathy, and shared concerns arise and sustain the group.
An important difference between Pluralistic (complementarity) ethics versus action-based ethics
Pluralistic (complementarity) ethics says it is better to desire to do the right thing and carry it out, than to do the right thing, yet have mixed emotions (action-based ethics).
What are the three formulations of the Categorical Imperative?
The principle of the law of nature, the principle of ends, and the principle of autonomy.
