Philosophy Midterm

Question 1

For utilitarians, what’s the one thing that has intrinsic value or is an end in itself?

Answer 1

Pleasure/Pain

Question 2

How would a utilitarian argue for or against physician-assisted suicide?

Answer 2

Utilitarian may argue that the person is in pain and thus it would be to their benefit to end their life and end their pain. There is no pleasure to be had if the subject is in pain.

Question 3

What is ethics?

Answer 3

Ethics moves beyond self-interest, deals with universal rules, is defended with reason, not merely a matter of public opinion and is action-guiding.

Question 4

Distinguish Act vs Rule utilitarianism

Answer 4

Act utilitarianism does whatever is best for the majority. Rule utilitarianism does what is best for the majority within a given rule-set.

i.e. Act utilitarianism might behead Donald Trump cause people hate him. Rule utilitarianism would say we can’t kill Donald Trump because it’s against the rules but we could instead not make him president

Question 5

____________ developed and refined ‘utilitarianism’ in morals, politics, and economics.

Answer 5

John Stuart Mill

Question 6

Better to be a human being _____ than a pig _____.

Answer 6

dissatisfied; satisfied

Question 7

Why may Rule Utilitarianism be more useful than Act utilitarianism?

Answer 7

We don’t always have time to consider all possible choices.

Question 8

Deontology was developed by _____________.

Answer 8

Immanuel Kant

Question 9

__________ defines acting morally as a matter of following rules or adhering to duty.

Answer 9

Deontology/Kantianism

Question 10

_____ ______ is the ability to transcend our circumstances and decide what to do or be.

Answer 10

Practical Perspective.

Question 11

Define/describe categorical imperative and list the steps.

Answer 11

A rule or law for how one should act.

1. Formulate your maxim
2. Change your maxim until universal law
3. Decide whether your maxim is 1) conceivable in the world your envision 2) willed without contradiction
4. Ask if you would rationally will to act on said maxim.

Question 12

What is the Formula of the End Itself?

Answer 12

Tells us to act in a way that treats your own person or another as an end and not as a mean.

Question 13

What does it mean to treat someone as an end (or as a mean)?

Answer 13

To treat one as an end means to consider their feelings or perspective.
To treat one as a means would be to not consider their feelings and use them to accomplish something for yourself.

Question 14

How do Kantians/Deontologists view human life?

Answer 14

Human life is valuable because human beings are rational and no rational being should be treating as mere means

Question 15

Describe the Kingdom of Ends Formula?

Answer 15

To act in accordance with the maxims of a member giving universal laws. That is, to act in a way that if you were setting universal laws, everyone else should act that way, too.

Question 16

A rational being is a _____ if while legislating a Kingdom of Ends’ laws, he is also subject its laws. He is a _____ if legislating, he is not subject to the will of any other being.

Answer 16

member; head

Question 17

What’s the difference between the categorical imperative and the greatest happiness principle?

Answer 17

The categorical imperative requires one to act only with a maxim that could/should be universal law whereas the greatest happiness principle requires one to do what would make the most people happy, regardless of whether or not everyone could/should act this way.

Question 18

Who is the mind behind virtue ethics?

Answer 18

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Question 19

What does virtue ethics emphasize?

Answer 19

Virtues like charity and benevolence.

Question 20

What is Eudaimonia?

Answer 20

Happiness or morally good life/objective well-being

Question 21

Define Teleology.

Answer 21

Explaining things in terms of what they’re used for.

e.g. screwdriver (drives screws); ear (hears)

Question 22

Describe the Doctrine of the Mean.

Answer 22

Doctrine of the mean says that moral behaviour is between two extremes - one in excess and one in deficiency. A moderate position between the two would be acting morally.

E.g. Sloth (Deficiency), Ambition (Mean), Greed (Excess)

Question 23

For Aristotle, what sort of difficulties are involved in trying to act virtuously?

Answer 23

Being honest at the wrong time; being dishonest at the right time; etc. May be difficult to tell what’s the right thing to do.

Question 24

Who argues that we should extend virtue ethics to animals?

Answer 24

Peter Singer.

Question 25

Describe the expanding circles of ethical concern.

Answer 25

Expanding those to whom we treat ethically.

i.e. Present people > distant people > future people > animals > living things > species > ecosystems

Question 26

Equality is a _______, not an assertion of fact. What does this mean?

Answer 26

moral ideal. This means that though two things may not be factually the same, they are morally equal.

Question 27

What is speciesism?

Answer 27

Not considering the members of other species equally as we would consider our own. Their wants/needs are of less value or are completely insignificant in comparison to our species’.

Question 28

Who says that our duties to animals are indirect duties to one another - to humanity?

Answer 28

Tom Reagan.

Question 29

What is contractarianism and what flaw(s) does it have?

Answer 29

Contractarianism morality consists of a set of rules that one agrees to voluntarily abide by. The flaw is that creatures who cannot agree to a contract are not included.

Question 30

The Rights View says that the fundamental wrong isn’t that animals are mistreated but says that is the symptom of a greater wrong. What is this greater wrong?

Answer 30

The greater wrong is that we view animals as lacking independent value and instead view them as resources.

Question 31

Who argues that we should extend ethics to the environment?

Answer 31

Ronald Sandler.

Question 32

What is the Humanistic Argument?

Answer 32

The environment is an ethical matter because without a clean environment, human health will be harmed and without a natural world with biodiversity, human life will diminish.

Question 33

What is the Naturalistic Argument?

Answer 33

Nature has inherent value. As a part of nature, humans have no dominion over it, no unqualified right to harm or destroy it.

Question 34

Describe the last person argument.

Answer 34

Suppose there was one person left on Earth, who has the capacity, just as they die, to destroy all life on the planet. Would they be wrong in doing so?

Question 35

What is the Replication Argument?

Answer 35

Imagine destroying a pristine environment and then artificially recreating it. Does it have the same value as the original?

Question 36

What is necessary for something to have inherent worth?

Answer 36

It must have a good of its own AND human moral agents ought to care for its good for its own sake.

Question 37

What is the capacity based approach and what flaws are evident?

Answer 37

Capacities based approach asks if there are capacities required for one to matter morally. (e.g. Kantians: If you can reason, you matter; Utilitarians: if you can suffer, you matter). The problem with this is that humans would decide - there are capacities other creature shave that we don’t. e.g. plants to photosynthesize.

Question 38

Who presents climate change as the perfect moral storm?

Answer 38

Stephen Gardiner.

Question 39

Describe the parts that make up the perfect moral storm.

Answer 39

Global Storm: dispersion of causes and effects, institutional inadequacy, fragmentation of agency. Won’t affect us here so why do anything about it.

Intergenerational Storm: The effects are resilient, back-logged and deferred. The effects won’t happen now so we pass it on to the next generation to deal with it.

Theoretical Storm: We are ill-equipped to deal with climate change. We aren’t even sure of the effects or how to deal with it so we overlook it.

Question 40

What is the Tragedy of the Commons?

Answer 40

When something belongs to everyone, it ends up being treated as if it belongs to no one. No one takes care of it.

Question 41

What is the Prisoner’s Dilemma?

Answer 41

A situation in which each person acts in their individual best interest which ends up being worse off for everyone.