reasons

Question 1

why does authority have to issue content independent reasons

Answer 1

• a content independent reason is a reason to do x that doesn’t depend on how good or bas x actually is
• if you have a reason to do x because someone told you to do x, then that is a content independent reason
• and authority is someone/something that can issue commands to do something- this gives you more reasons besides your first order reasons to do something
• an authority must issue content-independent reasons because if they did not then your reasons for doing something would be no different from theirs

Question 2

why are preemptive reasons, by themselves, not enough to create obligations

Answer 2

• because you must have a reason to look towards the authority in the first place
• you need to have first order reasons which obligate you to follow the authority’s preemptive reasons for action

Question 3

what are content independent reasons

Answer 3

the reason the do something, regardless of the content of the situation. the command or excluding factor itself is the reason

Question 4

what is the connection between reasons and wrongness, obligation, duties, prima facie duties, and permissibility

Answer 4

• reasons to act effect what is morally permissible/wrong to do
• prima facie duty is a reason strong enough that generates a duty/obligation, although it can be outweighed
  -if reasons are strong enough it is permissible to disregard prima facie duties
• reasons dictate what actions are right and wrong, which inform our duties and obligations. some of these will be prima facie duties that can be outweighed by other reasons. determining permissibility will be dependent on the evaluation of action to a moral standard.

Question 5

first order reasons

Answer 5

case by case reasons for action (can include dependent and content-independent reasons)

Question 6

dependent reasons

Answer 6

• these are the reasons that a legitimate authority is supposed to base their command on
• they are reasons that in a sense come before an authority command

Question 7

why aren’t all first order moral reasons dependent reasons

Answer 7

• your first order moral reasons for doing something can be based off of content-independent reasons as well as dependent and can be outweighed by circumstance
• you may have a first order moral reason to not eat meat because you think it is morally wrong, however this could be outweighed if you were stranded on an island and needed food to survive