Social and Professional Issues 5

Question 1

rightness depends on consequences

Answer 1

Consequentialism

Question 2

rightness depends at least in part on a formal moral rule or principle

Answer 2

Deontology

Question 3

• There are no objective moral truths – only an individual’s feelings or preferences;
• “What I feel is right is right. What I feel is wrong is wrong.”

Answer 3

Ethical Subjectivism

Question 4

Criticisms about Ethical Subjectivism

Answer 4

• only exercise of power
• harm others it if feels right to them
• arbitration is possible

Question 5

All (not some) moral values are nothing more than cultural customs and laws

Answer 5

Cultural Relativism

Question 6

Criticisms about Cultural Relativism

Answer 6

1. • Naturalist Fallacy
2. • no distinguishing difference between reformers and criminals
3. • can’t explain moral progress
4. • suspicion/mistrust to other cultures
5. • not for pluralistic cultures
6. • blind conformity

Question 7

Doing the —— is doing what you are morally obligated to do (not doing bad)

Answer 7

moral minimum

Question 8

going beyond your obligations

Answer 8

Doing good

Question 9

Following the law is not the same thing as acting morally

Answer 9

• Laws can be immoral
• Laws can provide insufficient direction
• Laws can be ambiguous

Question 10

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

Answer 10

1. • Blind egoism
2. • Instrumental egoism
3. • social relationship perspective
4. • social system perspective
5. • contractual perspective
6. • mutual respect and universal perspective

Question 11

everyone ought to do what is in his or her own rational self-interest

Answer 11

Ethical Egoism

Question 12

Criticisms about Ethical Egoism

Answer 12

• Justifies any self-interested action
• Selfishness is usually associated with immorality, altruism with morality

Question 13

Utilitarianism

Answer 13

• Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1831)
• The morally right act for an agent A at a time t is that act available to A at t, that will maximize the total amount of good in the world (that will have the best consequences).
• “The greatest good for the greatest number”

Question 14

Hedonistic Utilitarianism

Answer 14

• Pleasure and the absence of pain are good
• Pleasure is any sensation you would rather have than no sensation at all; and pain is any sensation you’d rather not have than no sensation at all.

Question 15

Advantages of Utilitarianism

Answer 15

1. • Neautralistic
2. • Realistic
3. • Non-metaphysical
4. • Non-elitist
5. • Determinate in principle

Question 16

treats everyone in the same way

Answer 16

Neutralistic

Question 17

it’s based on real psychology. It works with people as it finds them and organizes society so that they being that way actually has good consequences for everyone.

Answer 17

Realistic

Question 18

it doesn’t make goodness/badness right/wrongness some sort of weird qualities. What in the world is “a natural right?”

Answer 18

Non-metaphysical

Question 19

it counts all sentient creatures. And all types of pleasures equally

Answer 19

Non-elitist

Question 20

in principle, you can use the hedonic calculus to get an actual answer to the question of “what should I do in this case?”.

Answer 20

Determinate in principle

Question 21

The Hedonic Calculus

Answer 21

• Determine Intensity x duration
• Determine Probability
• Calculate Total = (intensity x duration) x Probability

Question 22

It’s a subjective criterion – “Pushpin is as good as poetry”, the source of pleasure doesn’t matter

Answer 22

Bentham

Question 23

There is an objective quality to different pleasures that should also be factor into our calculations, Quality comes from what people would choose if they had access to all possible pleasures

Answer 23

J.S. Mill

Question 24

Free and unregulated markets would maximize the overall good by most efficiently connecting supply with demand.

Answer 24

Market view

Question 25

Policy experts manipulate the economy to attempt to improve the outcome beyond the capacities of a purely free market

Answer 25

Administrative view

Question 26

Criticisms of Utilitarianism

Answer 26

1. • It’s too difficult to apply
2. • people care more than just pleasure
3. • we cannot reduce human goods into quantifiable units
4. • no non-arbitrary limit to how far into the future we should consider consequences
5. • intention is important in determining moral status of action
6. • justifies act that seem to be plainly wrong

Question 27

Always act according to the rule that would produce the most utility in the world (vs. “act” utilitarianism)

Answer 27

Rule Utilitarianism

Question 28

Always act so as to maximize satisfaction of people’s preferences (vs. “Hedonistic” Utilitarianism)

Answer 28

Preference Utilitarianism

Question 29

One way to think of a right is as a trump against the claims of the general welfare.

Answer 29

Rights and duties

Question 30

are rights to aid – entitlements to be provided with something (Right to due process of law in the Philippines, to free education, to healthcare coverage, etc

Answer 30

Positive rights

Question 31

are rights to non-interference (A right not to be killed, have your property stolen, raped)

Answer 31

Negative rights

Question 32

if you have a right not to be killed, then I have a duty not to kill you.

Answer 32

Rights hook into correlative

Question 33

Moral actions follow from the right moral principles

Answer 33

Kantianism

Question 34

are conditional, rather than categorical/absolute

Answer 34

Hypothetical imperatives

Question 35

All moral rules must rest on a

Answer 35

categorical imperative (CI)

Question 36

To find out whether a moral principle is ok to act from, you see if it’s compatible with the

Answer 36

Categorical Imperative (CI)

Question 37

“Never treat a person merely as a means to an end, but always treat them as an end in themselves”

Answer 37

2nd formulation of Categorical Imperative

Question 38

“Act only according to that maxim that you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” (a rule that applies to everybody)

Answer 38

1st formulation of Categorical Imperative:

Question 39

The Categorical Imperative Steps

Answer 39

1. • Step 1: Formulate a sincere and rational maxim (a subjective principle of action that states what you propose to do, and why)
2. • Step 2: Universalize the maxim to everyone, past, present and future. (everyone, as if by a law of nature, does A in C in order to achieve E)
3. • Step 3: Imagine the world that would result from conjoining all the laws of physics, psychology, sociology, etc. with the law you made in Step 2
4. • Step 4: Test the maxim

Question 40

In the social world of (3) would it be possible to achieve your end by means of the action you proposed in 1?

Answer 40

The contradiction in conception test

Question 41

Could I consistently will that this social world actually exist?

Answer 41

The Contradiction in the Will test

Question 42

If a maxim of action fails the CI tests, it is —– to act on that maxim! AND that means that not to do that thing is a moral duty.

Answer 42

nOT permissible

Question 43

Criticisms of Kantianism

Answer 43

• absolutist and inflexible
• maxims which seem to be ok, fail the CI test
• no positive formula for constructing maxims
• The whole approach of basing morality on rationality, rather than feelings is mistaken.

Question 44

We ought to act in ways that do not cause needless harm or injury to others

Answer 44

The Principle of Nonmaleficence

Question 45

We should act in ways that promote the welfare of other people

Answer 45

The Principle of Beneficence

Question 46

We should act in such a way as to bring about the greatest benefit and the least harm

Answer 46

The Principle of Utility

Question 47

focuses on having a good character – tells you what kind of person you ought to be

Answer 47

Virtue Ethics

Question 48

It is action-guiding in the sense that it recommends that you become the kind of person that will do what is right – perhaps instinctively

Answer 48

Virtue Ethics

Question 49

How do you become virtuous?

Answer 49

Develop the sort of habits or instincts that a virtuous person has through good upbringing, education, reflection, experience, and effort

Question 50

What habits or instincts are these for virtuous people?

Answer 50

Those that your “moral exemplars” poses

Question 51

Benevolence, compassion, honesty, charity, sincerity, sympathy, respect consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness, loyalty, fairness, etc.

Answer 51

Moral Virtues

Question 52

Rationality, intelligence, tenacity, capability, patience, prudence, skillfulness, shrewdness, proficiency, etc

Answer 52

Practical/non-moral virtues

Question 53

Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

Answer 53

• Different cultural groups have had different, sometimes conflicting, opinions on what constitutes a virtue. If Virtue Ethics has no universal basis, it leads to an undesirable cultural relativism
• Virtue Ethics may praise certain character traits, but this provides us with no or insufficient practical guidance about which specific actions to perform