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137 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Introduction
applied ethics |
Subset of normative ethics that focuses on particular ethical problem areas
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Argument
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discourse that tries to provide reasons for or proof of some view; an attempt to convience through rational discussion.
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Comparative Ethics
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A branch of ethics that compares the different ethical beliefs of different groups of people.
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Conclusion
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The claim that the argument is attempting to establish or prove; supposed to follow from the premises or starting assumptions.
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Deontic Terms
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Words that are employed in the description of human conduct, such as rightness and wrongness.
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Descriptive Ethics
or Non-Normative Ethics |
The study of the ethical beliefs that have been held by different groups of people in different plalces and times.
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Ethical Theory
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Subset of normative ethics that focuses on ethical principles that apply throughout all situations.
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false
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based on mistaken ideas; inconsistent with facts.
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Invalid
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being without foundation or force in fact, truth, or law.
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Metaethics
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branch of ethics that studies general ethic concepts and attempts to explalin the meaning of terms such as right or wrong, good or bad
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Normative Or
Prescriptive Ethics |
Consists of particular judgments about actions and people makes prescriptive attempts to tell which things are right or wrong, good or bad
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Philosophy
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The love of wisdom
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Premises and Assumptions
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Clalims that are to be accepted before an argument begins.
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Sound
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Logicall necessary. free from error, fallacy, or misapprehension
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Universalizable
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Applies in some way to all rational beings
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CHAPTER 1
cultural or social relativism |
The belief that ethical value is relative to culture or society
example; Is it polite for all people at al times to wear a hat when first introduced to a person? |
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Ethical Absolutism
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The belief that the study of ethics tries to describe necessary features of reality; the belief that principles of ethics apply and have always applied to everyone.
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Ethical Relativism
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The belief that ethical principles depend upon features that can vary at different times and in different places.
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Ethical Universalism
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The belief that ethical judgments apply to all humans equally, that there are universal ethical truths, and that these truths are the same for everyone.
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Individual Relativism
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The ethical theory that holds that the ethical value of an action is relative not to the culture as a whole, but to the individual him or herself
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Moral Nihilism
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The belief that there is no such thing as ethical value at all.
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Moral Skepticism
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An ethical belief that doubs that ethical values exist.
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Objectivism
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The belief that there is a standard external to the person making ethical judgments against which those judgments can be held.
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Subjectivism
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The belief that ethical judgments are relative to the individual person or suject, making the judgment.
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CHAPTER 2
altuism |
Unselfish regard for, or devotion to , the welfare of others.
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Ethical Egoism
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The belief that one always ought to do what is in one's own self interest.
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Gyges Ring
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Plato's story about a shepherd that makes himself invisible in order to do self serving acts.
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Ought-implies-can
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Principle that tells us that if we ought to do something, then it must be possilbe for us to do it.
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Psychological Egoism
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The belief that all human motivation is self-interested.
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Unfalsifiable or definitionally irrefutable
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Terms used to describe a theory that is true by stipulative definition; substantively empty or meaningless
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Chapter 3
Divine Command Theory |
Ethical theory that says what is right is what God commands.
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CHAPTER 4
coherentism |
The belief that an ethical system is justified if it is the most coherent thing to believe of all available options.
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Contractarianism
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The belief that an ethical principle is justified if all free and equal rational people would accept it.
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Eudaemonism
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A justification of Morality based on what promes the "Good Life"
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Foundationalism
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The belief that the first principles of morality must be self evident, obviously true, or impossible to deny.
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Justification or Morality
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To justify something is to prove that it is right, just , or valid gives reasons why we should care about morality.
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Rational Faith
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The belief that an element of faith must be involved in accepting morality because we can not prove anything
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Sentimentalism
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The belief that our acceptance of morality must be based on our sentimental dispositions and nor on any rational proof.
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Tradition
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Cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and intitutions. One Metaethical theory holds that morality only makes sense with in a tradition.
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CHAPTER 5
argument from queerness |
Ethical theory that says that people attribute to ethical values such queer properties that it is highly implauible tht such values can actually exist.
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Argument from Relativity
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Ethical theory that says that the vast differences between different people's ethical judgments are best explained by taking ehtical beliefs to be functions of how people are socialized and not of their response to any real objective features of the world.
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Cognitivism
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The belief that ethical judgment involves an attempt to gain knowledge about the world.
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Emotivism
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The belief that an ethical judgment is simply the expression of an emotion and does not describe the world at all.
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Error Theory
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The belief that the entire activity of ethical judgment is built upon the erroneous belief that ethical value exists in the world.
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Ethical or Moral Anti- realism
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The belief that ethical value does not exist so, consequently, ethical judgments do not make true claims.
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Institutionism
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The belief that ethical properties cannot be reduced to any other type of property, and that ethical properties have a unique kind of existence that cannot be grasped through the five senses and explained by science.
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John Mackie
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One of the most prominent error theorist, developed the argument from relativity and the argument from queerness.
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Naturalism
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The metaethical view that all ethical values are identical to natural properties.
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Naturalistic Fallacy
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A line of thinking that says it is erroneous or fallacious to claim that an ethical property is identical to a natural property.
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Non-Cognitivism
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The belief that ethical judgment dows not involve an attempt to gain knowledge about the world.
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Open Question Argument
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Contention that any effort to define the good must fail since it always remains possible to ask significantly whether or not the proposed definition is actually good.
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Prescriptive Ethical Theories
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Ethical theories that prescribe a certain kind of conduct.
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Prescriptivism
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A belief that emphasizes that ethical judgments prescribe courses of actions an do not describe states of affairs in the world
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chapter 6
act-centered normative theories |
theories that focus primarily on the ethical value of kinds of action; also called conduct-based theories or an ethics of doing
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applied ethics
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subset of normative ethics that focuses on particular ethical problem areas
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ARISTOTLE
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developed the most important and influential character-centered or virtue-based ethical theory
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character-centered normative theories
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theories that focus primarily on the ethical value of having a certain kind of character; also called virtue-based ethics or an ethics of being
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doctrine of the mean
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a theory that states that a character trait should stand between a kind of excess and a kind of deficiency
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ethical theory
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subset of normative ethics that focuses on ethical principles that apply throughout all situations
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eudaemonism
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a justification of morality based on what promotes the "good life"
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moral virtues
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traits that are morally valued
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nonmoral virtues
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traits that are valued for nonmoral reasons
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teleological
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related to a particular goal or end
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CHAPTER 7
axiological theories |
theories that hold that value terms are the most basic elements of ethics
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consequentialism
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ethical theory that holds that the rightness or wrongness of an action does depend entirely on the consequences it produces
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deontic terms
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terms used to direct conduct, such as "right" and "wrong"
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deontological theories
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theories that hold that deontic terms are not entirely dependent on value terms
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moral legalism
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an ethical theory that focuses chiefly on general rules
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non-consequentialism
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ethical theory that holds that the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend entirely on the consequences they produce
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strong deontological theories
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theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action is wholly independent of the goodness or badness of thigs or states of affairs
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strong non-consequentialist theories
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theories that hold that the rightness ow wrongness of an action is totally independent of the consequences of the act
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value terms
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terms used to evaluate things or states of affairs
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weak consequentialist theories
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theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of actions may sometimes by partly determined by the consequences, but is also determined by some other factors that are independent of the consequences
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weak deontological theories
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theories that hold that the rightness or wrongness of an action is partly independent of the goodness or badness of things or states of affairs but also partly dependent
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CHAPTER 8
act utilitarianism |
a theory that holds that the right act is the one that creates more happiness thatn any other act available to the agent
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rxtinsic value
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value that is not inherent due to the nature of the thing or object in question
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hedonistic utliltaianism
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a theory that holds that all pleasures have to be given equal ethical weight
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hedonistic
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based on pleasure
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intrinsic value
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worth, regard, or value that is inherent due to the nature of the thing or object in question
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preference utilitarianism
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a theory that holds that the right action is that which maximizes the satisfaction of the desires or preferences of all the individuals involved
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Principle of Utility
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ethical principle that holds that actions are riht to the extent that they produce happiness; also called the Greatest Happiness Principle
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rule utilitarianism
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a theory that holds that the right action is that which accords with a rule that maximizes happiness
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utilitarianism
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the belief that ethical rightness is identical to the maiximization of pleasure
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CHAPTER 9
autonomous |
capable of self-rule
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categorical imperative
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ethical dictate that applies to evey person unavoidably, regardless of what that person wants or desires
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good will
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the motive to do the right thing
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humanity-as-an-end-in-itself
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second formulation of the categorical imperative; tells us to treat humanity always as an end, never simply as a means
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hypothetical imperative
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a comand or prescription that tells you to perform a certain action because you want something
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Kantianism
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an ethical theory that begins from the idea that the ethical value of an action depends not upon the action's consequences, but upon the motive of the perosn who performed the action
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kingdom of end formulation
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third formulation of the categorical imperative; tells us that every person ought to act on ethical laws or rules that would constitute the legislation of a kingdom of purely rational agents
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maxim
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a statement of an action and its intention
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rationalism
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ethical theory that holds that true ethical understanding is a purely rational matter in which emotion and sentiment play no central role
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universal law formulation
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first formulation of the categorical imperative; requires a person to formulate a maxim and then conceive or imagine that this maxim is something by which everyone must always live
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CHAPTER 10
actual duty |
what we ethically ought to do in a partivular situation
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intuitionism
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the belief that ethical properties cannot be reduced to any other type of property, and that ethical properties have a unique kind of existence that cannot be grasped through the five senses and explained by science
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monistic
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term used to describe a theory that has one single foundation
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pluralistic
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term used to describe a theory that has multiple foundations
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prima facie
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on the face of things or at firs sight; something that we all initially believe is an ethical duty
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W. D. Ross
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twentieth-century English philosopher who developed a prominent non-consequentialist ethical theory
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CHAPTER 11
desert |
what a person deserves
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distributive justice
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concerns the distribution of goods and burdens
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formal principle of justice
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theory that states that like cases ought to be trerated alike and different cases ought to be treated differently
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impartial
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neither illegitimately benefiting one party nor illegitimately harming another
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Thomas Hobbes
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developed a theory of justice called the social contract, which is the view that morlity is founded solely on uniform social agreements that serve the best interests of those who make the agreement
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material principle of justice
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concrete principles of justice or specific accounts of what desert and likeness amount to
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original position
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a hypothetical situation in which we have no knowledge of facts about the world such as rac, sex, education etc.
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John Rawls
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a twentieth-century American philosopher who developed on of the most influential theories of distributive justice
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reflective equilibrium
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a method of ethical justification whose goal is to bring into harmony both our general ethical principles and our considered ethical judgments about particular issues
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retributive justice
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concerns penalties for violations
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social contract theory
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ethical theory that states that the rule that govern society originate in an agreement btween free and equal individuals
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the two priciples of justice
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Rawls's principles, that first of which tells us to give citizens as much political liberty as possible, as long as political liberty is equal; The second principle tells us to allow economic inequalities only if they benefit the people who are worst off in society
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veil of ignorance
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hypothetical blindness to the workd that occurs when we are in the original position
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CHAPTER 12
Carol Gilligan |
prominent feminist psychologist who advocates a shift to a care-based perspective, or an ethics of caring
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communitarianism
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the ethical theory that states that ethical judgement is common to those within a himan community
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conventionalim
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ethical theory that holds that the institution of morality can only develop within societies rather than existing in some eternal and immutable mind-independent realm
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David Hume
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an indluential ethical sentimentalist
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feminism
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the ethical theory that holds that human beings should be viewed as members of a community with many interpersonal connections and attachments; also called care-based ethics or an ethics of caring
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moral conservativism
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a view that holds that ethical value is bound to a great extent to the ways of established communities
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CHAPTER 13
aristocratic morality |
the morality of the strong and powerful; the chief virtues of this morality are pride, self-assertion, and the like
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authentic person
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De Beauvoir's term for a person who does not try to deny his or her freedom by adopting the decision procedures of others; a person who creates his or her own values, independent of what others may have done
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creative freedom
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the freedom possessed by someone who creates his or her own life plan and values
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existentialism
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ethical theory that denies that God exists; says that the individual is ultimately reponsible ofr his own acts, without any real knowledge of right or wrong
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genealogy of morals
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Nietzsche's theory that establised that morality is a human invention, one that may be accepted as is, altered, or refected in favor of something else
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intersubjective
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a product of the shared life of people within actual communities
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Jean-Paul Sartre
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twentieth-century French existentialist
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Nietzsche
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nineteenth-century philosopher who believed that God did not exist and that there were no objective ethical values built into the fabric of the universe
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serious person
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De Beauvoir's term for a conformist
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Simone De Beauvoir
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twentieth-century French existentialist
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slave morality
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the morality of the weak and powerless; the chief virtues of this morality are humility, obedience, and the like
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CHAPTER 14
beneficence |
bioethical principle that tells health care providers to have as their goal the good of their patients
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bioethics
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a very large and diverse area within the field of applied ethics whose objective is to determine which specific or applied actions are right and which actions are wrong
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competent
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capable of assessing possible courses of action in a reasonable manner
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ethical dilemma
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occurs when one ethical principle comes into conflict with another
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non-maleficence
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bioethical principle that proclaims that health care providers should not cause harm to patients
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principle of justice
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a principle that states that all people in a society must be treated eequally
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principles of bioethcs
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principles used inbioethics refined from ideas of ethical theory such as consequentialism, deontology, and justification
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respect for autonomy
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bioethical principle of respect for the patient's right to control his or her own life
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