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44 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Theory of the Right
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Tries to tell us what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Divided into telelogical and deontological.
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Theory of the Good
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Tries to tell us what is morally good/bad.
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Virtue Theory
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Divided into Intellectual and Moral Virtue.
Intellectual virtue= contemplating God. Moral virtue= Finding mean between excess and deficiency |
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Social Contract Theory
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Equal rights. life and liberty
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Feminist Theory
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Contradicts all theories
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Utilitarianism
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Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.
In The Office, Dwight kills Angela's cat and shows no remorse because he is an advocate of Utilitarianism. It does not produce wool or milk so it is useless and it is moral to kill it. |
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Ethical Egoism
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All actions ought to be self-interested
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Psychological Egoism
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All human actions are self-interested.
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Ring of Gyges
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Shepherd finds magic ring. turns him invisible. Both a thief and good man would act the same.
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Descriptive theories
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Attempt to explain why people judge things to be good or bad
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Normative (Prescriptive) theories
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Attempts to provide a set of ethics that people should follow.
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Arguments for Psychological Egoism
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1. Even if an action appears outwardly altruistic, that person is still doing what they want to do, which is selfish in itself.
2. People are just doing what makes them feel good, so no action is unselfish. |
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Arguments against Psychological Egoism
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Many stupid actions are neither self-interested nor altruistic. (smoker who wants to quit)
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Ethics
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What a person ought to do.
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Morality
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How a person should relate to other people given their fundamental equality.
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Arguments against ethical egoism
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Hard to do. Each person has their own set of morals, so we cannot exactly refute ethical egoism. If someone truly finds nothing wrong in harming others, then we cannot prove to them that they shouldn't act like that.
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What's the connection between religion and morality?
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A society without a sense of morality could have religion - including a relationship with non-moral gods.
We have many motives besides religious ones. |
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Divine Command Theory of Morality
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An action is right because God commands it
An action is wrong because God forbids it |
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Problems with Divine Command Theory
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God doesn't command that we should play baseball, so does that make it wrong?
Also, times have changed since Bible was written. |
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Arthur's view on relationship between morality and religion
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Morality is inherently social, and this includes a relationship with God (provided such a relationship is possible)
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Aquinas' view of natural law
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God has a rational plan- everything has a purpose. We can discern natural law through the use of reason
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Hume's view of foundation of morality
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According to Hume, morality is based on sentiment. If we feel like something is wrong, it is probably wrong.
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Hume's "is-ought" argument
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Hume thinks it is a mistake to argue that because something "is" the case, it "ought to be" the case
Can be refuted. Hitler wanted to kill Jews. Jews are alive, so Jews ought to be alive. In Hume's opinion, Hitler's opinion would be valid. |
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Ethical Relativism
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What is morally right or wrong depends on what culture one lives in.
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Individual Relativism
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What is morally right or wrong depends on one's own beliefs and values.
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Problems with Utilitarianism
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1) It has problems accounting for individual rights
2) It has problems accounting for matters of justice 3) It is often unclear how utility is to be measured |
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Consequentialist Theory
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A morally right action is an action that produces good consequences (The ends justify the means)
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Non-Consequentialist Theory
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Some actions are morally wrong regardless of their consequences
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Kant's Categorical Imperative (2 formulations)
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1) Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should be a universal law
2) Act in such a way that you always treat humanity... never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end. |
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Problems with Kant's Categorical Imperative
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Does not explain what it is to treat a person as an end.
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Aristotle - Highest good
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Happiness= Activity of soul in accordance of virtue throughout a lifetime
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Vatican's views on sex and sexuality
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Sex is only morally right in the context of marriage. There is a finality in consummating a marriage. The purpose of sexual organs is to have sex after marriage
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Vatican's views on homosexuality and masturbation
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Both lack the "essential and indispensable finality" so they are both "intrinsically disordered"
Both contradict the finality of the faculty. |
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Bradshaw's 3 levels of opposition to homosexuality
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1) Opposition to the gay rights movement
2) Opposition to the homosexual lifestyle 3) Opposition to the homosexual act |
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Bradshaw's argument of moral space
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Every human has a moral space that heterosexual sex fits into.
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Arguments against moral space
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There is no such things as a sexual "fit". Prostitution and rape fit into the "moral space" but they're obviously not moral.
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Bradshaw's argument about infertile couple
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Homosexuality is wrong simply because two men aren't built that way. Infertile couples are not wrong because they were, and special circumstances doesn't allow them to have children.
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Schulman's feminist argument against gay marriage
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Marriage is based around a woman's eventual fertility, so gay marriage is an oxymoron. Nobody is getting pregnant so it isn't a marriage.
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Rauch's "Hayekian View"
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Marriage is falling apart. If we add M/M or F/F to M/F, we are breaking the very foundation of the most rooted tradition in human history.
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Rauch: social point of marriage
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The point of marriage is that it helps to "settle males". It wraps a seal of approval around the family. Power of marriage is social, not just legal.
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What would happen if marriage was left to religion and no long state recognized?
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Marriage would no longer have the finality it has now. They wouldn't be accepted by everyone since not everyone is religious.
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The Quickening
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First time you feel your baby move
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Noonan's view on fetuses. When does a fetus become a person?
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Noonan says conception is when a fetus becomes a person because they receive a genetic code.
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Thomson's approach to abortion
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Doesn't believe fetus is person upon conception. Abortion is fine, except if for example 7 months pregnant and randomly decide to get one.
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