value of life, individual freedom, justice or fairness, goodness or rightness, honesty
basic ethical principals
being moral is profitable and advantageous, and being immoral is unprofitable; immoral people are miserable because they are immoral.
plato
morality is nothing but a combination of rules and conventions imposed on a gullible community.
thrasymachus
justice is an act of one's self-interest. people praise justice for the reward it brings and the prudent person will be concerned with reputation, not morality. justice is a compromise between what is most desirable to the individual and what is most unde
glaucon
the problem of morality can be resolved only by understanding the human soul
plato
an ideal society that contains: rulers, or philosophers. their virtue is wisdom. guardians who can protect the city. they know some philosophy and can move up to the ruling class. their virtue is courage. artisans, or the working majority. incapable of se
plato's ideal city or soul contains three classes
rational, spirited, appetitive
the ideal soul contains three distinct components. when these three components operate under the rule of reason, the result is justice.
located in the head; it finds itself constantly opposed to the appetitive component. its virtue is wisdom
rational component of the ideal soul
located in the heart; it is the source of action; it is continuously coveted by the rational and appetitive components of the soul. its virtue is courage.
spirited component of the ideal soul
located in the lower part of the body; it contains all the primitive lusts and irrational desires. its virtue is moderation
appetitive component of the ideal soul
confusion. and confusion is incompatible with virtue.
the opposite of justice
the expression of human excellence is possible only where justice triumphs; only where the individual takes into consideration the interests of other human beings and not only his own private interests.
plato
argued that being moral was in the interest of the individual and that no one would ever knowingly operate in a way that ran counter to his own interests, and if we ever saw someone who was operating in that manner, it meant that he was ignorant of his be
plato
a normative theory about how things ought to be. we ought to act in the way that is in our best interest and this entails that sometimes one ought to act in the interests of others.
moral egoism
in contrast to the theory of moral egoism, it is a descriptive theory about how things are.
psychological egoism
a person who is arrogant, boastful, inconsiderate, and self-centered
egoist
a philosophical doctrine that considers pleasure to be the standard of morality
hedonism
based off rational self-interest (pleasures).
ethical egoism
main advocate for psychological egoism. believes it is a psychological fact that all people always do act in ways that they take to be in their personal benefit. this view rules out altruism.
thomas hobbes
given the fact anything one does, they do for their own benefit, there can be nothing that can be presented as a possible refutation
criticism of thomas hobbe's ethical theory
logically committed to admit that it is possible to act motivated by interests other than one's own pleasure, but it claims that doing so is a bad idea -- in fact, that it is somehow immoral to do so
moral hedonism
no act should be undertaken except for the pleasure in which it results and no act should be rejected except for the pain it produces
according to epicurus
must be satisfied and are easily satisfied. they result in good deal of pleasure and few painful consequences
e.g. desires for food, sleep, ect.
natural desires
do not need to be satisfied and are not easy to satisfy. the search for their satisfaction results in painful consequences
vain desires
advocated the pursuit of beauty, prudence, honor, justice, courage, and honesty, because he believed that holding them lead to more pleasure than pain. defines pleasure as the absence of pain. led him to believe that death was merely the absence of sensat
epicurus
utilitarianism
jeremy bentham and john s. mill were the main promoters of
the greatest net happiness for all. the great happiness principle. actions themselves are neither intrinsically right nor wrong. the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined solely by its consequences. the ends justify the means. the desire for h
utilitarianism
concerned more with social reform than with the moral education of the individual; to devise a more practical moral theory that could form a secure, scientific foundation for developing social policy and legislation and for critiquing the existing legal s
bentham's utilitarian theory
hedonic calculus or pleasures; a process of weighing costs and benefits of an action
utilitarian calculus or calculus of felicity
believed that all pleasures are equal and the only distinction among pleasures is their intensity. quality over quantity. the pleasures of the cultured person are higher than those of the uneducated person or the fool. this position would lead to tyranny
john s. mill's theory of utilitarianism
utilitarianism is consequentialist in nature. however, we feel that some acts, such wanton cruelty, are bad in and of themselves regardless of their consequences. some acts are performed out of moral duty are right independent of their consequences.
the consequentialism problem
more concerned with the morality of particular action. no actions, including stealing, torture, killing, and breaking promises, are considered to be inherently immoral. universalizing moral rules against these actions fail to take into account that there
act-utilitarianism
concerned with the morality of particular classes of actions, such as stealing, and keeping promises. according to them, we should be in any particular situation, follow the rule that in general brings about the happiness for the greatest number.
rule-utilitarianism
insistence on equality and impartiality is both a weakness and a strength. often fail to give attention to the integrity of the individual. does not give the moral conscience and intention in morality enough attention. may impose an impossible standard by
criticisms of utilitarianism
moral law is not defined in terms of consequences or whether it promotes some goal. the moral law is an end in itself. morality involves having the right intentions.
duty-oriented ethicism
one that is always morally binding regardless the circumstances. immanuel kant
absolute duty
is morally binding unless it conflicts with a more pressing moral duty.
prima facie duty
entails actively doing something, such as helping or returning a favor.
positive duty
requires us to restrain ourselves from doing something, such as stealing
negative duty
grounded on reason, and are self-evident, in such case, they are known intuitively.
moral duties
primarily concerned with establishing the foundation for ethics that would explain why we ought to behave morally. what gives morality its imperative or ought quality. neither feelings nor experience. only reason can provide a sound foundation for the uni
immanuel kant
reason requires non only that moral duties be universal but also that they be absolutely binding. there can be no exceptions.
categorial imperative
we ought do something if we desire to achieve a certain result -- tell a lie to save a life -- moral obligations are categorical, or unconditionally binding upon us.
hypothetical imperatives
states that we ought to do something regardless of the consequences.
categorical imperative
because reason provides the foundation of morality, humans, and other rational beings, are very special being. rational beings have free will, everything else in nature operates according to physical laws. essential for dignity, only rational beings have
the categorical imperative, immanuel kant
an important corrective to utilitarian theory where an individual may be sacrificed for the greater good of the community.
deontology
a rational inclination that guides us toward the moral duty. it is like some sort of innate moral sense. already present in a sound understanding and requires not so much to be taught as merely to be clarified.
kant's concept of good will
tend to focus too much on justice than on moral sentiments such as caring.
deontologists
act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law," is an ethical principle advocated by
kant's denotologism
the theory that defends that everyone ought always and only to serve his or her own self-interest is called
ethical egoism
glaucon's story of gyges's in used to support which of the following conclusions
people behave morally only because they lack the power to get away with being immoral
wrongness or rightness of an action depends upon the consequence of the action
according to utilitarianism the
true
hedonism is the view that human conduct is or ought to be motivated by the pursuit of pleasure
suppose that an anti-abortionist assassinates an abortionist, claiming that, "the end justifies the means: it is better to kill one human now, than to allow that person to kill many humans (perform abortions) in the future." assassin's reasoning adheres
utilitarianism
the philosophical argument according with which we cannot go from "is statements" to "ought statement" is usually called,
naturalistic fallacy
according to which ethical system does the rightness or wrongness of an act depend on the act itself and not on its consequences,
deontological system
you are the captain of a boat smuggling a family of jews from germany where a german naval boat comes alongside your boat and an officer asks if you have any jews aboard. if you say 'yes' he will come aboard and shoot them, if you say no, he will, in all
don't lie to the naval officer because lying as a rule causes more harm than good