Term
| What is the ethical insight to utilitarian theory? |
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Definition
| Actions are good if they help someone and are bad if they harm someone |
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Term
| List and explain the 2 virtues of utilitarian theory. |
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Definition
1. Responding to the situation of a moral agent - Example: Nazi inquiries; You can lie to nazis if they come looking for jews can evaluate each action separately according to the situation
2. Consistent with basic objective of persons - Although people differ in many ways, they seem to have at least oen thing in common, namely they tend to seek pleasure, happiness, and whatever else benefits them. |
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Term
| List and explain 2 problems with utilitarian theory. |
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Definition
1. Doing the Calculations: Difficult to identify all the consequences of a moral action. Short-range consequences are difficult to identify and long-range consequences are even harder to identify.
2. Contrary to Moral Intuitions; Without much imagination, one can produce a variety of results that run contrary to many peoples moral intuition. Ex. Having to kill innocent people is against our gut moral instincts. |
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Term
| Explain in detail the two ways in which Mill thinks he bettered Bentham’s original assertion. |
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Definition
1. Rules as time-saving devices: Mill appeals to general moral rules in order to avoid one of the classical critiques of utilitarianism, namely that it’s entirely too time-consuming. Throughout human history, we have learned about the tendencies of actions to produce happiness such as “keeping promises” is generally benefitting.
2. Higher vs. Lower Pleasures: Unlike Bentham, Mill believes that we can draw qualitative distinctions. That is, we can say that some pleasures are richer and more meaningful than others. Unfortunately Mill believes that people who have had the experience of both higher and lower pleasures will always prefer the higher. Yet a more accurate picture is that a person will sometimes prefer higher pleasures and at other times lower pleasure. |
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Term
| What is the ethical insight to Kantian ethics? |
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Definition
| There are moral laws and these laws apply to all persons equally. Examples: Freeway speed |
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Term
| List the first and second formulation of the categorical imperative |
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Definition
Formulation 1: Act only from those personal rules that you can at the same time will to be moral laws
Formulation 2: Act in regard to all persons in ways that treat them as ends in themselves and never simply as mere means to an accomplish the ends of others |
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Term
| List and explain two problems with KT |
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Definition
Conflicting Moral Laws: One way to solve the problem of not being able to identify a single description and rule is to declare that several descriptions and rules are relevant to an ethical action. However, this creates a new dilemma, the problem of conflicting moral laws. There are no theoretical means by which to solve this problem.
There are no theoretical means or mechanisms by which we can rank the various moral laws. Hence, no conflicts can be solved.
2. No exceptions to Moral Laws: Because of the absolute nature of the Categorical Imperative, there is no room for compromise. This overly rigid and inflexible aspect of KT is unacceptable to many ethical theorists. For example, Nazi inquiries - No exceptions you have to tell the truth. |
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Term
| What is the ethical insight of Moral Rights Theory? |
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Definition
| Individual persons are intrinsically valuable and we should act in ways that respect their inherent value. |
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Term
| List and explain in detail the difference between positive and negative rights |
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Definition
-There are positive or entitlement rights, which give a person a reasonable guarantee to the satisfaction of some interest, more controversial
Classic Examples:
Public Education
Food Stamps
Health care
-Negative rights are negative because they tell you what you can’t do, less controversial; Ex. You cannot stalk people |
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Term
| List and Explain in detail 2 strengths of Moral Rights Theory |
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Definition
1. Rationality and Value of Persons- MRT identifies the vital aspects of being a person- life, well-being, liberty, property, privacy, and uses moral rights
2. Persons as Moral Equals- This particular theory prevents prejudiced attitudes, such as racism and sexism; Example men vs. women |
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