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The belief that there is one and only one truth; those who espouse absolutism usually also believe that they know what this absolute truth is. In ethics, absolutism is usually contrasted to relativism.
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The conviction that one simply does not know whether God exists or not; it is often accompanied with a further conviction that one need not care whether God exists or not.
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| A selfless concern for other people purely for their own sake. Altruism is usually contrasted with selfishness or egoism in ethics. |
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| The Greek word for "excellence" or "virtue." For the Greeks, this was not limited to human beings. A guitar, for example, has its areté in producing harmonious music, just as a hammer has its excellence or virtue in pounding nails into wood well. So, too, the virtue of an Olympic swimmer is in swimming well, and the virtue of a national leader lies in motivating people to work for the common good. |
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| The belief that God does not exist. In the last two centuries, some of the most influential atheistic philosophers have been Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, and Jean-Paul Sartre. |
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| The ability to freely determine one’s own course in life. Etymologically, it goes back to the Greek words for "self" and "law." This term is most strongly associated |
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| A calculus is simply a means of computing something, and a moral calculus is just a means of calculating what the right moral decision is in a particular case. |
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| An unconditional command. For Immanuel Kant, all of morality depended on a single categorical imperative. One version of that imperative was, "Always act in such a way that the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law." |
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| The belief that both determinism and freedom of the will are true. |
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| Any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on their consequences. |
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| An example which claims to undermine or refute the principle or theory against which it is advanced. |
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| This argument is an argument whose conclusion follows necessarily from its premises. This contrasts to various kinds of inductive arguments, which offer only a degree of probability to support their conclusion. |
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| Any position in ethics, which claims that, the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they correspond to our duty or not. The word derives from the Greek word for duty, deon. |
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| Any position in ethics, which claims that, the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they correspond to God’s commands or not. |
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| Utilitarian units of pain or displeasure. See hedons. |
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| A philosophical theory which holds that moral judgments are simply expressions of positive or negative feelings. |
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| (1) An intellectual movement in modern Europe from the sixteenth until the eighteenth centuries that believed in the power of human reason to understand the world and to guide human conduct. (2) For Buddhists, the state of Enlightenment or nirvana is the goal of human existence. |
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| A moral theory that, in its most common version (universal ethical egoism) states that each person ought to act in his or her own Self-interest. Also see Psychological Egoism. |
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| The explicit, philosophical reflection on moral beliefs and practices. The difference between this and morality is similar to the difference between musicology and music. This is a conscious stepping back and reflecting on morality, just as musicology is a conscious reflection on music. |
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| A person’s ethnicity refers to that individual’s affiliation with a particular cultural tradition that may be national (French) or regional (Sicilian) in character. Ethnicity differs from race in that ethnicity is a sociological concept whereas race is a biological phenomenon. |
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| The is the word that Aristotle uses for "happiness" or "flourishing." It comes from the Greek "eu," which means "happy" or "well" or "harmonious," and "daimon," which refers to the individual’s spirit. |
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| refers to that individual’s affiliation with either male or female social roles. It differs from sex in the same way that ethnicity differs from race: gender is a sociological concept, while sex is a biological one. |
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| This is a term that utilitarians use to designate a unit of pleasure. Its opposite is a dolor, which is a unit of pain or displeasure;The term comes from the Greek word for pleasure. |
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| For Kant, this is the opposite of autonomy. Whereas an autonomous person is one whose will is self-determined, this person is one whose will is determined by something outside of the person, such as overwhelming emotions. Etymologically, goes back to the Greek words for "other" and "law." |
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| A conditional command, such as, "If you want to lose weight, stop eating cookies." Some philosophers have claimed that morality is only a system of imperatives, while others—such as Kant—have maintained that morality is a matter of categorical imperatives. Also see categorical imperative. |
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| In ethics, an standpoint is one which treats everyone as equal. For many philosophers, impartiality is an essential component of the moral point of view. |
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| A command. Philosophers often distinguish between hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives; see the entries under each of these topics. |
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| This is the word that Kant used (actually, he used the German word Neigung) to refer to our sensuous feelings, emotions, and desires. Kant contrasts this with reason. It was seen as physical, causally-determined, and irrational, reason was portrayed as non-physical, free, and obviously rational. |
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| Any position which attempts to reconcile apparently conflicting tendencies or values into a single framework. Their positions are contrasted with separatist positions, which advocate keeping groups (usually defined by race, ethnicity, or gender) separate from one another. |
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| According to Kant, it is the subjective rule that an individual uses in making a decision. |
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| The arithmetical average of items in a group. |
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| Philosophers often contrast means and ends. The ends we seek are the goals we try to achieve, while the means are the actions or things which we use in order to accomplish those ends. A hammer provides the means for pounding a nail in a piece of wood. Some philosophers, most notably Immanuel Kant, have argued that we should never treat human beings merely as means to an end. |
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| The domain of actions, motives, traits, etc. that are open to moral assessment, that is, can be said to be morally good or morally bad. |
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| The view that we ought not to be morally concerned with, or involved with, people outside of our own immediate group; it is often a consequences of some versions of moral relativism. |
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| The phenomenon that the moral goodness or badness of some of our actions depends simply on chance. For example, the drunk driver may safely reach home without injuring anyone at all, or might accidentally kill several children that run out into the street while the drunken person is driving home. How bad the action of driving while drunk is in that case depends in part on luck. |
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| Refers to the first-order beliefs and practices about good and evil by means of which we guide our behavior. Contrast with Ethics, which is the second-order, reflective consideration of our moral beliefs and practices. |
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| An excessive preoccupation with oneself. In mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. |
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| In ethics, believers in this law hold (a) that there is a natural order to the human world, (b) that this natural order is good, and (c) that people therefore ought not to violate that order. |
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| In ethics, this is the theory that moral values can be derived from facts about the world and human nature. The naturalist holds that "is" can imply "ought." |
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| According to G. E. Moore, any argument which attempts to define the good in any terms whatsoever, including naturalistic terms; for Moore, Good is simple and indefinable. Some philosophers, most notably defenders of naturalism, have argued that Moore and others are wrong and that such arguments are not necessarily fallacious. |
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| The belief that there is no value or truth. Literally, a belief in nothing (nihil). Most philosophical discussions of arise out of a consideration of Fredrich Nietzsche’s remarks on , especially in The Will to Power. |
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| A Kantian term that refers to the unknowable world as it is in itself. According to Kant, we can only know the world as it appears to us, as a phenomenon. We can never know it as it is in itself, as a . The adjectival forms of these two words are "phenomenal" and " ," respectively. |
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| In recent discussions, ethicists have contrasted with universality and impartiality and asked how, if morality is necessarily universal and impartial, it can give adequate recognition to ; refers to specific attachments (friendships, loyalties, etc.) and desires (fundamental projects, personal hopes in life) that are usually seen as morally irrelevant to the rational moral self. |
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| According to Aristotle, it is practical wisdom, the ability to make the right decision in difficult circumstances. |
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| The belief that there are multiple perspectives on an issue, each of which contains part of the truth but none of which contain the whole truth. In ethics, it is the belief that different moral theories each capture part of truth of the moral life, but none of those theories has the entire answer. |
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| In the original Latin, this phrase means "at first glance." In ethics, it usually occurs in discussions of duties; this duty is one which appears binding but which may, upon closer inspection, turn out to be overridden by other. stronger duties. |
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| The doctrine that all human motivation is ultimately selfish or egoistic. |
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In ethics, there are two main type of it:
-Descriptive ethical simply claims as a matter of fact that different people have different moral beliefs, but it takes no stand on whether those beliefs are valid or not.
-Normative ethical claims that each culture’s (or group’s) beliefs are right within that culture, and that it is impossible to validly judge another culture’s values from the outside. |
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| are entitlements to do something without interference from other people (negative rights) or entitlements that obligate others to do something positive to assist you (positive rights). Some rights (natural rights, human rights) belong to everyone by nature or simply by virtue of being human; some rights (legal rights) belong to people by virtue of their membership in a particular political state; other rights (moral rights) are based in acceptance of a particular moral theory. |
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| A term utilitarians borrowed from economics to indicate how much utility we should try to create. Whereas maximizing utilitarians claim that we should strive to maximize utility, utilitarians claim that we need only try to produce enough utility to satisfy everyone. It’s analogous to the difference between taking a course with the goal of getting an "A" and taking it pass-fail. |
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| There are two senses of this term. In ancient Greece, they were inquirers who were dedicated to the investigation of concrete experience and wary of theories that might cloud or confuse that experience. In modern times, they have been wary of the trustworthiness of sense experience. Thus classical was so primarily about theories, while modern skepticism is skeptical primarily about experience. |
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| An extreme version of relativism, which maintains that each person’s beliefs are relative to that person alone and cannot be judged from the outside by any other person. |
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| Literally, "above the call of duty.";this act is one that is morally good and that goes beyond what is required by duty. Some ethical theories, such as certain versions of utilitarianism, that demand that we always do the act that yields the most good have no room for these acts. |
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| A type of argument, deriving from Kant, which seeks to establish the necessary conditions of the possibility of something’s being the case. For example, we have to believe that we are free when we perform an action; thus belief in freedom is a necessary condition of the possibility of action. |
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| Immanuel Kant used this term when discussing the maxims, or subjective rules, that guide our actions. A maxim is universalizable if it can consistently be willed as a law that everyone ought to obey. The only maxims which are morally good are those which can be universalized. The test of it ensures that everyone has the same moral obligations in morally similar situations. |
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| A moral theory that says that what is moral right is whatever produces the greatest overall amount of pleasure (hedonistic ) or happiness (eudaimonistic ). Some utilitarians (act utilitarians) claim that we should weigh the consequences of each individual action, while others (rule ) maintain that we should look at the consequences of adopting particular rules of conduct. |
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for abolition of using animals in scientific experiments.
-utilitarianism : likes that it takes an equal viewpoint. Doesn’t like that it can go wrong; in principle nothing is inherently right or wrong, look at whole picture and do greatest amount of good. |
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| preference utilitarian, take responsibility for our actions |
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| Animals (mammals) who cares, animals have no rights, don’t know about morals, to have rights you have to conceive morals. |
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| opposed to homosexuals having the right to marry, reasons: bible, procreation, promiscuity, evil, family values |
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| being affluent (living in a good country) is a matter of luck |
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Singers solution to absolute hunger |
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| stop growing livestock, stop killing animals |
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Dif. Between perfect and imperfect duties
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| p- those that are universalizable, given the same circumstances people will do the right thing. I- are duties that you don’t have to do, they’re good, but you are not obligated to do it every time. |
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| P-because you are alive, N- you shouldn’t have your rights infringed upon |
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| need that comes after some kind of disaster |
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| ongoing, never going away, give aid, but the people will always need it due to drought, famine, etc. |
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| animals, not thinking of moral or immoral, just doing what they do |
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| do not know who you are, make them really fair, cause you don’t know what rule you are going to follow, it prevents a lot of rules from being broken |
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Principle of double effect
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| allows us to do something that would normally be bad, but it will be good, because its good for the reason, and yet it brought good and bad. Either equal, or the good outweighs the bad |
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| humans are ration being that make us specials, we are an end not a means to an end |
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| the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other |
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savior sibling (or saviour baby) |
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| is a child who is born to provide an organ or cell transplant to a sibling that is affected with a fatal disease, such as cancer or Fanconi anemia, that can best be treated by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The savior sibling is conceived through in vitro fertilization. |
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Sandel’s position on enhancement and the reasons he has for this position
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| Sandel thinks there’s a problem with desiring enhancements for their own sake and that the pursuit of these enhancements would lead to the three negative social effects |
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