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46 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Morality
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Effort to understand the nature of morality and what it requires of us
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Socrate's definition of morality
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how we ought to live
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Minimum conception of morality
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core that every moral theory should accept
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Anencephalic
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Missing certain brain parts, ie cerebellum and crebrum but not brain stem
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Baby Theresa History
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Missing parts of brain, parents wanted to donate
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Benefits of Baby Theresa Story
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Her organs could be transplanted to help other children. Quality of Life is not the same as simply being alive
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Baby T- using people argument
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Using people as a means to other people's ends is wrong.
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Definition of "Using" someone
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Violating someone's autonomy
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Definition of autonomy
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People's ability to decide for themselves how to life their life.
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Baby T- Wrongness of Killing
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Wrong to kill to save another.
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Jodie and Mary History
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Spines were fused, conjoined twins. Had 1 heart and 1 pair of lungs. Jodie was "stronger" because she provided blood for her sister. Were expected to die within 6 months.
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Parent's stand on mary and jodie
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devout catholics- wanted nature to take its course. God's will.
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Doctor's position on Mary and Jodie
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Wanted to separate them, used a court order to save Jodie.
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Saving as many as possible
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people would rather 1 child die than both Mary and Jodie
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Sanctity of Human Life
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Parents loved both of their children and thought it would be wrong to kill one to save another. This is the idea that all life, regardless of life, age, ethnicity is sacred.
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Argument from sanctity of llife
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The innocent human has no future because they will die soon. The innocent human has no wish to further life, or no wishes at all. The killing will save others who can go on and live full lives.
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Tracy Latimer History
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Had cerebral palsy- killed by her father. Functioned at 3 month old level. Weighed less than 40 lbs and was killed by exhaust fumes.
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Wrongness of Discriminating against Disabled
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Disabled people have just as much worth of life as others.
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Tracy Latimer's Father Stand
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Tracy was not killed b/c of her condition but more to relieve her of torture.
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Moral Reasoning
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Collecting factual information and using reasoning to come with a conclusion- cannot let feelings or preconceptions take over.
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Impartiality
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Everyone's interests are equally important, none can get special treatment.
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Minimum Conception of Morality
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Morality is the effort to guide one's conduct by reason- to do what there are best reasons for doing- while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by ones decision.
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Cultural Relativism
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Diff Cultures have DIff Moral codes. There is no universal moral code. Once within a cultural bound, must obey the rules in that culture. No truth in morality, only opinions.
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Cultural Relativism argument
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If premise is true, conclusion can still be false. People thought that the world was flat, but that obviously wasnt true even if it was culturally accepted.
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Ethical Subjectivism
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Moral opinions are based on our feelings and nothing more, and therefore cannot be right or wrong.
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David Hume
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Said morality is based on sentiment
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Simple Subjectivism
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Approve/Disapprove
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Why Simple Subj is wrong
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people cannot 'disagree' in Simple subj, because they are only opinions, even though they clearly do.
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Simple Subjectivism always assumes were right
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This is because everything we say is an approval and cannot be wrong, however people still make moral mistakes
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Emotivism
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Everything is a command and does not carry a "wrong/right"
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Utilitarianism
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Right is based on how happy something makes you as opposed to how much pain it causes
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Hedonism
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Pleasure is ultimate good and pain is ultimate evil
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Utilitarianism is incompatible with..
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Justice, you can bear false witness and lie so long as it produces more happiness than harm
Rights- rights could be violated if they produced more happiness than harm Backward-looking reasons- ultil only cares about consequences but obligations are also important |
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supererogatory
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people who go above and beyond the call of their moral duties
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Utilit Charge-Demands
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Would require you to keep giving things up until you become the needy yourself due to the joy you would bring as opposed to the small pains you suffer from donating/helping/etc
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Util Charge- Personal Relationship Disruption
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Cannot have intimate relationships- because it is not impartial
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Util Defense-Consequences
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People who say that util causes pain in some people assume certain things really do have the best consequences, but that may not be so.. the assumptions may be wrong so the critics may be wrong
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Util Defense- Rule guide not act guide
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Rule Util creates rules for general behavior
However: making case by case exceptions to rules would be the same as Act-Util Changing the rules would also give no substantial weight to the rules in the first place True Util's dont care about the rules, just the consequences- being a "rule-slave" doesnt help |
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Classical Util is aka
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Act-Util
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Util Defense- Common Sense
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Common Sense is wrong. There are deeper meanings to the consequences of bad actions other than common sense, and they carry with them lessened happiness
Nothing is "wrong in itself" i.e. lying, its just the pain/suffering it causes that makes it wrong |
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Divine Command
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it is right because God commands it
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Theory of Natural Law
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it is right because it is natural or meant for a purpose
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Anscombe
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Philisopher who was a devout catholic
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Categorical Imperative
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Basically stated that moral obligations should be followed no matter what.
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Hypothetical Imperatives
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If you want A. Then you do B.
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Inquiring Murderer
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should you lie, you save a life. should you tell the truth, you kill someone- is this an exception to categorical imperative?
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