definition midterm Flashcards
(46 cards)
ad populam
It is a fallacious argument which is based on claiming a truth or affirming something is good or correct because many people think so. It appeals to popular opinion instead of reason or evidence.
Example: “The majority of our countrymen think we should have military operations overseas; therefore, it’s the right thing to do.”
Applied ethics
Applied ethics, a branch of ethics, is the practical application of moral principles to real-world issues. It examines how ethical theories guide decision-making in specific contexts.
Example of question: What is the right thing to do about this particular issue?
Answer: “It is morally right to increase taxes on the income of the wealthiest people in our society.”
Begging the question
when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it, leading to circular reasoning. Instead of providing evidence, the argument merely restates the claim in a different way. This fallacy fails to offer independent support for its conclusion.
Example: “Of course smoking causes cancer. The smoke from cigarettes is a carcinogen.”
Bite the bullet
Accepting an unpleasant or counterintuitive consequence of a theory or argument, even if it seems difficult to swallow, because you believe the overall theory is still sound and valuable; essentially, embracing a hard truth despite its negative implications.
Example: In utilitarianism, “biting the bullet” could mean accepting that killing one person to save five others might be morally justified based on the principle of maximizing overall happiness, even though the act of killing is generally considered wrong
Burden of Proof
The obligation on a party in a dispute to provide sufficient justification for its position. The burden of proof is usually on the person who brings a claim in a dispute.
Example: In a debate, if someone claims that ghosts exist, they have the burden of proof to provide evidence, rather than others having to prove ghosts don’t exist.
Classical virtues
The classical virtues are four key qualities for living a good life: prudence (wisdom), justice (fairness), fortitude (courage), and temperance (self-control). These ideas come from ancient Greek philosophy, including Plato and Aristotle, and later influenced Christian thought
Counterfactual
It is a conditional sentence that describes what might have happened if the conditions were different. Counterfactuals are often used in reasoning about possibility and causation.
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the view that concepts and moral values must be understood in their own cultural context and not judged according to the standards of a different culture. It asserts the equal validity of all points of view and the relative nature of truth, which is determined by an individual or their culture.
de gustibus non est disputandum
Latin phrase that translates to “there is no disputing about taste,” essentially meaning that everyone has their own preferences and there’s no point in arguing about what someone likes or dislikes.
Egoism
The normative position that moral agents ought to act in their own self interest. It suggests that actions are morally right if they benefit the individual, whether it’s a natural tendency or a moral duty.
Eudaimonia
It can also be translated as “happiness”. It is a Greek concept that refers to a life of fulfillment and well-being. For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else.
Felicific calculus
An algorithm formulated by Jeremy Bentham for calculating the degree or amount of happiness that a specific action is likely to cause, and hence its degree of moral rightness, based on their pleasure and pain outcomes.
Golden mean
The golden mean is the idea that virtue lies between extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. It was emphasized in Aristotelian virtue ethics. For example, courage is the balance between rashness and cowardice, while temperance is the balance between indulgence and insensitivity.
Hedonism
A family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Hedonistic theories make pleasure the aim. (Aristotle rejects this. Pleasure is instead a sign of what kind of character you have)
Impartiality
A principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than based on bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.
Example: Teachers must be impartial when grading exams
Internalization of norms
The process by which individuals adopt societal values as their own, so that following these norms becomes self-motivated rather than driven by external rewards or punishments.
Example: A person who initially follows traffic laws to avoid fines but later stops at red lights out of genuine concern for safety has internalized the norm of responsible driving.
Is/ought gap
It is a fallacy that attempts to make conclusions about the way things should be based on the evidence about the way things are. According to David Hume, it is the idea that we cannot logically derive moral obligations (ought) from mere facts about the world (is). Just because something happens naturally doesn’t mean it should happen morally.
Example: We do not currently regulate the amount of nicotine in an individual cigarette; therefore we need not do this.
Metaethics
The study of the nature, scope, ground, and meaning of moral judgment, ethical belief, or values.
3 subcategories: Subjective Relativism, Cultural relativism and Moral Objectivism
Kind of question: “Are moral values real, or just a fiction invented by people?”
Example of conclusion: “Moral values are fully objective.”
Moral cost
: The negative impact on one’s moral standing or the violation of a moral principle that occurs when making a decision, even if the decision is considered morally permissible overall. (Even when doing the “right” thing, there might still be a sense of moral wrongness, which is often associated with the idea of a “moral dilemma” where no choice is entirely without negative moral consequences.)
Example: company choosing to lay off a large number of employees to save costs might experience a moral cost due to the negative impact on those workers’ lives, even if the decision is financially beneficial for the company.
Moral luck
Introduced by Bernard Williams, it is when a moral agent is assigned moral blame or praise for an action or its consequences, even if it is clear that said agent did not have full control over either the action or its consequences. People can be judged morally for actions influenced by factors beyond their control.
Example: Two otherwise conscientious people have forgotten to have their brakes checked recently and experience brake failure, but only one of whom finds a child in the path of his car.
Moral particularism
Moral particularism is a theory in normative ethics. It is the view that moral judgments depend on the specific context of a situation rather than universal principles. It suggests that there are no fixed moral rules that apply to every case, and decisions should consider the relevant facts of each situation.
Example: Homicide cannot be judged to be morally wrong until all the morally relevant facts are known.
Moral saints
A person whose every action is as morally good as possible, a person, that is, who is as morally worthy as can be. It is someone who always strives to act in the most morally perfect way, prioritizing ethics over personal desires.
moral v. prudential
Moral refers to what is right or wrong based on ethical principles, often concerned with others’ well-being and fairness. Prudential refers to what is wise or beneficial for an individual, typically based on self-interest and long-term benefits. Moral considerations focus on duty and fairness, while prudential decisions focus on personal advantage.
normative v. descriptive
A descriptive claim attempts to report something about the world while a normative claim contains a value or judgment on whether something is good or bad or right or wrong or best or worst.
