Ethics

Question 1

• Meta-Ethical theory
• God is the origin of morality (Absolutist and deontological theory)
• Moral Goodness = following God’s commands (found in the holt texts)
• Specifically illustrates God’s omnipotence - God has to be the origin of morality or something else would be more powerful.
• Specifically God’s omnibenevolence - God has the power to command evil acts but would not due to him all-loving nature.

Answer 1

Robert Adams
Divine Command Theory

Question 2

• If God were seen to command that ‘x’ is moral.
• Deontological religious theories would have to concede that ‘x’ was a moral truth.
• Despite the fact human logic could conclude that a ‘x’ is immoral.
• Therefore, deontological religious theories potentially allow God to command cruelty.

Answer 2

Plato
Euthyphro dilemma

Question 3

• Concentrates on a person’s character (development of virtues).
• Neither deontological or teleological.
• 12 moral virtues.
• Jesus’ beatitudes.

Answer 3

Aristotle
Virtue theory

Question 4

• Ethic based on an individuals self interest.
• Relativist/teleological ethic.
• Self-interest the roots of all actions regardless of appearance.
• Rejection of all ethical frameworks and the conscience.
• Criticised by the destruction of community ethos, social injustices and a form of bigotry.

Answer 4

Max Stirner
Ethical egoism

Question 5

• Rejection that moral terms express God’s laws.
• Objective moral laws exist (cognitivist).
• Moral terms understood scientifically (verified or falsified with empirical evidence).
• Objective examination of the world gives moral agents an understanding of moral terms.

Answer 5

F.H. Bradley
Meta-ethics, Naturalism

Question 6

• Critical of the idea that ethical propositions could be verified empirically.
• Believed, ethical propositions based on value judgments.
• This is because you’re just making a value judgments on the empirical evidence.
• Uses ‘is-ought’ theory to demonstrate this further.

Answer 6

David Hume
Meta-ethics

Question 7

• Ethical terms like ‘good’ are indefinable.
• Ethical terms are not complex – thus
  cannot be reduced down to a set of
  empirically studiable definitions – similar,
  in this respect, to colours like ‘yellow’.
• Terms that are indefinable (ethical terms)
  cannot be empirically proved. This is
  because you do not know what you are
  trying to prove.

Answer 7

Meta-ethics, Naturalistic Fallacy
Gareth Moore

Question 8

• Objective moral laws exist (cognitivist)
• Moral terms understood with the use of
  human innate intuition.
• All moral agents have the same intuitive
  ability (but takes maturity)
• Recognise what we ‘ought to
  do’ by intuition
• Moral Thinking (Intuition) > General
  thinking (Reason).
• Criticised by lack of proof

Answer 8

Meta-Ethics - Intuitionism
Contributor – G.E. Moore and H.A. Prichard

Question 9

• Objective moral laws do not exist (non-
  cognitivist)
• Moral terms understood as individual
  emotional responses e.g. approval
  (hurrah) and disapproval (boo).
• moral terms not verifiable, expressed to be persuasive.
• Criticism – no basic moral principles and
  thus ethical debate pointless.

Answer 9

Meta-Ethics - Emotivism
Contributor – A.J. Ayer

Question 10

• God’s morality derived from reason
• Mostly Absolutist/Deontological Theory
• God’s moral laws reasoned through the
  precepts – key, primary and secondary.
• Eternal life in heaven = Following God’s
  laws/commands
• Following the precepts helped by virtues
• Internal Acts as important as External
  Acts
• Natural Law one of four levels of law

Answer 10

Natural Law (Religious)
Contributor – St. Thomas Aquinas

Question 11

• The seven basic goods replace Aquinas’
  Primary Precepts. Basic goods are
  participated in - not achieved.
• The Nine Requirements of Practical
  Reason provide the ideal conditions to
  achieve the basic goods
• The common good – do not carry out an
  act that stops other people achieving the basic goods
• Authority should enforce the basic goods

Answer 11

John Finnis
Natural law

Question 12

• Arose from the concern that Catholic ethics were too deontologically rigid.
• Moral rules should not be broken (deontological) unless there is a
  proportionate reason (based on the
  individual situation of the moral agent).
• Good Act: an act that follows a theological
  moral rule (a pre-moral evil)
• Right Act: an act that is not a good act but
  instead creates the lesser of two evils.

Answer 12

Barnard Hoose
Proportionalism

Question 13

• Rejects ethics based on legalism
  (deontological), antinomianism and the
  conscience
• Mostly Relativist/Teleological Theory
• Ethical Theory based on the guiding
  principle of Agape (Selfless Love)
• Supporting evidence
  from Jesus and St. Paul
• Additional principles: four working
  principles and six fundamental principles

Answer 13

Joseph Fletcher
Situation ethics

Question 14

• Ethic derived from what humans want e.g.
  pleasure
• Ethic based on creating the greatest
  pleasure over pain (principle of utility)
• Quantity of pleasure most important
• Pleasure of the majority important not
  the pleasure of the individual.
• Mostly Relativist/Teleological Theory
• Calculated by the hedonic calculus

Answer 14

J. Bentham
Act utilitarianism

Question 15

• Higher/Lower Pleasures & Harm Principle
• Rules based on creating the greatest
  happiness.
• Rules historical known – which actions
  bring the most happiness
• Strong and weak
• A deontological and teleological hybrid

Answer 15

J. S. Mill
Rule utilitarianism

Question 16

• One of the outcomes of ‘original sin’ is that everyone inherits ‘concupiscence’.
• Concupiscence acts as secondary human
  nature which overrides our essential
  human nature of liberum arbitrium.
• All humanity becomes ‘massa peccati’ – a
  ‘lump of sin’
• Through God’s grace some people are
  released of concupiscence - the Elect

Answer 16

Predestination Doctrine of original sin
Contributor – St. Augustine

Question 17

• ‘The fall’ means humanity cannot choose
  to obey the commands of God.
• God is sovereign - he alone determines
  who will be saved and who will not.
• God made two predestined groups: the
  elect and the reprobates.
• The elect are chosen, by God, before they
  are born. If a person belongs to the elect, their sins will be forgiven.

Answer 17

Predestination – Religious Concepts
Contributor – John Calvin, doctrine of the living saints

Question 18

• theory based on past causes (a.k.a.
  Universal Causation).
• All events that happen are determined by
  an unbreakable chain of past causes.
• “Free will is just an illusion” - people who
  believe they have free will are deluding
  themselves.
• Created the analogy of the man in the bedroom

Answer 18

Hard determinism
John Locke

Question 19

• Part of Darwin’s evolution was that every
  living organism has a genetic formula.
• Developed by discovery of DNA.
• ‘genetic fixity’.
• Genetic fixity - the DNA of our
  parents determines our characteristics.
• The Human Genome Project (1990-2003)
  supported genetic fixity e.g. ‘obese gene’.

Answer 19

Hard Determinism – Science
Contributor – Daniel Dennett

Question 20

• Classical Conditioning
• Postulated that all human reactions (like
  the dogs) are just ‘conditioned’ responses
• every action is just subconsciously
  repeating, taught behaviour.
• Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)
• Children can be conditioned to repeat
  behaviour with rewards and punishment.

Answer 20

Hard Determinism – Psychology
Contributor – Ivan Pavlov

Question 21

• All human choices are completely
  determined. But we are free to carry out
  our determined causes.
• Internal Cause: all internal causes are
  determined by causes etc.
• External Causes: A person is free from
  external causes – free to carry out
  determined internal causes
• Language supports

Answer 21

Soft Determinism
Contributors – Hobbes and Ayer

Question 22

• ‘Original sin’ not inherited by all of
  humanity – also a good thing, showed
  humanity were ready to receive free will.
• Humanity can freely choose to resist a
  temptation and keep the commandments.
• Through God’s grace, He tries to guide us
  towards the good, however, humanity has
  the free will capacity to ignore God.
• People can freely choose to seek
  forgiveness from God for bad deeds.

Answer 22

Free will – Religious Concepts
Contributor – Pelagius

Question 23

• Predestination reduced humanity to God’s pre-programmed minions.
• concept of free will is confined
  by the boundaries of God’s omnipotence.
• ‘Original sin’ was bad for humankind -
  made humanity deprived and depraved.
• However, God’s empowers all humanity with His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit balances humanities impulse to sin. Acts as a God given moral guide.

Answer 23

Free will – Religious Concepts
Contributor – Arminius

Question 24

• There is no God controlling humanity, humankind is condemned to freedom.
• People understand they have free will because humanity is ‘pour-soi’ (‘being for itself’) i.e. is self-consciousness.
• Humanities freedom is obvious because of the way people try to deny their own freedom – bad faith.
• illustrated the ‘bad faith’ with the example of a cafe waiter

Answer 24

Libertarianism – Philosophy
Contributor – Jean-Paul Sartre

Question 25

- Found the parietal cortex must go through a variety of possible movements that could be made but only selects one to send to the premotor cortex. - Therefore, at some point the parietal cortex must decide which particular movement to make from a variety of potential options. - Discovered the region of the brain that illustrates the mechanics of free will.

Answer 25

Libertarianism – Science Contributor – Dr Angela Sirigu

Question 26

- Agrees with Pavlov that a person’s life can become determined by conditioning. - However, deterministic conditioning not permanent - achieve freewill through the process of ‘self-actualisation’. - Self-actualisation - getting in touch with their own feelings and acting on them. - If act on their own free will feelings, they can break the ‘chains’ of determinism

Answer 26

Libertarianism – Psychology Contributor – Carl Rogers