Ethics Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is moral relativism
the view that moral judgements are true or false only relative to a particular standpoint. No standpoint is less priveliged than others
Why has there been a rise in ethical relativism?
Decline in religious belief (god as the moral absolute), greater individualism, greater awareness of moral diversity
What is ethnocentrsm?
Judging other peoples cultures/actions according to preconceptions orignating in the standards and norms of ones culture
What is moral realism?
The theory that moral facts and values exist, and these are independent of our perception of them and are objective
Moral objectivism
The view that moral values exist independent from opinion (mind independent)
What is the diversity thesis
The observation that not everbody agrees with what the most moral obligatons ar, or wat obligations humans have to eachother
The dependency thesis
The valididty of moral claims is dependent on the agent or culture it is said to
Subjectivism
The truthfullness of ethical statements is dependenton the attitudes of agents. There is no objective right or wrong
What are the stregths of subjectivism
can result moral argumnts as people see the disagremets as over opinion rather than real truths
Reflects the close connection between morality and peoples feelings
What are the weaknesses of subjectivism
It does not allow for actions to be judged- no laws- genocide allowed.
Moral statements seem to be more than describing feelings
Emotivism- describe and mention a scholar
Moral statements are meaningless as there is no objective facts. If i say ‘murdering tom was wrong’ i am simply stating that you murdered Tom, the judgment part is completely meaningless.
AJ Ayer
What doctrine does cultural relativism follow
That of conventionalism, the theory that the criteria for morality are based on a general (cultural) agreeement or convention.
What is the difference between prescriptve and descriptive cultural relativism
Prescriptive- we ought to follow conventions.
Descriptive- we already follow conventions
Which philospher believed in cultural relativism, how?
JL mackie.
Argument from disagreement- the great deal of moral disagremeents means for Mackie right and wrong must be invented
Argument from queerness- if objective morality does exist it would be too strange to comprehend
What is mackies view of religious morality
Freuerbachian projection- god is what we pevceive him to be so our view of god is only supporting our own morality
Utiliarian relativism
Morality is situational as we must always do what makes the most people happy, this chnages in situation to situation
Agapes relativism
All Christian should have unconditional love and should do the most loving thing in any situation
Bultmanns relativism
Love is above all other principles or rules. The kindest thing to do in a situation is the right thing to do.
Ethical absolutism
there are certain universal moral principles by which all peoples’ actions may be judged
Why is ethical absolutism a deontological theory
It commands people to constantly base thair actions off their duty to follow the moral code
Kants absolutism
There are certain actions that are wrong in and of themseleves and should never be done- lying (axe murderer)
When are we trully moral according to Kant
When we are not acting off of the desires f the ‘animal self’, This is because to act morally we must act freely
What does the categorical imperative state
We must act in accordance with the wy in whcih our actions could be universalised and still be acceptable.
We have certain duties that we must fulfill
To be trull moral we must act for duty and not ther reasons, duty for duties sake
