Exam 1

Question 1

moral situation

Answer 1

has a choice, one or more objects of moral concern, and a moral agent

Question 2

normative judgment

Answer 2

is one that states some value or evaluative rule as a standard of other judgments, or applies such a value or rule to specific cases

Question 3

descriptive judgment

Answer 3

makes an assertion that is offered as a statement of the facts that pertain to reality

Question 4

judgments of moral value (aretaic)

Answer 4

judgments that apply a moral status to certain character traits or the character of individuals

Question 5

judgments of obligation (deontic)

Answer 5

a judgment that applies a moral status to a certain action or set of actions

Question 6

act of commission

Answer 6

is a positive form of behaviors; a doing of something

Question 7

act of omission

Answer 7

is a failure to do something

Question 8

voluntary action

Answer 8

is one performed by an agent who (a) understand what he/she is doing and (b) willingly performs the action

Question 9

involuntary action

Answer 9

is one where the agent doesn’t understand what he/she is doing and does not willingly perform the action

Question 10

right action

Answer 10

is an action that we ought (in a moral sense) to perform

Question 11

wrong action

Answer 11

is one that we ought not (in a moral sense) to perform

Question 12

permissible action

Answer 12

an action that is consistent with our moral obligations

Question 13

elective action

Answer 13

an action that is either required nor proscribed on moral grounds

Question 14

obligatory action (right action)

Answer 14

an action that is required on moral grounds

Question 15

supererogatory action

Answer 15

an action that is praiseworthy on moral grounds, but not morally obligatory

Question 16

impermissible action

Answer 16

an action that is inconsistent with our moral obligations

Question 17

duty

Answer 17

a person has a moral duty to perform an action if he or she has an obligation to perform that action

Question 18

right

Answer 18

a person has a moral right to be treated in a certain way if all other moral agents have an obligation to treat him or her in that way

Question 19

Reflective Equilibrium

Answer 19

Ethical Principles, Moral Intuitions, Factual Beliefs

Question 20

Principle of Universalizability

Answer 20

if one judges that an action has a certain moral status then one is committed to the judgment that any other action in all relevant respects has the same moral status.

Question 21

Corollary 1 on Universalizability

Answer 21

Moral intuitions must ultimately be expressible in the form of general moral principles

Question 22

Corollary 2 of Universalizability

Answer 22

Moral Principles must specify in some fashion what facts are relevant to moral judgment in particular moral situations

Question 23

Corollary 3 of Universalizability

Answer 23

when considering different moral situations that raise the same moral issue (1) the relevant facts of two situations are significantly different, as defined by a principle, and yet our moral intuitions are the same, or (2) if the relevant facts are the same but our moral intuitions differ, then we must conclude that either our principle or our intuitions are wrong (example of this is the trolly scenario)

Question 24

The Naturalistic Fallacy

Answer 24

offering natural facts as the sufficient grounds for supporting an ethical person

Question 25

Tu Quoque (you also)

Answer 25

attempting to avoid the moral condemnation of one self or another by accusing those who make the charge of moral wrongdoing of the same or similar moral wrongdoing

Question 26

Moral Conventionalism

Answer 26

offering conventional beliefs or practices as the sufficient grounds for supporting an ethical position

Question 27

Moral Legalism

Answer 27

citing laws or rules of conduct as the sufficient grounds for supporting an ethical position

Question 28

Moral Prudentialism

Answer 28

arguing that an action is morally elective or obligatory because it serves the best interests of a given individual or group

Question 29

Slippery Slope

Answer 29

Arguing that an action is morally impermissible because allowing it will lead inevitably to the social acceptance of grossly immoral consequences

Question 30

Argument to the People (ad populum)

Answer 30

citing popular values, prejudices, biases, etc., as a means to garner support for an ethical position when they are irrelevant to the position supported

Question 31

Red Herring (non sequitur) -it doesn't follow

Answer 31

offerring irrelevant premises in support of a moral position as a means of diverting attention from the real moral issues

Question 32

Metaethics

Answer 32

(a) the meaning of moral terminology (b) the nature of moral justification

Question 33

Theoretical Normative Ethics

Answer 33

discovery of general moral principles

Question 34

Applied Ethics

Answer 34

clarrifying and addressing issues of contemporary moral concern

Question 35

Principle of Honesty

Answer 35

generally, moral agents have the obligation to tell the truth

Question 36

Principle of Promise-Keeping

Answer 36

generally, moral agents have the obligation to keep their promises

Question 37

Principle of Nonmaleficence

Answer 37

generally, moral agents have the obligation to do no harm to others

Question 38

Principle of Beneficnece

Answer 38

generally, moral agents have the obligation to do good for others

Question 39

Principle of Autonomy

Answer 39

generally, people have the right to live their lives as they see fit so long as doing so does not interfere with the correlative rights of others

Question 40

Moral Value

Answer 40

a characteristic of a voluntary action that locates that action in the moral categories of impermissibility, obligation, or supererogation

Question 41

Theological Ethics (consequentialism)

Answer 41

the moral values of voluntary actions are wholly determined by the nonmoral values of their consequences

Question 42

Deontological Ethics

Answer 42

the moral values of voluntary actions are NOT wholly determined by the nonmoral values of their consequences

Question 43

Ethical Egoism (Prudentialism)

Answer 43

one ought to do whatever is in one's own best interests

Question 44

Act Utilitarianism

Answer 44

one ought to produce the greatest possible balance of good over evil, or least possible balance of evil over good, for all who will be affected by one's actions

Question 45

Classical (Hendonic) Utilitarianism

Answer 45

happiness=pleasure and absence of pain; suffering=pain and absence of pleasure

Question 46

Problems with Act Utilitarianism

Answer 46

(1) impracticability (2) difficult to calculate utility in all moral situations (3) difficult to predict consequences of particular actions (4) counterintuitive: cases where immoral actions are justified

Question 47

Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 47

one ought to act according to those rules of action which, if generally adopted, will produce the greatest possible balance of good over evil, or the least possible balance of evil over good.

Question 48

Advantages of Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 48

(1) not impractical (a) no need for separate judgment in each MS (b) predictions of long term effects of socially adopted rules are more certain than predictions of effects of specific actions (2) not counterintuitive: impermissible actions with positive consequences are condemned

Question 49

Teleology

Answer 49

what you achieve by your action determines moral status of action

Question 50

Deontology

Answer 50

what you do in your action, the nature of the action itself, determines its moral status

Question 51

Teleology Rights and Duties

Answer 51

the justification for recognizing certain rights and duties is contingent upon their utility in achieving a maximization of nonmoral values

Question 52

Deontology Rights and Duties

Answer 52

rights and duties are justifiable irregardless of consequential values

Question 53

Deontological Theories

Answer 53

(1) Kantianism (2) contractarianism (contractualism)

Question 54

Immanuel Kant developed this Deontological theory

Answer 54

Kantianism

Question 55

Kantianism

Answer 55

an action is morally good only if it is motivated by a recognition that the action is a moral duty, not by inclination (desire)

Question 56

Maxim

Answer 56

the principle according to which the subject does act

Question 57

Imperative

Answer 57

the objective principle valid for every rational being...; the principle by which [a rational agent] ought to act

Question 58

Hypothetical Imperative

Answer 58

an imperative that "represents the practical action as means to something else that is willed [desired]"

Question 59

Categorical Imperative

Answer 59

an imperative that "represents an action as necessary of itself without reference to another end"

Question 60

Kantianism: Determining one's duty

Answer 60

basic reasoning: a permissible act is one that could rationally be recommended to all moral agents (permissible acts are universalizable)

Question 61

Categorical Imperative

Answer 61

I should never act except in a way that I can also will that my maxim become a universal law