Final (From Review) ---Study First Flashcards
(48 cards)
“Nichomachean Ethics”
Aristotle
“what is best and most pleasurable for all, is a life according to reason”
“Tao Te Ching”
Lao Tsu
“The simple life”- profit ignored, cleverness abandoned, selfishness minimized, desires reduced.
life without order rather than order without life
“the way, path”
“Living Large”
John Sullivan
“bring more of yourself, decrease suffering, nurture common life”
“how to win ourselves freedom of mind”
response-ability
“Caring”
Nel Noddings
accounts her duties as a wife and mother,
“contrasts with an ethic of rational princple”
feminist
“The Moral Foundations of an African Culture”
Kwasi Wiredu
community is always particular
family and communal relations
culture of west africa
Akan people
conception of persons
“The Land Ethic”
Aldo Leopold
human community rooted in the ground they inhabit
“take care of soil, animals, land”
land is to be loved and respected
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality”
Peter Singer
“if more people do nothing, we feel less obligated to do something”
“War and Massacre”
Thomas Nagel
“Utilitarianism and Absolutism”
“Can we talk? Understanding the ‘Other Side’ in the Animal Rights Debate”
Roger Gottlieb
unapologetic animal rights sympathizer
“what are old people for?”
Bill Thomas
aging should be a revered process, the elderly should be celebrated
“Design for a New World”
William McDonough
ethically designing buildings and industrial construction
new approach
Immanuel Kant
the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their consequences but on whether they fulfill our duty
categorical imperative
Maxim-
Rule
Categorical Imperative-
An obligation that applies to us regardless of other goals or situations
What is the test of the Categorical Imperative?
act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it be a universal law.
What are two formulations of the Categorical Imperative?
1) act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it be a universal law.
2) End, rather than means to an end
How does Kant’s theory differ from Utilitarianism?
Utilitarians believe we should act based on consequence, Kant believes we should act based on whether or not the action fulfills our duty
The Principle of Utility-
actions or behaviors are right in so far as they promote happiness or pleasure, wrong as they tend to produce unhappiness or pain
Objections to Utilitarianism
Problem of the Future- we can never be sure about consequences
Willing to Sacrifice Minority- Majority > Minority
Measurement Problem- no way to measure pleasure
Swine Objection- human life is no better than animal life
Mill’s Higher Pleasures and Lower Pleasures
Not all pleasures are equal
Virtue Ethics-
A person who has acquired the proper set of dispositions will do what is right when faced with a situation involving a moral choice
Characteristics of Virtue Ethics
Goal–> Habit–> better life
Always a chief end
Greek View of Virtue-
Helps us fulfill our function
-Avoid excess and avoid defects
Cultivating Virtue-
Virtue of Character is a mean between excess and deficiency
