key words

Question 1

Abortion

Answer 1

The deliberate ending or termination of a pregnancy

Question 2

Act Utilitarianism

Answer 2

A version of Utilitarianism according to which the rightness or wrongness of individual acts are calculated by the amount of happiness resulting from these acts.

Question 3

Antinomianism

Answer 3

the rejection of all moral laws and the reaching of decisions on a spontaneous, ad hoc and unpredictable basis
wealth

Question 4

Jeremy Bentham

Answer 4

Utilitarian thinker, noted for his belief that a law is good or bad, depending upon whether or not it increases general happiness of the majority of the population
The

Question 5

Christian Love

Answer 5

it is unconditional; it takes an active interest in the true welfare of others, and is a human imitation of God’s love for human beings.

Question 6

Conscience

Answer 6

Fletcher rejects the idea that it is (1) intuition, (2) a channel for divine guidance, (3) the internalised values of the individual’s culture, or (4) the part of reason that makes value judgements

Question 7

Consequential
Thinking

Answer 7

Thinking, in this case, about the rightness or wrongness of an action, that takes only the consequences of an action into consideration.

Question 8

Conception

Answer 8

In human reproduction – the moment at which the sperm fertilizes the ovum

Question 9

Deontological
Thinking

Answer 9

is only concerned with the moral law, or duty, that makes a particular action right or wrong regardless of the
consequences

Question 10

Ethics

Answer 10

The principles by which people live

Question 11

euthanasia

Answer 11

Inducing a painless death, by agreement and with compassion, to ease suffering. From the Greek meaning “Good Death”.

Question 12

Fatalism

Question 13

Foetus

Answer 13

Fertilised ovum from about eleven weeks when the organs have developed; the stage of human development between embryonic and birth

Question 14

Four Presumptions

Answer 14

Also known as the four working principles of Situationism, they are:
pragmatism

relativism

positivism

personalism.

Question 15

Freewill

Answer 15

Having the ability to choose or determine one’s own actions

Question 16

Joseph Fletcher

Answer 16

The Christian Priest and thinker who proposed Situation Ethics in the book of that name published in 1966.

Question 17

Hedonic Calculus

Answer 17

Created by Bentham, this is a Utilitarian system whereby the effects of an action can be measured as to the amount of pleasure it may bring.

Question 18

Hospice

Answer 18

Health care facility providing care for the terminally ill

Question 19

Human Condition

Answer 19

A general phrase summing up the experience of living as a human being

Question 20

Legalism

Answer 20

An approach to moral decision making that applies the moral law regardless of the consequences.

Question 21

Legislation

Answer 21

In context, the existing laws relating to euthanasia and possible changes to those laws.

Question 22

Nature of Life

Answer 22

Relating specifically to human life – religious views about what it means to be human

Question 23

Value of Life

Answer 23

Relating specifically to human life – religious views of the worth of life

Question 24

John Stuart Mill

Answer 24

Moral philosopher (1806-1873) who developed Bentham’s Utilitarianism

Question 25

Mortal

Answer 25

Subject to death / able to die.

Question 26

Omnipotence

Answer 26

God is all powerful

Question 27

Omniscience

Answer 27

God has all knowledge / knowing all that can be known

Question 28

Palliative care

Answer 28

Care given to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients – including symptom management and psychological and social problems

Question 29

Pragmatism

Answer 29

Any theory of ethics must be practical and work towards the end that is love

Question 30

Predestination

Answer 30

The belief that one’s actions and eventual fate are already determined before one is born.

Question 31

Presumption

Answer 31

Ideas taken as factual on which the theory is based

Question 32

Principle of Double effect

Answer 32

A thesis usually associated with St Thomas Aquinas that explains when an action that has unintended harmful effects can be morally justified.

Question 33

Potentiality

Answer 33

In the context of the abortion debate: the capacity, from the moment of conception, which the fertilised ovum has for development.

Question 34

Right to life

Answer 34

Where a right to life exists, it is the duty of others to sustain and protect that life

Question 35

Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 35

A version of Utilitarianism in which general rules are assessed for the happiness-making properties rather than individual decisions. Often associated with John Stuart Mill

Question 36

Situation Ethics

Answer 36

The moral theory proposed by Joseph Fletcher which requires the application of love to every unique situation

Question 37

Teleological thinking

Answer 37

A description applied to Utilitarianism. It stresses that an action is right or wrong depending on its purpose / intended outcome.

Question 38

Teleology

Answer 38

The belief that the reasons events occur is because they have aparticular purpose

Question 39

Utilitarianism

Answer 39

A philosophical system concerned with consequences rather than motives and in which the happiness of the greatest number should be the result

Question 40

Viability

Answer 40

In the context of abortion – the point at which the developing foetus / child becomes capable of living outside the womb. A viable ovum / embryo is one that has the potential to develop into an adult organism.