Right and Wrong Flashcards
(14 cards)
recap: what is normative theory
the study of what is morally right, not rationally subject to criticism and it opposite
what is moral responsibility
if you are morally responsible for doing X, you deserve to be thought well or badly of, praised or censured, rewarded or punished for doing it.
deserved to be blamed = blameworthy
deserved to be praised = praiseworthy
what are the 3 terms of moral evaluation?
morally wrong(prohibited, blameworthy for doing X), morally right(permissible, not blameworthy for doing X, OR required, blameworthy for not doing X) and supererogatory(morally good but not required, praiseworthy for doing X but not blameworthy for not doing X)
what are the 2 theories of moral right and wrong
deontology and consequentialism
what is deontology
the moral status of an action is all about how it related to categorical norms
i.e. action is judged on the intentions, no matter the consequences
why is deontology not a fully fleshed-out theory, but rather more of a general stance about morality?
because deontology is more of a skeleton of a theory, for it to be complete, there must be a set of categorical norms to adhere to
what is then, our obvious question about deontology?
what exactly determines the true duties and prohibitions (categorical norms)?
some possibilities:
- quality of will
- a core principle such as the golden rule
what is consequentialism?
the moral status of an action is all about the value of its outcome for the world, we only have one duty, to act to bring out the best overall outcome for the world
like deontology, consequentialism is another general stance of morality, what are some of the versions of consequentialism?
utilitarianism - outcome is measured in terms of overall happiness
hedonic utilitarianism - outcome is measured in terms of happiness, where happiness is measured in terms of pleasure and pain
preference utilitarianism - happiness is measured in terms of preference satisfaction
notice how they link to theories of well-being
there is also another angle in which we see different versions of consequentialism, what is it?
consequentialism in terms of actual vs expected outcomes and their respective values
what are the three things to consider when looking at the morality of an action
the agent’s disposition and character, the action and intention, and the overall outcome for the world
what is the theory that is associated with the agent’s character?
virtue ethics
what are the challenges to deontology?
Warlord scenario: either torture one of the villagers and warlord will let them all go, or if you refuse he will torture all the villagers
deontologist has 2 options:
1. deontologist refuses to torture the villager as it violates his moral duty
2. justify that torturing the villager is less wrong than letting more villagers get tortured. if so, what is the basis? more or less people will be tortured, isn’t that a backdoor to consequentialism
what are the challenges to consequentialism?
- a different version of the warlord scenario, the warlords deal is let him kill a loved one and the villagers wont have to die
- tandey, if he managed to kill hitler, the world would have turned out with much more happiness. so if he didnt manage to kill hitler, he did the morally wrong thing?
v questionable as well, maybe need an expected outcome version instead of actual outcome - consequentialism requires that alternate outcomes be ranked for their goodness, utilitarianism requires that the balance of happiness can be determined, what metric do we use?
