Term
| Basic question of the "Euthyphro dilemma." |
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Definition
| Is an action moral because God commands of it, or does God command it because it is moral? |
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Term
| What are the three assumptions of all Divine Command Theories of ethics and which ones are at stake in the dilemma? |
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Definition
- A divine being exists.
- This particular being has commanded/approved of certain actions and forbidden others. (This one is at stake)
- The actions this being commands are morally right; the ones forbidden are wrong. (This one is at stake)
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Term
The three views of the universe (C.S. Lewis)
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Definition
Materialist, life-force, and religious
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Term
| What are the problems with the materialist and life-force views of the universe? |
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Definition
Materialists can't answer these questions: Why is there a universe? Has it any meaning?
Life-force is either just a religious perspective or just a materialist perspective. If it's a religious perspective, then it's a watered down form of it. |
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Term
| What does C.S. Lewis think the religious view of the universe implies? |
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Definition
| Somebody or something wants me, and the rest of the world, to be in a certain way. "What lies behind the universe is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know....It is conscious, and has purposes, and prefers one thing to another." |
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Term
| Explain Silentio's use of midrash (define this) in his attempts to understand the story of Abraham's "binding of Isaac." |
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Definition
| Midrash- from Judaism: a way of interpreting the Bible, not just to explain laws and teachings. |
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Term
| Summarize the four attempts to understand Abraham the "Father of Faith." |
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Definition
- Making himself despicable to Isaac
- Distracted by depressive thoughts about God
- Felt like he failed Gods test in being willing to kill his son
- Isaac caught Abraham's frustration and despair about following God's commands.
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Term
| Why is it important for Silentio (and Kierkegaard) to show that Abraham exceeds understanding (this is asking about the philosophical context in which Kierkegaard is writing)? |
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Definition
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Term
| Compare and contrast Kierkegaard's notion of the "Three Spheres of Existence." |
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Definition
The Aesthetic Sphere- Not really joining the dance; choosing to be a bench warmer....
The Ethical Sphere- Leaping, but awkwardly landing. "Knights of Infinite Resignation"
The Religious Sphere- Graceful leaps and landing. "Knights of Faith" |
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Term
| What kind of person lives out their lives in each of the "Three Spheres of Existence"? |
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Definition
Aesthetic Sphere- the kind of people who live out their lives on theis level are just absorbed in thing. (Comparable to a young person with a crush)
Ethical Sphere- the kind of people who live their lives resigning from absorption in things. (Such as a Monk, like Silentio, who joins a monastery, withdrawing from the world) Something very awkward about these kinds of people.
Religious Sphere- The kind of people who live out their lives being able to harmonize back with life on the other side of resignation.(Abraham, Mary) These people are comfortable receiving back that which they renounce. |
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Term
| Distinguish between the two different forms of religion and conceptions of God in the Ethical Sphere and the Religious Sphere. |
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Definition
Ethical Sphere: To realize autonomy is to mimic this, and so God more or less just is the structure of reason.
Religious Sphere: There's no relationship with a divine being in DCT
DCT ends up undermining what makes Abraham the “Father of Faith.” |
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Term
| Explain Silentio's idea of the "teleological suspension of the ethical." |
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Definition
The conflict of putting God's will higher than one's own morals
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Term
| What are the relationships between these ideas: a) the single individual, b) the universal, and c) the absolute in Silentio's idea (teleological suspension of the ethical)? |
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Definition
Individual
Aesthetic Sphere-Individual defined by passions.
Ethical Sphere- Individual is defined by reason.
Religious Sphere- Individual is defined by spirit.
The Universal
Aesthetic Sphere- Particularity
Ethical Sphere- Universality
Religious Sphere- The Absolute; the paradox
Silentio's Idea
Aesthetic Sphere-Is the temptation for the ethical
sphere.
Ethical Sphere- Is the temptation for the religious sphere.
Religious sphere- To the Ethical Sphere, this looks like
the Aesthetic sphere! |
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Term
| What does Noddlings take to be what it means to "care"? |
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Definition
| Care- "a state of....engrossment...to be in a burdened mental state, one of anxiety, fear, or solicitude about something or someone." |
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Term
| How does Noddling develop "care" into a framework for thinking about ethics? |
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Definition
| When we care, we displace our own self-interest for the sake of another person. Another person as a possibility for my own. |
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Term
| Provide a description of the basic difference(s) between Virtue Ethics and Deontology, and between Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism. |
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Definition
Virtue Ethics- is a branch of moral philosophy that emphasizes character, rather than rules or consequences, as the key element of ethical thinking.
Deontology- (meaning 'obligation' or 'duty') is an approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions.
Consequentialism- says that we ought to do whatever maximizes good consequences. |
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Term
| Define "eudaimonia" and provide its basic structure and how we go about realizing it, for Aristotle. |
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Definition
Eudaimonia- spiritual well being; human flourishing.
- Requires a grasp of the proper function of human being.
- The proper function of human being is the intergration of all the dimensions of the soul
- Happiness is a set of actions and activities, not just a state or capacity.
- How does one become happy? Through learning and attention.
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Term
| What are the three things Aristotle thinks we are responsible for? Why those three and not other things? |
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Definition
- Specific actions
- States and quality of character
- How ends of our actions appear to us
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Term
| Explain the relations between Aristotle's notions of voluntary action, decision, deliberation, and wishing. |
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Definition
Voluntary Action- There are two ways in which an action can be said to be involuntary: a) when it is forced b) when it is performed out of ignorance
1. Who is doing it?
2. What is being done?
3. About what or to what he is doing this?
4. What he is doing it with?
5. For what result?
6. In what way?
Decision- More constrained than wishing. (We wish for happiness but we decide on the steps needed for realizing it.)
Distint from belief. (Beliefs are about what is true or false. Decisions are about what is good or bad to do.)
Deliberation- We only deliberate about what can result from our own action, or about what is up to us.
Wishing- We wish for ends. (Not as the ends are good in themselves, but as they seem good to us.)
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Term
| Define the term "arete" (virtue), and how it works in Aristotle's analysis of being human. |
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Definition
Arete- causes it possessors to be in a good state and to perform their functions well, like the eye.
Help makes human beings perform their functions will. Virtues of character are "about feelings and actions, and these admit of excess, deficiency and an intermediate state" |
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Term
| Provide a description of how Aristotle's analysis of deliberation and appeal to the "prudent person" is like the structure of conscience. |
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Definition
"It is a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency"
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Term
| Identify a specific virtue, providing the excess and deficiency between which it rests. Provide an example. |
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Definition
Virtue- Wit......ex. Robin Williams
Excess- Vulger......ex. Sarah Silverman
Deficiency- Boor......ex. Jersey Shore |
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