Term
| 3 traditional assumptions in ethics |
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Definition
1. ethics is rational- persons provide reasons to support ethical decisions and moral guidelines. furthermore, persons use reason to reach theoretical and practical conclusions about ethical matters.
2. ethics is impartial- persons are moral equals and ought to be treated as such. the impartiality assumption is related to the DNA lotto since people are inclined to fight against natural inequalities.
3. ethics is universal- people can extend their ethical evaluations to anyone else in a similar situation. the universality assumption is connected to the idea of moral equality. for example, the 10 commandments are applied to all of humankind rather than a particular culture or group of people. |
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Term
| 4 criteria of ethical theories |
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Definition
1. provides ethical guidelines
2. shows that some ethical guidelines are better than others
3. limits self-interest
4. provides effective solutions to ethical problems |
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Term
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Definition
1. objective, relative, and subjective
2. consequences vs. reasoning
3. general rules without exceptions vs. separate analysis
4. community group vs. individual |
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Term
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Definition
| identify and promote moral guidelines |
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Term
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Definition
| rules, principles, or beliefs that moral agents create and which ultimately inform us about how we ought to live |
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Term
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Definition
| a being who performs morally significant actions and can be held morally responsible for those actions |
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Term
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Definition
| the context in which persons can either be helped/benefited or hurt/harmed |
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Term
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Definition
| legitimate moral guidelines are necessarily related to god |
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Term
| virtues of divine command theory |
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Definition
1. god's authority
2. clarity
3. universal
4. provides an overriding set of moral guidelines |
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Term
| problems of divine command theory |
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Definition
1. problems involving the source- christians have the bible, jews the torah, and muslims the koran; who am i to be in the position to determine the correct source
2. problems with the interpretation- biblical scholars disagree about the interpretations of biblical texts; for example, they disagree with whether it is ever morally permissible to get a divorce of have an abortion. |
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Term
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Definition
is what is good good because god commands it or does He command it because it is good?
no reasonable person would opt for the former because the consequence would render morality random.
however, by opting for the latter, it is devastating for divine command theory because it means that there is an independent moral standard, apart from god. |
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Term
| what is the ethical insight to ethical relativity |
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Definition
| legitimate moral guidelines are related to actual societies |
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Term
| what is cultural relativity |
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Definition
| the belief that different societies simply do things differently. cultural relativity should not be confused with ethical relativity; for example, just because slavery is the case in one culture, doesn't mean it ought to be the case. |
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Term
| does ethical relativity satisfy any of the traditional ethical assumptions |
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Definition
| it is highly doubtful whether ethical relativity satisfies any of the traditional ethical assumptions; particularly the universality assumption |
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Term
| in ethical relativity, the primary emphasis is on the _ |
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Definition
| individual as opposed to the society; ethical relativism maintains that there are not objective ethical standards that are universal; ethical relativity can accommodate the idea of cross cultural tolerance |
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Term
| define cross cultural tolerance |
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Definition
| each culture is free to create their own moral standards, without judging their neighboring societies |
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Term
| what are the two reasons why ethical relativity is mistake (problems with ER) |
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Definition
1. ethical relativists cannot provide actual ethical guidelines- for example, should we get our moral guidelines from our politicians? or from moral tradition, even if that moral tradition is problematic, in the instance of extreme racial discrimination in the 1950s?
2. ethical relativists have mutual sets of moral guidelines-
this implies that there is no objective evaluation and furthermore, no moral hierarchy. as a result, ethical relativity cannot solve ethical issues. |
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Term
| according to ethical egoism, what is the one fundamental moral |
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Definition
| individuals maximize self-benefit and minimize self-harm |
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Term
| what are the problems of ethical egoism |
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Definition
1. doing the calculations- weighing the totality of benefits and harms. moral situations are highly complex so how is the moral agent supposed to take into account all of the relevant factors?
2. living together successfully- ethical egoism does not help us live together successfully. ethical egoism legitimizes harmful social acts because an individual's self-interest is always maximized. a world full of ethical egoists could not maintain a cohesive society. |
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Term
| what is ethical emotivism |
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Definition
| good and evil are related to the attitudes of certain individuals (not objective reason or fact); moral expressions are like exclamations, they can neither be true or false; |
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Term
| what are the strengths and problems of ethical emotivism |
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Definition
strength- ethical emotivism explains why there is such a large amount of disagreement about ethical matters
problems- ethical guidelines are mysterious and arbitrary; implies any conduct as ethical no matter how brutal or cruel |
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