Term
| • Why does Socrates say that it is wrong to escape? How does this relate to the desire to live the good life? |
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Definition
| Socrates says that if he escapes he will be treated as a pathetic old man trying to get a few more years out of his life and not be taken seriously |
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Term
| • What does Socrates say is his obligation or agreement to the law? |
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Definition
| Two wrongs don’t make a right Even though he was acted upon unethically that gives him no right to act unethically |
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Term
| • Socrates states that if he had a disagreement with the laws of Athens he had two choices of action. What are they? |
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Definition
| Socrates had the option to change the laws or to leave athens |
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Term
| • Why does Socrates say that the agreement that he has with the laws must not be broken? What will happen to the laws? |
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Definition
| If Socrates breaks the law because he feels it is unjust than can anyone break a law because they do not like it |
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Term
| • Although Socrates says that the trial was unjust, why does he argue that escaping would be harmful to the laws? What would happen to the laws if he were to escape? How would he be received by other cities if he were to escape? |
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Definition
| He would be perceived as a fugitive and not be taken seriously, |
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Term
| • If Socrates were to escape from Athens what kind of life would he be forced to live? |
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Definition
| Socrates could not live the good life |
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Term
| • What are the four steps for a non-violent civil disobedience for Martin Luther King? |
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Definition
1. Cd almost always viewed as involving a conflict between morality and the law or between out moral obligation to obey the law and some other moral obligation
• 2. Standard criteria for acts of C.D. a) the act is illegal but b) committed openly (i.e.) public c) committed consistently (i.e. for moral reasons not self interested ones committed with the purpose of gratifying and/or protesting some unjust gov’t action, or policy
• 3. Additional criteria some of the theorist also require for acts of c.d. e) the act must be non-violent f. The law violated must be must be the objectionable law itself (i.e. direct vs indirect) G. The perpetrator must be willing to accept punishment for violating the law H) the purpose of the act is to test the constitution of the law
4. People usually think of c.d. as fundamentally expressing grievance or persuading others of the justice of the cause |
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Term
| • What is the definition of a just law and an unjust law? |
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Definition
Just law- Man made code that coincides with the laws of god and the moral laws
Unjust law- Compels the minority to follow but the majority also has to follow it
• What sort of relationship should the laws have with ethics? |
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Term
| • What is the conflict between ethics and unjust laws? What dilemma does one face if she were to live in a society that has unjust laws? |
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Definition
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Term
| • Why could one argue that one has an obligation to break unjust laws? |
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Definition
| An unjust law is no law at all |
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Term
| • Why does King believe that he has a right to be in Birmingham? |
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Definition
| He was invited in and it is part of his nation |
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Term
| • Know how Kant’s ethics are deontological. Know what deontological means. |
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Definition
| Deontological means duty based ethics |
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Term
| • What does it mean to say that a good will is the only thing that is good in itself without qualification? |
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Definition
| Good will is doing your duty it respects moral law and you do not gain anything |
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Term
| • How do we shape our will to be good? – by following the moral law for the sake of the moral law alone. |
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Definition
| Reason shapes our will to be good |
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Term
| • What is the role of reason? Connect this to our ability to come up with and follow laws as well as how we follow the moral law. (Note: Reason is very, very important for Kant.) |
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Definition
| Reason shapes our will to be good without reason no one would follow or respect any laws in a society |
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Term
| • Know the difference between a categorical imperative and a hypothetical imperative. |
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Definition
Categorical imperative is any rule that you wish to become a universal law
Hypothetical imperative is what you must do to complete an action
Categorical imperatives you must do
Hypothetical imperatives if you want x you must do y |
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Term
| • Know the definition of a maxim. |
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Definition
| Maxim- a short easily remembered expression of basic principle general truth or rule of conduct (nugget of wisdom) |
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Term
| • Be able to give the categorical imperative and be able to explain it. (Note simply stating that the categorical imperative is not a sufficient answer nor does it address the formulation of the imperative itself.) |
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Definition
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Term
| • Know why something like suicide does not cohere with the categorical imperative. |
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Definition
| If that was a categorical imperative applied to everyone we would all die and according to cont we must treat all humans as the ends |
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Term
| • Know how the rule of promising coheres with the categorical imperative and how it allows us to make an exception for ourselves in breaking promising. |
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Definition
If the law of promising were to become a universal and everyone were to lie about promising then the word promise would cease to have meaning
If maxim of false promises woe to become a universal law and everyone was to lie about promising then the word promise would cease to have meaning no one would be able to make a promise further more this example demonstrates that we are only able to lie about our promises because we trust that there is a rule governing promise and truth when we lie we become an exception --- unethical
a. You should note, that just because we ought to follow the moral law for the sake of the moral law alone, doesn’t mean we do. We are able to choose our own actions, the goal is to create a will that will always choose to follow the moral law regardless of how the outcome may effect him or her personally. In many ways this is why it is difficult to truly have a good will in the Kantian sense. |
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Term
| • Be prepared to answer situational questions like on your homework. |
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Definition
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Term
| • What does Mill base his ethical system on? |
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Definition
The amount of happiness created and the absence of pain
plus the ends justifies the means |
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Term
| • Know what the definition of happiness is. Don’t forget to address the role of pain in this definition. |
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Definition
| pleasure and the absence of pain |
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Term
• Know how Mill’s ethics are
consequentialism. Know what consquentialism is. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Be able to discuss the greatest happiness principle or what we called in class the principle of utility. |
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Definition
| An action is good if it produces pleasure and avoids pain |
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Term
| • Know what Mill means by utility. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Be sure to include the role of equality in Mill. |
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Definition
| Keep in mind that everyone’s happiness is equal and no one’s personal happiness is considered to be more valuable than another’s happiness. |
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Term
| • Be able to discuss why utilitarianism is not a doctrine worthy of swine |
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Definition
| Utilitarianism is not worthy of swine because swine are not capable of higher pleasures that is why it is better to be an unhappy sophisticated man than to be a happy swine |
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Term
| • Be able to discuss the relationship between virtue and the greatest happiness principle. |
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Definition
Virtue- focus on the development of good characteristics
Greatest happiness principle- an action is good if it produces pleasure and avoids pain |
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Term
| • Know why one would choose the higher pleasures over the lower pleasures. |
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Definition
| Higher pleasures come with intelligence and create more happiness than lower pleasures. |
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Term
| • Know the role of quantity and quality in utilitarianism. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Be prepared to answer situational questions, like your homework. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Know what cultural relativism is |
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Definition
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Term
| Know what the 6 claims are made by cultrural relativist |
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Definition
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Term
| • Know what the corresponding objections are to the 6 claims that can be made by cultural relativist. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Know why we have to reject the 6 claims that cultural relativist make and why we ultimately have to reject cultural relativism. |
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Definition
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Term
| • Know what she means by the following terms: feminism, liberalism, multiculturalism, and group rights. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| belief that women should not be disadvantaged by their sex that they should be recognized as having human dignity equally with men and the opportunity to live fulfilling and as freeing chosen as men can |
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Term
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Definition
| The idea that we have particular rights and freedoms and that we are equal in our right to these freedoms |
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Term
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Definition
| Plurality of cultures living in the same society |
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Term
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Definition
| Special privilege given to a group for the purpose of preserving that groups culture or respecting the groups difference that is afforded to the rest of the population |
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Term
| • Know why some people believe that group rights should be granted as presented by Kymlicka. Know why Okin rejects this. |
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Definition
Kymlicka believes that groups should have their own rights because
1. Each group have their own societal cultures which provide members with meaningful ways of life across a tall range of human activities
2. Membership in a rich and secure cultural structure not its language and history is essential for development of self respect and giving a person conduct in terms of how to make choices
3. If group rights help prevent the groups culture from going extinct (the reason this important is the groups culture is where one learns self respect
4. Group rights privilege puts minority culture on equal footing as the majority culture
Okin’s response
Why she’s against special group rights- granting special rights to a group whos practices facilitate and endorse the control of women by men is anti-feminism
Problems w/ how we address multiculturalism
1. Treat cultures as monoliths
2. We don’t examine the culture itself and why people do what they do in the culture
(Just focus on how different it is)
3. We ignore that groups like our own culture are genderfide we forget the power differences between men and women
4. We pay very little attention to the private sphere (Home life) |
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Term
| • Know what Okin finds about most cultures regarding women’s rights. |
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Definition
| Okin general critique Group privilege is often needed to rationalize feminism in cultures |
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Term
| • Know how the idea of group rights ultimately infringes on women’s rights when incorporated into a legal system. |
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Definition
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