Term
| Aristotle on why the good for human beings happiness |
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Definition
-ultimate goal for humans is happiness
-being moral is necessary for a happy life
-Happiness consists in living rationally
-you have to seek the mean of two vices |
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Term
| Aquinas on how we identify our natural function |
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Definition
Natural Law- the moral law that follows from the nature of human beings
-God instilled natural tendencies in creatures and humans have free will and reason which allows them to decide if and how they will fulfill their natural tendencies. |
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Term
| Kant on why the only good thing without limitation is a good will |
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Definition
-The moral worth of an action is determined by ones motive
-The proper motive is to do ones duty simply because it is ones duty. |
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Term
| Mill's defenses of Utilitarianism |
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Definition
The moral thing to do is the thing that creates the most amount of happiness for the greatest number of people |
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Term
| Nietzsche on why we should abandon slave morality in favor of master morality |
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Definition
-Master Morality is better because it produces great people
-"Life is Will to Power"
-Slave morality holds back the great people
-Master morality encourages ambitious people to do great things. |
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Term
| Marx and Engels on why a capitalist system is unfair to workers and why it is responsible for the world's evils |
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Definition
-Workers are treated as just another commodity bought and sold at market prices.
To earn enough to survive they have to endure long hours and harsh conditions. |
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Term
| Plato on why we have a duty to obey the law |
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Definition
When we live in a society and accept its benefits we enter into a tactic agreement to obey its laws and we are obligated to keep our agreement |
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Term
Sartre on why traditional ethical theories cannot give us action guidance (the student example)
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Definition
-All involve God and he doesnt thing we need God for guidance
-Choices determine who we are and whatever we decide can be justified because there is no higher power to say otherwise
-No right or wrong choices |
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Term
| Rachels 3 criticisms of Cutural Relativism |
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Definition
-cant critcize other societies
-cant criticize own society
-no universal moral progress |
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Term
| Wolstonecraft on why women occupy a lower place in society |
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Definition
-Women use emotion to make moral decisions instead of reason and therefore cannot make rational decisions
-Men use reason to make moral decisions and society looks to them to make mportant decisions |
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Term
| Mill on why liberty is important and why paternalism is wrong |
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Definition
-Only time you can ever take someones freedom away is if you are preventing harm of others
-Paternalism are laws about harming youself- not justified because it is freedom to harm yourself |
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Term
| Hobbes on why we should render our power to a "leviathan" or all powerful ruler |
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Definition
| There need to be a leviathan or "mortal God" that ensures everyone observes the social contract. Social contract is where people transfer their rights to a common power to create justice and injustice. Justice is following the contract and injustice is violating it. |
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