Question | Answer |
Descriptive Statements | Claims about the way things are. (ex. I like fruits and vegetables.) |
Prescriptive Statements | Claims about the way things should be (ex. People should eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday.) |
Categorical- unconditional rules | Rules that have to apply to everyone, no matter what. |
Ethicists | Finding the logical universally persuasive support for assumptions made in eeryday lives, science and the humanities. The support must be coherent, logically persuasive, should conform to general assumptions and looks for universally persuasive reasons. |
Negative moral obligations(Passive) | Duty can be satisified by just staying at home in bed. Ex.) do not kill. |
Positive Moral Obligations (Active) | Duty by doing something getting up. ex.) voulenteer |
Virtue Ethics | Developed: Aristotle apporach that focuses on character person as a whole over lifetime. What makes someone what characteristics, what makes someone bad, what makes someone good. How do we become bad people and why should we want to become good people. |
Proper Human Function | Something that all and only human beings are suited for. must be specific to humans. It is to act and think rationally. it is unique to humans and taked practice. To be virtuous and to act and think rationally. |
How Aristotle distinguishes between proper human function that other living things cannot do | It cannot be something like eating and growing because that is the function of a plant. also cannot be sensual pleasures because that is the of animals. It has to be unique to humans(to act and think rationally) |
Intermediate End | Are things we want, but only because they get us something else. |
Mixed End | Are things we want both for their own sake and for the sake of something else it can get us. |
Final End | Things we want only for their own sake |
Aristotle: Everyone desires just for its own sake(Final Ens) | Happiness by living a life of virtuous activity(being a virtuous person) happiness is functioning well a virtuous life will also usually be a pleasant life and an honorable one. |
Ethical Subjectivism | No objective moral values and its relative to each person. all moral claims are subjective. Truth is relative to person. Ex.) Killing innocent children is wrong. |
Mackie's argument from Relativity. (ethical subjectivism) | Different people especially from differnt cultures have different assumptions about what is morally right or wrong.IF involves deep ethical disagreements there is no established method for solving. Best explanation is that ethical values are subjective. |
Mackie's argument from Queerness. (Ethical Subjectivism) | If objective values(goodness/badness) were features of things or actions they would be weird.subjective values are not the same for everyone. but all humans have positive and negative responses to environment.positive(good)negative(bad)depends on attiutde |
Culutral relativism | Moral claims are true or false only relative to some particular culture. ex. doing ---- is morally right/wrong according to culture ---. |
King's criteria for just laws | Everyone equally follows the laws. sameness made legal. It squares with The moral law(God's Law) the objective law. It uplifts human personality. and people have to be treated as people. |
King's criteria for unjust laws | A majority inflicts on a minority that the majority doesn't follow. difference made legal. minority doesn't get to vote on or create it. It is out of harmony with The moral lw. It degrades human personality. |
King's view VS. Cultural relavist | King has objective views that it isn't right anywhere no matter the culture.
Cultural relavist thinks that it is only true according to culture. no objective criteria. |
Divine Command Theory | Standard of goodness is God's will.God could have willed that we do anything what God wills is what is good.God forbids is what we should avoid. |
Aquinas' natural law theology | moral goodness is determined by rational principlesTHE moral law they are indep. of God's will. B/C God is perfectly good and rational, he cannot will anthing but what THE moral law says is good.gives us power to distinguish good from bad through reason. |