UU200 Unit 1: Ethics and Governance

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts, definitions, thought experiments, and governance categories from Unit 1: Ethics and Governance (UU200).

Ethics (Preston, 2014)

The study of what is right, fair, just or good, arising from the human capacity to choose among values.

Ought

A term in ethical discourse expressing duty or moral obligation, highlighted in Socrates' statement in Plato's Republic: 'We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.'

Virtues

Ethical values.

Vices

Unethical values.

Metaethics

The area of ethics study that investigates where our ethical principles come from and what they mean, including universal truths, the will of God, and the role of reason in ethical judgments.

Normative Ethics

The study of ethical action that involves articulating the good habits we should acquire, the duties we should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others.

Applied Ethics

The branch of ethics that deals with examining difficult moral issues using normative tools and analysis.

Ethical Interconnectedness

The view that human life is shaped by mutual connection and shared dependency, meaning that the actions and behaviors of individuals, groups, or nations result in consequences for others.

Ethical Dilemma

A situation requiring a choice from two or more morally acceptable courses of action when one choice prevents selecting the other, or the need to choose between equally unacceptable alternatives.

The Trolley Problem

A thought experiment designed by philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967 to test moral intuitions, where a bystander must decide whether to pull a lever to divert a runaway trolley from killing five people onto a track where it will kill one person.

The Trolley and the Fat Man

A 1985 thought experiment reworked by Judith Jarvis Thomson where an out-of-control trolley can only be stopped from killing five people by deliberately pushing a heavy man off a bridge onto the tracks, causing intentional harm to save others.

Kubernao

The Greek root word for 'governance', meaning to steer or guide, and to direct the course or determine the direction of travel.

Governance

A broad term referring to the process of making and implementing decisions, derived from the concept of steering or directing the course of travel.

Global Governance

Collective efforts to identify and address worldwide problems that individual States are unable to solve on their own.

Political Governance

The practice of using power to make laws and policies for the good and betterment of society (sometimes synonymous with 'government').

Corporate Governance

Processes or laws that affect the way a company or corporation is directed and controlled.

Personal/Self-Governance

Using human capacities to understand what is right, fair, and just; recognizing the impact of one's actions on others and the environment; and exercising self-discipline and self-restraint in pursuit of individual goals.

Plagiarism

Academic dishonesty and a form of cheating that represents an unethical practice and is not tolerated at USP.