PHIL 313: Ethics Review - Aristotle, Kant, and Contemporary Moral Philosophy

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core ethical theories of Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics), Immanuel Kant (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals), C.S. Lewis, and All Things Shining based on PHIL 313 exam material.

First Species of Justice (Aristotle)

The distribution of honors or wealth or anything else that can be divided among members of a community.

Second Species of Justice (Aristotle)

The domain of justice dealing with rectification in transactions.

Vices of Justice (Aristotle)

The two corresponding vices to justice: the deficiency vice of suffering injustice and the excess vice of doing injustice.

Scientific Part of the Rational Soul (Aristotle)

The rational part of the soul that deals with beings whose principles cannot be otherwise.

Rationally Calculating Part of the Soul (Aristotle)

The rational part of the soul that deals with beings whose principles can be otherwise.

Capacities in the Soul Controlling Action and Truth (Aristotle)

Aristotle's psychological triad consisting of sense perception, understanding, and desire.

Principle of Action (Aristotle)

Decision; identified by Aristotle as the origin of action and source of motion.

Prudence (Aristotle)

A practical virtue that we grasp phenomenologically by studying the sort of people we call prudent.

Sources of the Lovable (Aristotle)

The three qualities that cause something to be loved: the useful, the good, and the pleasant.

Three Types of Friends (Aristotle)

Friends for utility (useful to us), friends for pleasure (enjoyment), and friends for virtue (friends as such, for their own sake).

Virtue of Friends (Aristotle)

Loving.

Ranking of Political Systems (Aristotle)

Aristotle's best-to-worst ranking of constitutions: 1st Kingship, 2nd Aristocracy, 3rd Timocracy, 4th Democracy, 5th Oligarchy, 6th Tyranny.

Happiness (Aristotle)

A certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue.

Genus of Virtue (Aristotle)

A state.

Difference of Virtue (Aristotle)

A good state that causes the possessor to perform their functions well.

Mean of Anger (Aristotle)

Calmness; the intermediate condition between the excess and deficiency of anger.

Incontinence / Akrasia (Aristotle)

A state concerning bodily appetites and pleasures that causes an individual to act contrary to what they suppose is right.

Base Person (Aristotle)

A person characterized not simply by pursuing pleasures, but specifically by pursuing the excess.

Hypothetical Imperative (Kant)

An imperative representing an action as good merely as a means to something else, performed for consequences, ulterior motives, or an empirical payoff.

Categorical Imperative (Kant)

An unconditional command representing an action as good in itself, objectively valid on grounds applicable to every rational being.

Universal Law Formulation (Kant)

The supreme moral principle: 'Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become a universal law.'

Formula of Humanity as an End in Itself (Kant)

The moral principle dictating that rational beings exist as ends in themselves and must never be treated merely as a means to an arbitrary will.

Kingdom of Ends (Kant)

A moral community ordered formally by law in which members act autonomously, discipline themselves, and act only as they would wish others to act.

Good Will (Kant)

The only thing regarded as good without qualification; good purely through its willing and good in itself rather than by what it accomplishes.

Counterweight to Duty (Kant)

The internal needs and inclinations that everyone naturally experiences.

Sequence from Laws to Action (Kant)

$$\text{Laws (principles)} \rightarrow \text{Reason (conception of laws)} \rightarrow \text{Will (practical reason)} \rightarrow \text{Actions}$$

Subjective vs. Objective Ends (Kant)

Subjective ends rest on incentives, whereas objective ends depend on motives valid for every rational being.

Heteronomy (Kant)

The condition that occurs when the will seeks its moral law outside of its own universal lawgiving.

Things in Themselves (Kant)

Ontological reality; objects as they exist in themselves regardless of how they affect us or are represented to our mind by the senses.

Intelligible World (Kant)

The world of the mind and language that contains the ground of the world of sense.

Law of Nature (C.S. Lewis)

The Law of Human Nature or standard of right conduct, differing from physical laws because humans retain the choice to disobey it.

Bulverism (C.S. Lewis)

The fallacy of declaring an opponent's argument wrong without refuting it, merely assuming the error and explaining it away by attacking their attributes.

Heroic Action (All Things Shining)

Action that transcends mere habit because the actor operates with a heightened awareness of what the situation calls for.

Two Defective Responses to Modern Choice (All Things Shining)

The dogmatic posture of the man of self-confidence and the total evasion of choice through addictions, infatuations, or obsessions.