PHL 132 Final Exam Review Guide

Absolute Principle

Absolute principle applies without exceptions

Applied Ethics

The use of moral standards/norms and concepts to resolve practical real-world moral issues.

Autonomy

Refers to a person’s rational capacity for self-governance or self-determination—the ability to direct one’s own life and choose for oneself.

Beneficence

In its most general form, it says that we should do good to others. Beneficence enjoins us to advance the welfare of others and prevent or remove harm to them.

Bioethics

Applied ethics focused on healthcare, medical science, and medical technology. (I would add that this extends into other fields in and outside of the sciences like engineering, politics, and other social spheres).

Casuistry

Case-based reasoning, as a method for bioethics

Consequentialism

Holds that the right moral action is the one that results in the best consequences.

Deontology

The study of the nature of duty and obligation

Descriptive Ethics

The study of morality using the methodology of science.

Distributive Justice

Concerns the fair distribution of society’s advantages and disadvantages. In other words, equals should be treated equally.

Egalitarian

Theories that maintain that a just distribution is an equal distribution.

Empiricism

Knowledge acquired from observation. Especially, observation of lived experience.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge that asks the question, how do we know what we know?

Ethics

The philosophical study of morality also known as moral philosophy.

Eudaimonia

The ancient Greek word for the good or good life.

Feminist Bioethics

The subject of criticism (bioethics) from the field of feminist philosophy and feminist social theory.

Harm Principle

A person’s autonomy may be curtailed to prevent harm to others.

Impartiality

The idea that everyone should be considered equal, and that everyone’s interest should count the same.

Informed Consent

Demands that patients be allowed to freely consent to or decline treatments and that they receive the information they need to make informed judgments about them.

Justice

Refers to people getting what is fair or what is their due.

Libertarian

Emphasize personal freedoms and the right to pursue one’s own social and economic well-being in a free market without interference from others.

Metaethics

The study of the meaning and justification of moral beliefs.

Morality

Concerns beliefs around notions of right and wrong actions, good and bad people, or character.

Moral Obligation

Morally right things we are required to do, or would be wrong for not doing.

Moral Value

Things that are judged to be good or bad, right or wrong, praiseworthy or blameworthy.

Nonmaleficence

Asks us not to intentionally or unintentionally inflict harm on others. A more precise formulation of the principle is: We should not cause unnecessary injury or harm to those in our care.

Normative Dominance

Moral principles that override or supercede other moral principles. For example, aesthetic related nonmoral norms that might see someone of a lower economic class as non-deserving of the same medical care as someone more wealthy might be overridden by moral principles of impartiality.

Nonmoral Norms

Superficial beliefs that inform moral values like aesthetics, language, culture, etc.

Normative Ethics

The search for and justification of moral standards also called moral norms.

Paternalism

The overriding of a person’s actions or decision-making for her own good. (Know the difference between weak and strong paternalism)

Praxis

The idea of putting theory into practice. The action(s) that result from applying theoretical knowledge to lived experience.

Prima Facie Principle

Prima facie means “at face value.” It is the idea that we should accept things as they are until proven otherwise wrong or if there is some exception.

Reasonableness

The use of logic and rationality (as opposed to emotions) to evaluate moral judgements.

Retributive Justice

Concerns the fair meting out of punishment for wrongdoing

Universality

Moral principles or judgements that are supposed to be universally applicable to everyone.

Utilitarianism

Demands the production of maximal balance of good consequences over bad consequences—or, the greatest number of good consequences for the greatest number of people. (Know the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism)

Utility

We should produce the most favorable balance of good over bad (or benefit over harm) for all concerned.

Virtue Ethics

Focuses on the agent and his or her moral disposition—stating that the right thing to do in a given situation is to do what a virtuous person would do.

Supererogatory

Action that is “above and beyond” our duty. It is praiseworthy—a good thing to do—but not required.

Cultural Relativism

The view that right actions are those sanctioned by one’s culture.

Divine Command Theory

The view that morality depends on the will of God.

Epistemic Injustice

The various ways that individuals can be wronged in their capacity as knowers (wronged in how knowledge is presented to and/or acquired from them), due to their being excluded or undermined in some way as epistemic agents (basically, undermined as individuals capable of knowing and/or learning) because of identity prejudices about them held by others.

Ethical Relativism

The idea that moral standards are not objective but are relative to what individuals or cultures believe.

Hermeneutical Injustice

The wrong that agents can suffer due to a gap in the collective interpretative resources and tools, which place them at an undue disadvantage when it comes to their making sense of and communicating about certain social experiences.

Moral Absolutism

The belief that objective moral principles allow no exceptions or must be applied the same way in all cases and cultures.

Moral Objectivism

The idea that at least some moral standards are objective.

Shared Decision Making

A model of medical decision-making that involves physicians communicating about treatment options but also patients communicating their values and preferences.

Subjective Relativism

The view that right actions are those sanctioned by a person.

Testimonial Injustice

The wrong that speakers suffer by having their claims be given less credit than their due by a would-be hearer who holds wrongful prejudices toward the speaker’s social identity and epistemic position.

Biopower

The subjugation of life via the biopolitical strategies of the sovereign.

Biopolitics

The intersection between politics and biological life that defines sovereignty.

Biohistory

The movements of life and history that interfere with each other.